hi all. I'm needing some advice. i just finished cycling my 55 gal. tank. Currently the only inhabitants are four brown khuli loaches and a few small snails. Thinking of adding a veriety of small fish like gupies, sword tails, mollies, neon or other tetras. my question is what types of fish would go well together and how many?
needing help with 55 gal
- Thread starter Robert
- Start date
I looked at the profiles here and at FreshwaterAquariums...then I bought a book until I found exactly what I thought I wanted. Then I went to my LFS and ran it by them. They were a lot of help.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Hi Robert...
Welcome to Aquaria Central, home of the widest diversity of fishkeepers on the internet
Heck of a question, why the possibilities are endless....
If you've done fishless cycling, you already know a little bit about water chemistry, so what are your water conditions. pH? Hardness?
If you've got water in the 6.5 - 7.5 pH and moderate hardness, why not try some southeast Asian fish (since you've got the kuhlie loaches and all). I'd make your mid-level fish the checker barb (one of my favorites...). Very hardy, easy to sex (which is always important to me) in that the males have a dark leading edge on the dorsal fin and the fin is a little redder. Easy to feed, and very subtle colors. Then you could add a single red tailed black shark, just one of the coolest fish there is. It'll grow to about 5 inches long. Once you've had a RTBS, you'll always want one. Then you could add a male betta and a couple of females. Everybody knows how beautiful a male is, but you'll be amazed how beautiful the females are. Add a couple of easy to care for gouramis (gold and blue/three spot are easy to find and hardy) and then when you've got this all under your belt, add a couple of dwarf gouramis. You will have a tank that will knock your socks off, have a lot of movement, beautiful colors, etc.
In the essence of full disclosure, this was my first 55g tank, so I am a little biased. My 55g is currently a cardinal and emperor tetra tank, which is neat, but when a get a bigger tank, say a 150g tank (which won't be until I get a new house) it will be the above tank. I've never seen anything prettier.
Hope this helps,
Val
Welcome to Aquaria Central, home of the widest diversity of fishkeepers on the internet
Heck of a question, why the possibilities are endless....
If you've done fishless cycling, you already know a little bit about water chemistry, so what are your water conditions. pH? Hardness?
If you've got water in the 6.5 - 7.5 pH and moderate hardness, why not try some southeast Asian fish (since you've got the kuhlie loaches and all). I'd make your mid-level fish the checker barb (one of my favorites...). Very hardy, easy to sex (which is always important to me) in that the males have a dark leading edge on the dorsal fin and the fin is a little redder. Easy to feed, and very subtle colors. Then you could add a single red tailed black shark, just one of the coolest fish there is. It'll grow to about 5 inches long. Once you've had a RTBS, you'll always want one. Then you could add a male betta and a couple of females. Everybody knows how beautiful a male is, but you'll be amazed how beautiful the females are. Add a couple of easy to care for gouramis (gold and blue/three spot are easy to find and hardy) and then when you've got this all under your belt, add a couple of dwarf gouramis. You will have a tank that will knock your socks off, have a lot of movement, beautiful colors, etc.
In the essence of full disclosure, this was my first 55g tank, so I am a little biased. My 55g is currently a cardinal and emperor tetra tank, which is neat, but when a get a bigger tank, say a 150g tank (which won't be until I get a new house) it will be the above tank. I've never seen anything prettier.
Hope this helps,
Val
Have to quesiton the RTBS. I've had one and would say never again. Vicious thing - chased the other fish half to death.
Let us know whether your water is hard or soft, acid or alkaline, and we'll be in a better position to advise.
Let us know whether your water is hard or soft, acid or alkaline, and we'll be in a better position to advise.
Ive kept south american cichlids and fish basically for my whole experience with fish, with the exception of beginning fish such as danios, live bearers, and cherry barbs.
I currently keep otos, cories, blue acaras, blue rams, neons, black tetras, paties, cherries, and shrimp.
The platies are a source of occasional income and are used to buy food every so often or mayber exchange for other fish. the cherries are for breeding experience and algae control.
after doing this type of tank, I would sooner do an asian or central american tank. Brakish is my distant future project.
I would suggest trying an asain tank. They have lots of types of fish that are very unique. you already have the khulis down, so you would just need a top dweller and then a larger fish to steal the show.
I like the suggestion about the south east asian tank.
however, rtbs are notorious for being aggressive.
go for:
barbs, khulis (or any other lype of loach), gouramis, and maybe some type of sucker or algae controler like a SAE (true) or chinese algae eater (get lazy when older).
I currently keep otos, cories, blue acaras, blue rams, neons, black tetras, paties, cherries, and shrimp.
The platies are a source of occasional income and are used to buy food every so often or mayber exchange for other fish. the cherries are for breeding experience and algae control.
after doing this type of tank, I would sooner do an asian or central american tank. Brakish is my distant future project.
I would suggest trying an asain tank. They have lots of types of fish that are very unique. you already have the khulis down, so you would just need a top dweller and then a larger fish to steal the show.
I like the suggestion about the south east asian tank.
however, rtbs are notorious for being aggressive.
go for:
barbs, khulis (or any other lype of loach), gouramis, and maybe some type of sucker or algae controler like a SAE (true) or chinese algae eater (get lazy when older).
Thanks for all of your replies. Well my water has a pH that varies between 7.5 and 7.6. So slightly alkaline. The khuli loaches are in different tank now as i discovered that they do better in a more acidic invironment. current inhabitants of my 55 are two pair of sailfin mollies. Awsome brackish water fish. My wife wants one of the smaller puffer fish. I'm not sure as I don't want something that will chew the fins off of the mollies. Any ideas on a good tankmate and info on brackish invertabrets would be highly appreciated.
Robert
Robert