55 gallon stocking question

I would exclude either the rainbows or the barbs, as it has been my expierience that schoolng fish always do best when there's only one species of schooling fish per tank.

might want to consider getting a pleco, to help with algae/scraps.

A gourami of some type may add a little bit of size without adding aggression to your tank. There are some pretty nice looking gouramis out there.

but if you are looking for lots of activity... go with danios... they just don't quit swimming.

Good luck!

Be careful about Gouramis with barbs. I have no problems with mine (3 Opaline males with 9 tiger barbs) but barbs can be nippy and the "feelers" on gouramis are a little enticing. Like I said, I don't have a problem with mine, and the keeping barbs in a good sized school minimizes the harassment of other fish. I also have an albino rainbow shark in with my barbs and have no problems with them all getting along.

I aggree, if you go with Tiger Barbs, you do not want to get a Gourami. You could mix a couple different types of Tiger Barbs. Mix in some green ones with regular ones.

Pallen81 said:

might want to consider getting a pleco, to help with algae/scraps.

A gourami of some type may add a little bit of size without adding aggression to your tank. There are some pretty nice looking gouramis out there.

but if you are looking for lots of activity... go with danios... they just don't quit swimming.

Good luck!

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do not add a pleco unless you like plecos. sorry, but it is a HUGE pet peeve of mine when people feel they *have* to have a pleco to eat algae. there are many other ways to get rid of algae, including good old fashioned elbow grease. the main cause of algae is an imbalance of nutrients. if the nutrients in your tank are balanced, then you shouldn't have an algae problem in the first place. besides that, plecos add to the bioload. a lot. they probably produce more waste than almost any other tropical fish of the same mass. that will decrease the number of other fish you can have in the tank. plus, not all plecos eat all kinds of algae. and many of them turn to a more carniverous diet as they get bigger, AND you have to suppliment their diet no matter how big they are with blanched veggies, sinking pellets, and algae wafers, and some species need to munch on driftwood to help their digestion.

so go ahead and add one of the smaller species of pleco if you LIKE them and want one in your tank, but by no means feel obligated to add one for algae control. they are just not worth it if that's all you want one for.

dorkfish said:

I would exclude either the rainbows or the barbs, as it has been my expierience that schoolng fish always do best when there's only one species of schooling fish per tank.

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:huh:


in my 55 i have 14 bosemani rainbows, 6 australian rainbows, 6 yellow-tailed congo tetras, 8 black neon tetras, 5 giant danios, and 9 gold barbs.

they are all doing very well and behave very normally. maybe mixing schools of very different fish is bad, like piranhas and neons, but with peaceful community fish mixing schooling fish is fine, IME. i have never heard anyone except for you say otherwise. what schools did you mix?


my 2 cents on tiger barbs:

tiger barbs are questionable at best for a community tank. rumor has it that when kept in large groups they keep to themselves but in my experience this is not true. Everyone ive talked to who actually has tried keeping a large school of mature tiger barbs (your 2 inch barbs are not fully mature, people. Tigers will get to be a full 3 inches) with other delicate, slow, or small fish has told me that their barbs are vicious.

My albino shark is currently about 3.5" he and the gouramis will be moving to a new tank tomorrow

Travis, probalby a good point about the Tiger barbs, mine are only 1.5-2" right now and they behave well so far (my gouramis actually swim with them sometimes) but I just had all the fish together temporarily until my 75G was ready. I wanted to get the barb tank essentially empty of other inhabitants for when they do get bigger.