Thinking about putting these fish in a tank.. Will it be ok?

[souldecay]

I have just recently got a 55 gallon tank. I am relatively new to a big tank with minimal experience with a simple 10 gallon tank with Tetras and Mollies and such. Currently I am cycling my tank with fish. But anyways this is what I am hoping for. I just want to know if it is possible.

1 Green Terror
1 Blue Acara
1 Oscar
3 large green tiger barbs
2 or 3, 5 inch Cichlids
1 Large Pleco

So is this too many fish for how much room I have, or will they definately kill each other or what? Because to what I think I know I can do this but then again I really dont know anything. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[N8DOGG]

2 many fish. I would NOT get an oscar (55 gallong isn't large enough for one of these). I would get 1 green terror, 1 blua acara,and some tiger barbs.Maybe a pleco that stays under 10". You may even be able to add 1 or 2 more medium cichlids.Maybe.....what type of filtration? expect to do weekly water chages of 30-55%.

[souldecay]

Hey thanks for the help bud, Personally I don't really want an Oscar but my girlfriend really wants it. What you listed sounds basically what I want. I am running a gravel filter, and then the double filter that hangs on the back.

Water changes do not sound like fun to me. How would the best way be to do so?

Also any reccomendations for things such as to check the Nitrate and such, I got a PH tester but I figure I am going to need more kinds of testing stuff.

Or reccomendations on Decor, I have 2 Terra Cotta Pots and a couple of fake plants in there.

Once again any help would be awesome!

[LongTime]

Agree, a 55 is too small for a full grown oscar by itself and, if you mean a common pleco, you are talking about a 12" fish. You don't need one that big.

[OrionGirl]

Here's how I do water changes. I use a gravel vaccum, and clean the substrate. With a UGF, this is very, very important--you might want to consider switching to reverse flow UGF, instead, so the solid wastes aren't pulled into the gravel, especially with some big waste producers, and some gravel movers as well. Once I've removed the desired amount of water, I turn off the power filter and clean the media, and siphon out any solids in the media compartment. Pour new water in, turn filter back on, make sure everything is working, and move on to the next tank. Some people use a Python to make this easier, but I just siphon into a large tub and use that for plants, and then bucket water in.

If you stick with a standard UGF, you'll want to make sure the gravel level stays fairly even, and plan on using a thin tube to siphon out underneath the plates regularly.