hello newbie here

zuliatardis said:

am from NJ...

i got -

10 gallon freshwater where i put the baddies (fin nippers!) - 5 glowlight tetras and 3 zebra danios...

Tetras are alright there, but Zebra Danios prefer groups of 5 or more, and need more space then a 10g tank offers. They are very active and like to zoom around the tank.

55 gallon freshwater with 1 pleco, 2 female guppies (5 guppy fry), 2 cory cats, 1 ruby shark and 6 neon tetras...

What kind of pleco? Some can get too big, but a 55gallon should hold any pleco comfortably for a while before you need to worry about it getting too big.
Cories like to be in groups. 5 or more.
Neons are alright, but with all that empty space I'd suggest getting more Neons.

i get at least one casualty a week, although water has been tested and the with good results, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate (with test tube kit)...pH is 7 accdg to test strips...

You should not have 0 NitrAtes, unless you are very heavly planted. Are you sure you are administrating the test correctly? If it's the API test like I have, it can be confusing to follow the directions (I messed up the first time and got 0 too. Next week when I did it correctly it showed my Nitrates were 10). PH isn't too important unless its changing all the time. Test Strips are known to be inaccurate, but if it's just PH you are using test strips and everything else is liquid tests, then I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are constantly losing fish then I would question wheter you are cycled or not. Are you familiar with the cycling process? If you are cycled, then I would have to look at the Ruby Shark AKA Rainbow Shark as a suspect.

Don't have experience with Blue Rams, but I believe they can be kept in community tanks. They should be good for your 55g tanks. Clown loaches get too big as adults. I believe 75g is the reccomended size.
i'm contemplating on getting blue rams and clown loaches...

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