What fits in a 55g?

[FishInMaryland]

Let me first say that I know the inch per gallon "rule" is a myth.

However, I can't find anything that indicates how to determine when enough is enough. I've looked through all of the members tanks that are 55g on this site, and have seen anything from about a dozen fish up to about 50 fish. Granted, the fish are not all big or all small.

I saw one tank that is close to what I want to do. It has
3 Boesemani Rainbows
4 Praecox Rainbows
6 Pineapple Swordtails
8 Rummynose Tetras
4 Bleeding Heart Tetras
1 Gold Nugget Pleco

I don't want a pleco, so scratch that off the list. I would like Gouramis, Angels, and Otos, but don't know how many of each I can add, or what I may need to eliminate from the list above.

Any suggestions? I'm going for numbers in this tank, rather than fish size, if that makes any difference.

There will be no live plants, if that makes any difference also.

Thanks.

[hamsterman]

If your going for numbers, not size, then i would recommend getting dwarf gouramis instead of the normal sized ones such as the three spot gourami which can grow six inches or more.

[coolwade]

Two Angels
10 Tetras
6 Cories
2 Bristle Nose

[Holly9937]

Are you wanting the list (minus the pleco) plus angels, gouramis and otos?

[fishisme]

maybe some tin foil barbs? i hafe 2 in a 20gal and they are very interesting fish

[Raskolnikov]

maybe some tin foil barbs? i hafe 2 in a 20gal and they are very interesting fish

No, no. Tinfoil barbs are too large and active for a 55g tank, much less a 20g.

[VTwinFanatic]

tin foil barbs get over 6" long....a 20 is way to small for them

[FishInMaryland]

Are you wanting the list (minus the pleco) plus angels, gouramis and otos?

Exactly! Sorry I wasn't clear.

I think I might not want to include the Rainbows either, since I see that they prefer slightly saline water. Is this what rainbow-keepers do? What does that do to the other fish?

[Holly9937]

3 angels
6 Pineapple Swordtails
8 Rummynose Tetras
5 otos
2 dwarf gouramis

What about something like that? Hopefully someone else will chime in with an opinion!! I'm not sure if the rummynose are big enough to avoid being eaten by the angels. Personally I would get like 4 angels, a bigger school of otos, and a school of rummys (if they won't be eaten) and leave it at that. Once the angels get bigger they will be the stars of the tank, and I think it would be unfortunate to have too much going on in the tank to take away from them. JMO :)

[Roan Art]

I think I might not want to include the Rainbows either, since I see that they prefer slightly saline water. Is this what rainbow-keepers do? What does that do to the other fish?Eh? Saline water? No, rainbows are freshwater, no salt. Never heard anything about salt with rainbows. Course, they're found all over PNG and Aussieland, so it could be some obscure type you've heard about.

I have Boesemani as do a lot of people here. No saline needed. No pepper. No mustard. Now, a little A1 or HP Sauce might be nice :joke:

Roan

[FishInMaryland]

I saw the notes about preferring slightly saline water on the descriptions given for various rainbows on the petsolutions.com website. For dwarf rainbows "...Preferring slightly saline water..."

Is this not reliable?

[reiverix]

Some species of rainbowfish do frequent estuaries. But this doesn't mean that they are entirely brackish fish, just that they can live in brackish water. From what I've read about rainbowfish is that they should only be kept in low end brackish < 1.005 but spend most of their time in freshwater.

[tlaug]

get a couple loaches and five small angels and hope for a pair. keep the pair and sell the others back to the lfs or a friend.

[RanchuRick]

I made the same mistake like many other people. DO NOT plan to stock your tank to capacity from the get go. A understocked tank usually looks better than one stocked to capacity. Start with half the stock. Get the must have fish first. The aquarium will be a lot easier to manage in the beginning. Monitor the water chemistry. You can always add more fish later.

I know it is hard to resist the temptation, but I think it is the right thing to do understocking your tank in the beginning.

[FishInMaryland]

I'm having trouble figuring out what "to capacity" means! I noticed in some of the "my tank specs" setups, that there are up to 50 fish in some 55g tanks. I know that the size of the fish makes a difference, but there are HUGE variations in what is kept in each tank. I saw everything up to 50 fish in one tank, which seems like an awful lot, even if they're all relatively small.

[Holly9937]

Unfortunately there is no clear answer on how many fish a tank can hold. There are just too many variables to consider. Which is also another great reason to try to stock the tank very slowly, hard as that is!! It gives you time to observe the fish and understand how they might interact with other fish. And the tank specs. page is great for ideas, but it is not necessarily a very good stocking guide. I can almost gaurantee that 50 fish in a 55g is grossly overstocked :eek:

If you're still looking for stocking advice, what are your "must haves"? :D

[FishInMaryland]

Angels and tetras are must-haves, only because I really like angels and the variety of tetras is so great, I can get any sort of shape and color in a hardy fish. I made the mistake of visiting the LFS today, and now have some new ideas. I liked what they called "swordtail tetras" to go with the angels, and maybe some other sort of tetra with some pink or red or orange coloring. I'm thinking now of skipping the gouramis. And I need some sort of cleanup crew, without getting a pleco.

So, angels, tetras, and probably otos are must haves, unless you have a better suggestion for cleanup. Nothing that resembles the original list, is it.

Oh, the LFS also had a sign on the angel tank that said "not for new tanks." Do you suppose that means "don't use these to cycle a new tank" or "not for beginners" or something else? I know, I could have asked them, but everybody was busy.

[pbrack]

If you're looking for pink or orange tetras, dd you ever think of neon serpae tetras? I'm not 100% positive they can go with angels, but I find them cool since in my tank, I have 5 that just wait at the bottom motionless, then they chase each other around. It's almost as if they have a dominant male/female hierarchy! Besides, they are pink and I heard some come in orange colour.

And, the "not for new tank" sign was probably intended for that. Ward off people who don't really now what they're doing, then buy angels as they buy their tank there. If your tank is cycled, there's no reason why you should be afraid of taking on angelfish! Just make sure you have stable water parameters, and you'll be set!

Hope this helps, and good luck :thm:

[joeyg2100]

I don't know if this will help, but here goes.
I am cycling my tank right now, and yes I am doing a fishy cycle. The fish I have in there are Zebra Danos. I like these fish b/c they have a neat color and the are a very active fish. After my tank cycles this is what I am stocking in my tank and in the order that I am getting them. I plan on adding fish once a week or every two weeks depends on how the fish in the tank are reacting to the new fish and how my water test out.
Right now I have 12 - Zebra Danos
6 - Corys
4 - Angels
2 - Blue rams
I am sure that I could add more, but I think this will be a good amount of fish for my 55 gal. Hope this helps, and if anyone else wants to chime in on my tank go ahead and let me know what you think about my combination. Thanks

[Roan Art]

Some species of rainbowfish do frequent estuaries. But this doesn't mean that they are entirely brackish fish, just that they can live in brackish water. From what I've read about rainbowfish is that they should only be kept in low end brackish < 1.005 but spend most of their time in freshwater.
Did some checking and you are partially correct. There are *some* specie that live in rivers and lakes that have estuaries. There aren't that many that do. Melanotaenia nigrans is one that does, and on the Monga Bay site it says:

WATER: pH 6.7-7.8 (7.2), 8-15 dH (10), 64-77°F (18-25°C). Salt can be added, anywhere from a 0.5-1.5%addition is acceptable.

Looks like it's optional, like with Mollies.

Most of the more popular rainbows, like Boesemani, are lake inhabitants and are freshwater fish.

This is interesting stuff. I'm gonna go through and make a list of the salty ones :)

Roan

[Holly9937]

Just be careful not to get the dyed tetras (they have a stripe of neon color to them). Besides the fact that it is cruel, these fish are usually pretty unhealthy, the color fades over time, and many won't live very long. How about 3-4 angels, 3-5 otos, and a school of tetras like 6-8? Even if they are nippy, that size of school should keep the aggression amongst themselves, but you still might want to avoid the tetras that are known to be nippy (serpaes can be). You might also want to avoid anything neon sized or smaller b/c they might become angel food.

[FishInMaryland]

I think you've hit on what I was leaning towards. Fortunately, the LFS shows on the tank tags which tetras are "nippy" even if they're considered peaceful. I'm really leaning towards the swordtail tetras, since they seem to be an un-tetra-like tetra. Thanks for all of your help.

Off the thread a little bit, there were some "tattoo" tetras (at least I think they were tetras, they may have been something else, because they were bulkier) at the LFS that had what looked like a tribal tattoo all over their body. It was very uniform on all of them, and I suspect that this is another form of a dyed fish, even though it was a pattern, not an allover color. The fish were white, and the tattoo was reddish. How horrible to do that to an unwilling, defenseless creature.

