Can you help me pick out fish for a 55 gal tank (edited)

[Bigougit]

I got a big fish tank for my birthday and read a few books so I knew what equipment to get and everything

Tank size: 55 gallons
Current filtration: biowheel rated for 75 gal tank
Type of substrate: aquarium gravel?
pH of your water: about 6.8
What type of fish you like the most: Angelfish or Gourami's. But i'd like to have some more active fish in there too.

I'm cycling the tank with whiteclouds that i've had for a few months in a smaller tank.

EDIT: I'm reconsidering puting angelfish in my tank because theres a pretty strong flow of water through my tank that would just blow them around like it does at my LFS x.x

 

[HannahJ]

Well, a lot of it depends on if you prefer upper level fish to lower level fish, if y ou want schooling ones, or some cool oddball ones.

You might look into a handful of loaches for the lower levels. I personally recommend clown loaches (they have some really fun behaviour) but those could possibly eventually outgrow a 55 gal. Still, you'd likely be fine for a number of years. If you do go with clown loaches, get three or four (or five even if you have the bioload room to spare) as the more you have, the better their behaviour.

Cory cats are also a fun lower level schooling fish that would do very well in a 55 gallon and are great to watch.

I personally love black ghost knives, and you could consider one for your tank (the are some wicked awesome looking fish) but they really aren't that active in the daytime, so you might not prefer one.

For the upper levels, some of the active schooling fish could be nice. I personally find hatchetfish very interesting to watch, and they are very unusual looking, but you could also go with one of the active, brightly-coloured schooling kinds of fish, like neons and the like.

Oh, and this isn't a fish, but you might think about getting an Apple Snail (though not if you get the clown loaches, they LOVE snails). You wouldn't think a snail would be entertaining, but these guys give a lot of bang for their buck. Mine is all over my tank, and it's fun to watch it crawl everywhere. It also eats a lot of junk stuff off the tank.

Hope this helps get you started!

 

[Bigougit]

You might look into a handful of loaches for the lower levels.

They look really cool, but i've heard they can be alot for a beginer to handle due to the fact that they dont have scales and are more succeptable to diseases, but thanks. And would they fight with cories if I got both?

 

[HannahJ]

Hmm, loaches can be a bit much for the first-timer, I suppose. As far as fighting the cories, I don't think they would, but I've never kept the two together, so I couldn't say. If you're leary of scaleless fish, nix the ghost knife, too. Those are also scaleless (though I got mine back when I kept bettas only, and I managed to not kill him, despite knowing next to nothing about non-betta fish). You'll probably want to stick with the cories for know, if those are at all interesting to you. Don't worry, though, once the aquarium bug bites you, you'll never be cured, so you'll have plenty more tanks in the future to later try loaches and such.

 

[Bigougit]

It already has bit me, I have 3 tanks and I might be getting a fourth lol I just wanna keep so many fish that I dont know which ones to keep now.

I was thinking that I could do a tank with angels, swordtails, cories and maybe a school of tetras?

 

[rich311k]

I think 3-4 angels, a school of rummynose tetras, 6-8 of your favorite cory and a bristle nose pleco or two would be a nice tank. You could also add another tetra school if you wished.

Another idea is to base the tank around rams or some other dwarf cichlid.

 

[Bigougit]

I had to swear to my friends that I wouldnt do that because my best friends dad has over 500 cichlids and thats the only fish he keeps lol
so i cant do a cichlid tank right now, but the other idea sounds really cool!

 

[JustOneMore20]

I'd go with 3 angels, a school of rummynoses, a school of something else, 4-5 loaches (yoyo, polka dot, and kuhlies are some that won't outgrow a 55g), a shoal of cories (about 8), and a bristlenose or some ottos for algae.

That would be a great tank.

My current 55g stock is in my signature.

I'm gonna be setting up another one soon and plan to have:
3 pearl gouramis
8-10 lemon tetras
8-10 other tetras (haven't decided yet)
8 albino cories
1 albino bristlenose

Thats all I plan on right now, but I'm sure it will change.

 

[Bigougit]

sounds cool but what are ottos? and whats a shoal? i've seen it used on alot of sites but cant find a definition.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Ottos, or otocinclus catfish are small algae eating fish. They only get about 2-2.5 inches and are great algae eaters. They are very peaceful (unlike some algae eaters) and go great in a community tank.

A shoal is like a school, but shoaling fish don't always swim around together like a school does. Corydoras or cories are shoaling fish, meaning they enjoy the company of their own kind, even though they don't always swim together.

Think of a shoal as a group.

 

[Bigougit]

oh! thanks so much ^_^

 

[Stretch]

I like neons, it's cool how they school together alot.

 

[hulkamaniac]

sounds cool but what are ottos? and whats a shoal? i've seen it used on alot of sites but cant find a definition.

Stay away from otos. They are very, very hard to keep alive. I'd go with a theme in the tank. Maybe do it with all tetras and a school of cories on the bottom. One of the tanks I really wanted to do, but never got a chance to was a tank with a black and white theme. Use either a white substrate and a black background or vice versa. Add fish that are either black, white or a combination of both. I was going to go with albino cories, black neons, black skirts and maybe a marble angel fish. You could do something similar with almost any color though.

The other thing you could consider for a tank that big is doing a faux saltwater tank. Basically you use a crushed coral substrate, lots of rock work and Africans.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Stay away from otos. They are very, very hard to keep alive

Ottos are sensitive, but if you have the right conditions for them, they will live. The tank must be cycled when you add them (meaning no ammonia or nitrites). They need a good supply of algae already in the tank. They will eat algae wafers too...so you could supplement them. They do better in a planted tank, but will live in a unplanted tank. When you get them from a LFS, pick the fattest ones you see. Skinny ones usually don't live very long. Usually ottos are put in tanks in the LFS that don't have any algae, and they don't feed them much at all...so they don't live.

Ottos are a better alternative in smaller tanks, tanks that are already close to being overstocked, and planted tanks because they are smaller (~2 inches) and don't add alot to the bioload (unlike plecos who are poop machines).

I have atleast one otto in every tank. You just have to have the right conditions to suit them. They are quite picky.

I think people are scared of them. They also add them to tanks that aren't right for them, for some reason or another and they die. Then the people swear that all ottos will die on you, when that's not the case. Many people successfully keep ottos...you just have to be willing to make the tank appropriate for them.

 

[Bigougit]

What do you think of this set up?

2 pearl gouramis
2 dwarf gouramis
4 cories
6 zebra danios
6 rummynose tetras
6 other tetras ( Haven't decides )

 

[JustOneMore20]

That setup is ok. I'd up the cories though. You'll find that they will be more playful the more you have (of their own kind). They will also be less timid.

3 schools of fish will work. I think it will look very chaotic though to have 3 types of fish. I should know, with 3 types of tetras in my 55g it looks very messy. But, if that's what you want, it will work.

The dwarf gouramis are iffy. They can be the best of friends or tear each other up. I'd be afraid they would bully the peaceful pearls. I would just get 4 pearls and leave the DGs out. I personally think they are troublemakers. If you could get 1 male and 3 females for the pearls, that would be even better!

But, this is my opinion....I'm just trying to help.

 

[Bigougit]

thats why I would get pairs of gouramis so that the dwarfs would be less likely to become bullies, but if you think they're still likely to act up they I might drop them. And what if I droped the third school and just increased the sizes of the other 2 a little?

also, if the dwarf gourami would still bully the pearl, what if I got rams? If I dont know much about them except that they're teritorial over their cave and i've already got one