55 Gallon Question

cmarcucilli

AC Members
Jan 16, 2006
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Right now I have a 55 gallon community set up. 3 Platys, 1 swordtail, 5 zebra danios, 5 jumbo neon tetras, 2 glass fish, and one Emerald cory. I have 3 baby swordtails I plan on adding to the tank once they are big enough. I also have 2 other Emerald Corys in quarantine. I also want to add a Pleco.They can be added anytime, but I like to try to be cautious. My question is if I add the 2 corys and the three swordtails once they are big enough would I be maxed out as to how many fish I could have. If not I would love to add a couple more corys, and add to my shoal of Tetras. Thanks for any help.
 
Definitely add slowly, but I think you more than enough room for more cories and a medium-sized school of tetras. Just be sure to add slowly and monitor levels.
 
The one inch of fish per gallon rule is so out of whack and misleading. To use the proverbial extreme case, that would justify a 10" Oscar in a 10 gallon tank, not something most would do (Though there is a post at AB about someone with two in a 10 gallon).

Other factors come into play, hondamx, such as aggression, feeding habits, spawning, free swimming space, territorial issues, water requirements, temperature and others,

Check out..

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26409

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11885

http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/The_Freshwater_Aquarium_for_Newbies
 
Yes, but aside from a species tank, few people keep only thin-bodied tropical fish, and even then it can lead folks astray as they seldomly take into account the ADULT size of the fish, the possibilty of unwanted reproduction, possible agression issues, and the problems that can evolve if they're putting that number of fish into a tall tank with a smaller footprint than can actually support 1" of fish per gallon.

It also doesn't address the problems that can occur when someone tries to stock a tank solely with fish that compete for the same swim space, or that doesn't account for the reduction in available tank space for other fishes when they have a large territorial fish that will not allow the other fish into its territory.
 
hondamx said:
that rules good with some type of tropical fish

Than why is your tank overstocked?

cmarcucilli, you won't be maxing out your stocking, but if you go to the fish store and buy a common pleco, you will, as they can grow to 2'. Get a bristlenose pleco, as they only grow to 6", and won't overstock your tank.
 
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All of them are going to get bigger than one inch though. Your mollies will get about 2.5-3 inches each, guppies about 1.5-2in each, and the chinese algae eaters get 5" each if I'm not mistaken. Not sure about the tetras but just with the mollies, guppies, and chinese algae eaters you are looking at 19.5" total at least...
 
hondamx said:
that rules good with some type of tropical fish

Must be the tropical fish in someone else's tank, vice yours.
 
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