[Holly9937]

I wonder if swordtail tetras are just regular swordtails? I didn't think they were a tetra (probably why they seem "untetra-like :rolleyes: !) but I could be wrong. Either way, they would be a fine choice, however I don't think they school as well as actual tetras would. If you end up getting males and female swords you have the benefit of free angel food :)

[FishInMaryland]

Although you can't believe everything you read, they show on Fishprofiles.com as a separate species - scientific name is Corynopoma riisei. The profile does show that they're relatively rare in the hobby, but they were less than $3, and maybe less than $2, I don't remember, at the LFS, so I doubt that they're too rare. We'll see how it goes. I'm still a few weeks away from having the time to set the tank up and I may change my mind a thousand times more.

[Holly9937]

Was there a picture on the site? I can't find one anywhere :confused: , and now I'm curious!!

[stingray25]

25pacus











just play'n

[Ghostshrimp55]

When I was coming up with a stocking scheme for my 55, I went to the LFS that I wanted to buy from, wrote down the names of all the fish that I liked and researched them on-line before deciding on a final setup.

My stocking level so far:
3 angels
5 otocinclus cats
4 golden honey gouramis (these stay small and the goldens are a canary yellow)
3 julii cories
3 schwartzii cories
6 zebra danios (soon to be given back to the LFS because they suck)
2 mystery snails
6 ghost shrimp

What I will add:
3 zebra loaches
1-2 dwarf flame gouramis or 6-8 harlequin rasboras (maybe both when I get rid of the danios)

All of these fish should do well together and should give action to all levels of the tank.

My goal is to have the tank at least moderately planted. I'm almost there.

If you're getting angels, I would stay away from tetras of any kind since most are fin-nippers.

Good luck.

[Emg]

Go Angels !

I think angels are the next best thing to discus.........well......as close as you can get anyway....if you aren't up to caring for a discus tank.... http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/winking/winking0001.gif

[tricksterpup]

25pacus
just play'n
Fileted and frozen. ;)

Actually my favorite was a heavy planted tank with 2 pairs of rams, blues and golds, hehe.. they swapped mates so one blue hung with a gold, it was cool. And with some albino neon tetras. They were cool and by far one of my favorite fish, they were a light pink with a faint blue strip. It was a super cool tank.

[FishInMaryland]

Was there a picture on the site? I can't find one anywhere :confused: , and now I'm curious!!

Finally, here's a site with pictures.
http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/Country/CountrySpeciesSummary.cfm?Country=Trinidad%20and%2 0Tobago&Genus=Corynopoma&Species=riisei

The picture right on this link isn't great, but click it, and you will see some others. It's not really a swordtail like you think of swordtails, but the tail is split into two longer pieces than you normally see on tetras.

[tricksterpup]

Although you can't believe everything you read, they show on Fishprofiles.com as a separate species - scientific name is Corynopoma riisei. The profile does show that they're relatively rare in the hobby, but they were less than $3, and maybe less than $2, I don't remember, at the LFS, so I doubt that they're too rare. We'll see how it goes. I'm still a few weeks away from having the time to set the tank up and I may change my mind a thousand times more.
I have not seen any of these at any of the local fish stores I go to. And they typically have really hard stuff to find. I would guess they are pretty rare but some locals can get this fish.
http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/images/species/Corii_u1.jpg
http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/images/species/Corii_u2.jpg

[Holly9937]

Interesting!!! Certainly not what I expected, and not a "swordtail"!!! They look kind of blueish, is that right?

[nlmadison]

If you're looking for something to go with Angels I have Danios w/mine and there's no problems at all. They get along great - no nipping at all. Danios seem do tolerate my water better than any of the fish I've tried so far. I still have 4 of the 5 I bought 2 yrs ago to fishy cycle my 5gal hex. Personally, I really prefer the gold, leopard & blue long-finned varieties. They stay smal are activel and will school in large enuf numbers.

N.

[FishInMaryland]

Interesting!!! Certainly not what I expected, and not a "swordtail"!!! They look kind of blueish, is that right?

No, I didn't notice any blue, just silver & black, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't some blue in them, just that I didn't notice it. I was looking more at their tails than anything else!

I know that whatever I decide to put into this tank will still leave me like I've left something out, and I'll want ANOTHER tank. It's neverending, isn't it?