Fish selection for 55 gal

Sorry about that diamond rant... The reason I was so excited was once I had nickle sized angels in with a few diamonds and the diamonds started eating their fins. All of the babies died, and since then I have dubbed them "evil piranha fish." (Because they had these wicked looking jaws at the front but thats a different story.) I promptly took the diamonds into my LFS (that fish place) and traded them in. I have never owned diamonds since.

Angels might do well with cardinals, if the cardinals are big enough. I heard they get bigger than neons. (Somewhere in the 2" range...)
 
No need to apologize--it wasn't a rant. If I am considering putting two fish together that someone has had trouble with I want them to speak up.
 
I have to agree angels are beautiful fish...I love them they are and always have been one of my favorites, I have always heard they are hard to have with other fish that is the only reason I don't have any (and lack of space). But the reason I am posting is someone suggested the dwarf gourami's and I have two of them they are beautiful also and I always get coments on them from anyone who comes over I've noticed people on here talk about how aggressive they (dwarfs) are but mine seem to be pretty peaceful aside from the occasional chase they give each other but it is never harmful.
I think from what you have posted though you are pretty much set on angels and I don't blame you on that, just wanted to add my 2 bits in about the dwarfs.

Gin
 
I have never cared much for gouramis, but I have looked at a lot of pictures in the past couple days and some are quite stunning. The dwarfs in particular are just gorgeous. I will have to mention it to my wife and see how she feels. I think I am set on the angels though. If they cause problems as they get bigger I will consider replacing them with gouramis. (I also wanted this to be a loosely themed South American tank, and gouramis wouldn't fit that.)

So, I think I will go:
4 angels
14-20 cardinal tetras
8 corydoras
8 otos
2 SAEs (I know, they don't fit the theme either.)
and maybe 2 rams
and see how it goes. I can always make adjustments of need be.
 
Cardinal tetras are really great fish. They school far better than my black skirts and pristellas. Look nicer too. They also grew larger than I expected. My experience with SAEs is not a good one. They are fine when they are young but start being really annoying to my other fish when it got larger. My corys and otos took the most hassle from it.
 
I have ten Cardinals in my 33 gal tank. diy co2 and lots of plants, and they are doing fine. I have them with 6 Bleeding Heart Tetras and 4 Otocinclus. The cardinals are stunning in color and look so nice with all the green in the plants etc. I feed New Life Spectrum flake food and it really brings out the natural colors in fish, especially the Cardinals....I am glad I decided to go with them. I do once a week h2o changes....from what I had heard about Cardinals, they appreciate excellent water quality. I think that Cardinals can be the difference between a tank looking ordinary or awesome! I am going to give my Cardinals time to grow more before adding any more fish. I can't add much more either, maybe a couple of Rams, not sure yet. Good luck!
 
I wouldn't get the SAEs if your going with ottos and corydoras. Still looks sligthly crowded though... Forget the rams and you should be fine. Do a fishless cycle for roughly 2-3 weeks and you should be able to add all of those fish at once.
Be forewarned however, in a group of angels there will be hierarchy, and there will be those picked on by the dominant fish. You will probably loose fish to this. So my reccomendation is this: get a single angelfish for your tank. It would make a fine centerpiece fish, and you could deciede wether or not you want to raise it from quarter body size or a fully grown adult.
The second route is more expensive, but you could choose to buy a known pair of angels for your tank. They would get along fine and be producing young for you. Problem is they would herd all of the other fish into a corner of the tank and make sure they stay there.

Whatever you decide on, just make sure you count your cardinals every day. You may notice the angels getting larger and your cardinals disappearing.

I've kept angels for seven years and I've experienced many tragedies and heartbreaks... It would be a darn shame to see anyone else go through it.

Good luck with your tank.
 
I wouldnt get neon tetras, I had them for a while but they didnt last very long and I know many people who have had the same experience.
Maybe you could look at rummy-nose tetras or a mix of black and red phantoms.
If you really want something that looks like a neon, try glo lites, they have a similar pattern, different coloring, but are very hardy.
 
Just want to say good luck with what ever you go with, enjoy and have fun!!!
 
Thanks for all the supportive comments everyone.

I am glad to hear of so much success with the cardinals. Now I just hope I can find them around here.

Blimper - do you think a single angelfish would be overly belligerent towards the other fish?
 
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