Restocking my 55 gallon...

[BrettRox]

After a tragic set of events during my move to a new home (that I'd rather not get into ), I'm ready to restock my 55 gallon tank and am looking for suggestions. So far there is only a beautiful Betta calling the place home.

My goal is to create a tank of fish that are enjoyable to watch, and give you a sort of peaceful, zen type feeling when you do. Schooling fish are pleasing to the eye, but I think I'd like to avoid danios as their motion almost seems to fast for my eyes to keep up with sometimes....

The only thing I have my heart set on so far is a school of 5-6 cory cats, but after that, all bets are off... I've kept a couple Oscars in the tank before, and also Silver Dollars as the feature fish on the second occasion. This time I may just shoot for some smaller species, but we'll see when all is said and done. I plan to add one set at a time (not all at once!) to avoid any sort of bio shock. So do any of you have any suggestions for me?

UPDATED 3/22

Here's what I have so far....

1 male betta
6 spotted corys
???
???
???
???

 

[Slappy*McFish]

1 male betta
5-6 corys
1 angelfish
2 Rams
6 Diamond Tetras

 

[Betta-Gurl]

1 Male betta
5 Corys
5 Neon Tetras
5 Glowlight Tetras
maybe? 5 Cardnials

 

[WinterWind]

2 rams OR 2 angel fish
A pair of pearl or blue gouramies
10-15 cardinal tetras (could be delicate) OR 10-15 glowlight tetras

 

[loucas6290]

harlequin rasboras, and may i suggest 6 panda corys for your cory school and how a bout a pair of bolivian or german blue rams

 

[BrettRox]

All great suggestions... I believe I sort of favor the rasboras as far as the smaller schooling fish go. I'd imagine I could put 15-20 of these if I really wanted to...

Would 1 betta, two rams, 6 cories and 15 rasboras be too much?

Keep the suggestions coming...

 

[lousybreed]

All great suggestions... I believe I sort of favor the rasboras as far as the smaller schooling fish go. I'd imagine I could put 15-20 of these if I really wanted to...

Would 1 betta, two rams, 6 cories and 15 rasboras be too much?

Keep the suggestions coming...

no not too much, many people understock their tanks on this forum. why not try this

2 pairs of rams, 20-25 cardinals 6 beckford pencilfish and some cories. One of the most peaceful/colorful tanks you can get This is what i have and with plants i have never even detected nitrates! The cards school, the pencilfish school but in a totally different way and the rams just do their thing. Very relaxing and entertaining.

 

[BrettRox]

2 pairs of rams, 20-25 cardinals 6 beckford pencilfish and some cories. One of the most peaceful/colorful tanks you can get This is what i have and with plants i have never even detected nitrates! The cards school, the pencilfish school but in a totally different way and the rams just do their thing. Very relaxing and entertaining.

So four rams? I'm not sure I've seen beckford pencilfish in any of my LFS, but I'll look out for them. I think I'm definitely leaning toward a school of cardinals.

Last night I purchased six spunky spotty cories... They seem to love their new environment and the betta doesn't seem to mind them at all... I was thinking I'd wait another week before purchasing the next set of fish, whatever they may be.

 

[Rebgen]

Be careful with the cories and Rams. They like the same turf and it could get interesting. The rams will get very testy during spawn if the cories decide to visit.

 

[BrettRox]

Thanks for the advice, Rebgen. I will certainly keep that in mind!