How many fish in a 55 gallon?

H

Hagermanfd

AC Members
Jan 19, 2007
163
0
0
I have seen a few different posts, saying 1 inch of fish for every 10 gallons, or two fish per 10 gallons, As of now i have: My tank is freshwater community, with relatively small fish

2- angelfish (4")
3-neon tetra (looking to get 3 more)
4-Red glow zebras (about 1" big)
5-Cory Catfish
5-Painted Tetras (about 2")
3 Black mollies
2- orange fish (dont know their names, about (2")
 
There is no clear and cut rule. Fish are 3 dimensional. Unless we find an easy way to calculate mass vs. largest dimensional measurment vs. activity vs. temperment there never will be a rule. A 10" oscar has a lot more mass than 10 1" neons for example. Even still a 10" gar would have much less mass than a 10" oscar, and you may find an angel fish that is 10" tall from the tips of the fins but not 10 inches long. Then with some fish being more active than others, a 3" fish of one kind may do well in a 10 gal, where another species of 3" fish would not have enough room to play. You also have to consider where the fish live in your tank. spreading out bottom dwellers, middle and top dwellers will give you more to work with.

Knowing what fish are OK comes from research, oppinions, and then trial and error.


IMO your tank would be better without the mollies. Simply because you have Amazon type fish otherwise. The corries will stay near the bottom while the tetras dwell in the middle to upper areas. While I am strongly against painted fish, I prefer one or two well rounded schools. In my 55 I have cardinal and serpae tetras. This may look nice to round out the schools of your neons and painted tetras, keep the corries and the angels. You have to remember that looks are important here. 10 of the same kind of tetra will be funner to watch than 10 different types, because they school and interact with one another. Some people will warn you against the angels eating your neons. It is thier natural food in the wild. Each case is different, and the smaller the angel was at introduction the less the odds they will eat the neons. Just be careful :)


Now I just need to know what those orange guys are. got a pic?
 
that sounds like a rather good community to me, you could probably throw something more in if you felt the need... but i wouldnt go with to many more the 3 more neons should be fine and 7 should make a nice shoal. If you wanted you could maybe go with a pleco or some octs, they would be a nice way to get rid of some unwated algae, some people with tell you no to a pleco, but as long as you dont get a gigantic one (they can get really big like 2-3 feet sometimes) you should be fine i currently have 1 that is about 4 inches in my tank right now (my baby zebra pleco 8) ). But as for the fish per gallon rule there are certain rules of thumb, but as long as the fish have room to swim, and it doesnt seem over crowded you should be fine.

good luck
 
oo yeah i didnt see the mollies, they probably wont pose any type of problem but they dont really go with the theme 8)
 
i will take a pic and post as soon as i get it. I def. want to increase my neon tetra school, i think the 3 by themselves are lonely since they usually are not together and when they are it is "cute/cool", my angels do very well with my tetras since i got them in with other angels in it from the lfs. I want to add a few more really colorful fish to my tank, i have seen the german blue rams, how well do they work in this kind of tank? Or anybody know some colorful fish of their own that could do well here?
 
Yes that's not really a great rule, because according to that you could have a whopping 5 neons in your tank or 10 total... that wouldn't be very good would it!
Can you take pictures of your orange fish for an ID. (Sorry didnt' see all the other responces I was typing.. haha)
I take into account how big they grow when they are full grown (width as well), how they swim will they upset the balance like swimming crazy when my other fish swim peacefully, waist output, how do they feed do they take all the food and leave non for other tank mates, do they have special requirements which may make them hard to house with other fish like discus, are they aggressive? Do they need to be in schools.....?
etc etc,, the list goes on
To take the full grown size of the fish for your inch per gallon even if said 10 inch fish is only 1 inch I would count it as 10 inches and add all the other things I mentioned into account, if it was a high waist producer I would give it 20 gallons, if it swims really fast and get's wide then it would need a much much bigger tank than a 55 gallon even though in theory the inches would permit it to be in there... kwim?

Hagermanfd said:
I have seen a few different posts, saying 1 inch of fish for every 10 gallons, or two fish per 10 gallons, As of now i have: My tank is freshwater community, with relatively small fish

2- angelfish (4")
3-neon tetra (looking to get 3 more)
4-Red glow zebras (about 1" big)
5-Cory Catfish
5-Painted Tetras (about 2")
3 Black mollies
2- orange fish (dont know their names, about (2")
Click to expand...
 
here are my two orange fish, what are they called, i forgot their name, sorry the pics are not that clear, oh and the bottom picture, full shot of tank, dont be fooled by the backround, it is a plant theme so the really nice ones are the picture not mine, lol

camera 001.jpg camera 002.jpg camera 009.jpg
 
Last edited:
Those are serpae tetras. I have 6 of them myself. :)
 
yup, serpae tetras indeed, be cautious with them and the angels however, in large schools they tend to be sommewhat agressive and have fin nipping tendancys, but you should probably be fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom