Easiest Fish to Keep - new 55 Gal

[phoenixkiller]

Hey all!

i am wondering what would be a good, hardy fish for a newly cycled 55 gallon aquarium, only this time, I do not wish to keep Cichlids. Any ideas besides cichlids?

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Yup, i would get a pair of angels, and a large school of penguin/rummynose tetras. You could get 2 nice schools and the angels could e your centerpiece. Then id get some rams and a school of kuhuli loaches

[absolutangel04]

If you want hardier fish, I would go with an apisto of some sort over a ram. Angels are hardy once they get some size on them, but small angels tend to be very delicate.
A different direction for a 55g tank is tiger barbs, golden wonder killis, bnp, and a rainbow shark.
If you want a peaceful community, there are tons of cories, platys, Pristella tetras, bloodfin tetras, red-eyed tetras, silver-tip tetras, lemon tetras, bnp, black skirt tetras, and white cloud mountain minnows which all are usually pretty hardy and would do fine in a newly established tank.
There are tons of other options too. I wouldn't be overly concerned about a fish being particularly hardy though as long as you do your part with the pwc and tank maintenance, but I can understand if you just want to avoid overly sensitive fish.

[bs6749]

Angels, rams, and apistos are all cichlids. In my experience with these three I've found apistos to be the most demanding with blue rams in a close second (Bolivians are not as demanding as blues). Classic silver and black angelfish are very hardy in my experience and they are hard to kill off.

You could do 2 BN plecos on the bottom along with 6-8 cories, add in 8 or so ottos, a dozen hatchetfish, 18 or so cardinal tetras/neons/black neons, a couple of gouramis, and maybe some livebearers like platys, mollies, or swordtails. All of those are relatively easy assuming that you can keep up with changing 10-15 gallons of water every 5-7 days.

[Cynic]

Bronze Cories are nearly indestructable.

[phoenixkiller]

How many angels could be kept in a 55 gallon aquarium?

[bs6749]

If you are keeping just angels with maybe a couple of BN plecos in a 55g tank, you could do 6 easily. I've done 8 before but that was a stretch. Breeders used to favor 20H tanks for a pair of angels and a 55g tank would basically allow for 3 pairs using this logic.

[absolutangel04]

If you want a community, I would just do 1-2 angels personally.

[bs6749]

Also, make up your mind! LOL You said you didn't want any cichlids and now you are asking how many you can keep in the tank!

[Mumma.of.two]

Phoenixkiller can I suggest you have just one stocking thread for your tank. You've had at least 4 that I've seen. It will be a lot easier if you stick to the one thread then we can see what you have ruled out and what your interested in. Saves people repeating themselves.