Advice please??

[bunebop]

Hi! I'm so excited. I just bought a 50-55 gallon tank (the people I bought it off were not sure exactly... but said it was one of the 2) I'm going to start a fishless cycle today or tomorrow once I get to the store and get a filter and heater and rocks and decorations and all that good stuff... but once it was up and running i was thinking of putting about 6 tetras, 6-10 rasborras, 4-5 cory cats, 1 small pleco, 2-4 dwarf gouramis, and possibly some killifish (maybe 3-5 of em), and my betta. I already have the betta and 2 cory cats in my 10 gallon, so I'm moving them for sure. What do you guys think about that though? Would that be too much for the tank etc? Thanks a lot! edit

 

[Endgame319]

50g is 3 feet long, 55 is 4 feet. For a filter, I reccomend an AC500, an Emporer 400, Rena XP3, Fluval 404, or an Eheim (Not sure which one, no experience with them).

For heaters, either get two 200Ws (reccomended) or a single 300W.

Your stocking list is fine except that the gouramis and the betta may or may not get along. And those fish would definately fit, you'd actually be understocked.

 

[bunebop]

So could I technically have more like 10 of both the tetras and rasborras?
I was planning on getting either 2 Emporer 400's or 2 Penguin 330's? Will either of those work?

Thanks a lot!

 

[tmurphy171]

Either should be fine. Look up prices online before you pay retail. You can almost purchase two of either filters online including shipping with the money you'd spend in a retail shop. (based on my own sad experience ) The emperor 400 is the better of the two. you'll filter 400g an hour with one emperor 400. You may be able to get by with one emperor 400 instead of two or, one emperor 400 and a one Penguin 170 if you want two filters in the tank as "backup".

 

[Endgame319]

The general rule is 1" per gallon of tank, but if you have good filteration (10+ turnover rate, yours would be 7-8 with one Emp400 and 14-16 with two) and you are good about water changes (Once a week around 20% is good) you can cheat quite a bit. Eg. In my 32 bow I have around 50" of fish, but I have a filstar xp3 and a peng 330 on it, which is almost a 20x turnover rate, and I do weekly 30% water changes.

Note that the inches of fish is their ADULT size, a two inch oscar can have little to no effect on a bioload but a 14" one does.

Make sure you research the fish you want and make sure your tap water suites their needs (pH, gH, kH)

Emp400 at big als for $38, much better than you would find in a retail store.
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22137;category_id=1721

 

[Endgame319]

With cories, the more you have, the happier they are. You could probably get 3-4 of 3 different species, that'd be neat.

And you said you wanted a pleco? Make sure you get a dwarf species and not a tankbuster 3' long one. If you are willing to pay more you could get a queen arabesque pleco:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1863&password=&sort=1&cat=all&page=1

 

[bunebop]

Hi!

Yeah, I'm going to get the smallest pleco possible. I've decided on the 2 Emporer 400 or 2 penguin 330 filters, whichever will be cheapest and 2 200 watt heaters. The fish I'm planning on getting are:

2 rams (either blue or bolivian, whichever I can find)
10 tetras
10 rasborras
5 cory cats (I already have 2)
1 pleco (like I said, as small as possible)
3 dwarf gouramis (1 male, and 2 female)
5 killifish
1 betta (which I also already have)

I know I changed it a little from last time. I'm good w/ the water changes, and I think that'll be pleanty of filtration for my tank. So hopefully it'll be good. I can't wait till it's up and running. I'm hoping to get to the store today and start the fishless cycle. What is your opinion on these fish in that size of a tank? Thanks a lot again!

 

[Endgame319]

Penguins are almost half the price of the emperors but they're still good. Two penguins would be fine. One thing you dont want to cheap out on are the heaters, bad heaters can short out and shock your fish, or stop working and freeze the fish. Go with one of the well-known brands such as visi-therm, ebo-jager, thermal compact, or tronic.

Do you know the pH of your water? Rasboras and rams like acidic water (around 6.5) and some areas are known to have very basic tap water (around 8 ). So before you buy any fish, you'll need to find out the pH of your tap water. Otherwise all those fish would fit in the tank but you may experience problems with the dwarf gourami. Male dwarves are known to kill unwilling females when he's ready to breed. And sometimes dwarf gourami dont get along with other labyrinth fish(betta), but with such a large tank you probably wont have any trouble. Also make sure the tetras you get arent the nippy kind (serpae, bucktooth) or any of the long finned varieties. Your betta might see them as competition (they dont like other long-finned fish) and pick a fight.

 

[bunebop]

I've had serpae tetra w/ this betta before and they've never been a problem? I think my water had a pretty good pH too. I have well water w/ a softener and I've had it tested at the fish store a couple times for the 10 gallon tank I have right now. I'm only gonna add a couple fish at a time too. So hopefully if there's gonna be a problem between some of the fish I can notice it in time to stop it. 8)

 

[oscarbreeder]

Penguin 330's are only $24.99 at www.petsolutions.com
This is a great store I order alot of my stuff from here and DrsFosterSmith.com

 

[Endgame319]

When adding fish you should use the 10g to quarentine new fish for two weeks before adding them to your main tank, you dont want them bringing in any diseases that can spread to the rest of the fish.

 

[bunebop]

Yeah, I was planning on it. Thanks!!!

 

[tmurphy171]

Thanks for the link oscarbreeder, I am always looking for a new source The Penguin 330 is on sale for 23.99 which is less then half of what I paid at a PetCo store. Great deal.

 

[Endgame319]

only $20 at bigalsonline.com
sadley, us canadians gotta pay $67 for the same thing. Its so depressing
I can see how it would be a little more expensive because they're made in the states, but even when you convert it to US dollars, its still more than double the price.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I wont buy from bigals.
I've heard to many bad things about their shipping department.
I ordered from petsolutions in Ohio and had my package here in South Carolina in threee days no problems.

 

[bunebop]

My boyfriend has ordered from bigals before and it was just fine. I dunno. Maybe it depends where you are, etc.

 

[oscarbreeder]

That could be bunebop.
I dont know for sure because I have never purchased anything from them.
I've just heard to many people complaining about them.
Look through some of the old posts in the general retailers section(I think) and see for yourself.

 

[bunebop]

Yeah, I never buy anything online, I dunno why, just don;t. So I don't think it'll be a problem I was just saying