What are some interesting/pretty large freshwater fish?

[JiddleFish]

I reallly like discus.. They are so pretty and interesting... but I hear they are hard to take care of?? anyone have any feedback on them???

So that got me to thinking.. what are some other colorful, large and interesting fish that could be a "feature fish" of the tank???

 

[waldo12]

IMO 55 gallons would be too small to house discus, as they prefer to be in groups (unless you find a mated pair). So good job on researching beforehand

Angelfish make for nice centerpieces - great body/fin shape & perfect size (3-4" body diameter, not including size), plus there's a lot of different forms out there. Groups are fine unless a pair forms. If it does, either remove the pair or remove the others. These guys have a lot of personality, as with most cichlids.

Congo Tetras (attachment) are smaller (3-3.5"), but make up for it with the males' long flowing fins and bright, iridescent colors. The colorful ones in the attachment are my young adult males. They like to be in schools, 6 minimum.

And that's about all the centerpiece fish that I've had experience with and are large and good looking. If you find any fish that you like, google is your friend

 

[SafaditM3]

Angels would be great for your tank size Jiddle I agree with Waldo.

 

[user_name]

Rainbow fish make great center peices, and you could get a good size school of boseman rainbowfish in a 55. Are you looking for a fish that will live in a community, a species tank, or a solitary tank?

 

[ChrisK]

Depending on the tank size most large Cichlids are very interesting. I love severums (poor mans discus) :lol:

 

[RazzleFish]

I like these:

Angels
Three Spot Gouramis
Convicts
Firemouth Cichlids
Keyhole Cichlids
Sailfin Mollies
Apistogrammas
Green Terrors
and Jack Dempsies

Some larger schooling fish that could make a central display include:
Tiger Barbs
Black Ruby Barbs
Odessa Barbs
Gold Barbs
Red-Lined Torpedo Barbs
Congo Tetras
and some of the larger South American Tetras

 

[user_name]

Who needs a center peice when you could have 60+ neons?

 

[JiddleFish]

Hi guys... Thanks for your feedback.
In regards to the discus, I found a pair that have matched up at my local aquarium store, and they are actually quite small. Even the guy at the store said he would sell them to me for $25 as apposed to $49 because they arent too big. I was hoping to add the 2 of them to the tank.
I worked with Omega last night, going through images on line of different types of fish. Because I want to add some color (mostly in reds, oranges, yellows, and blacks), I came up with this list.. what do you guys think so far??

2x discus (small in size)
2x clown loaches (orange and black stripped)
1x kuhili loaches
1x elephant nose
kissing gouramis
school of tetras

Im open to more feedback.. I will google image the names you give me... Im still at the planning process, so anything can be done at this point...

ChrisK, serverums are nice looking fish! they do look like discus a little eh? Thanks for the suggestion. I like the yellow ones

 

[user_name]

That will extremely over-stock your tank. Clown loaches grow to about 1 foot long, as do kissing gouramis. I'm not sure about the discus, but i beleive that those will not work as well. Why not look into african chiclids? They are stuning fish that you could keep in your tank. You could get elephant noses, kuhli's and most tetras without problems though. Have you looked into Rams and apisto dwarf chiclids? They will live with the elephant noses, kuhlis and a school or two of tetras.

For further stocking advice, use aqadvisor.com

That site is the bomb!

 

[RazzleFish]

How big is your tank? I never saw you mention it and someone said 55 gallons.

If it is a 55, it will not work long term.

-The discus would be fine.
-The clowns get far to large (1 foot +) and are schooling fish so they need groups of 6+ fish.
-The kuhlis will do fine but they are schooling fish so groups of 6+
-I would skip the elephantnose. They get quite large (13 in) and will out grow your tank.
-Kissers are too big and too agressive.
-Depending on the kind of tetras you get they could work but just remember if it will fit in the mouth of a larger fish (discus) it WILL be eaten.

Why not do something along the lines of a SA theme?

You could do:
a pair of discus
a school of bigger tetras like bleeding heart tetras, black skirt tetras or lemon tetras
then do a school of cories or you could substitute them for the kuhlis

Also I second the AqAdvisor.com idea.