Ideas for fish in a 60 gal

[CJonline]

Ok. Long story short, I had a huge sickness go through my tank and killed everything. I bleached out my tank and set it back up with live plants for about 24 hrs now. I’m starting the cycle again with a HOB bio wheel filter made for a 75 gal that was on a 55 as a back up for over a year and about 12 feeder guppies when I get home from work. The tank is 60 gal and will have the above filter and a canister filter made for a 110 gal. I’m hoping the seeder filter will help the cycle go faster.

The guppies are going back to my friend once the tank is cycled. I’m not sure what to put in the tank after the cycle is done. I hoping for ideas. I want peaceful fish. Hardy fish. Nothing that was going to be nippy and chase after others. I like Neons and Cory Cats but i'm not set on them. What would complement them? Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[chrismiller21]

I LOVE my Denison's Barbs (Roseline Sharks). They school and swim together, separate and do little chases among themselves. I also have Lemon and Rose-tip Tetras and 2 SAE's (they almost look identical to the barbs) that school and swim with them back and forth. They also get along great with my 1 Angelfish and 2 Bolivian Rams. I also have 4 Kahlui Loaches, 2 rubber lip plecos and ghost shrimp. Everyone gets along smoothly except during feeding time when the 2 Bolivian Rams will lock lips every once in a while.

 

[Samzter]

For Cories I recommend pandas, sterbai or schwarz?! Cories ( think I made a spelling mistake) you could get a big school of pandas in there. About 4 Denison barbs then maybe 2 big schools of 8-10+. Maybe a centrepiece like an angel or maybe a ram or two.

 

[absolutangel04]

Your possibilities are almost endless. Lol.
So, here are a few ideas that I am a fan of: pearl danios, orange finned danios, white cloud mountain minnows, zebra loaches, glowlight tetras, rummy nose tetras, espei rasboras, cocha's blue tetra, diamond tetras, cherry barbs, furcata rainbows, snakeskin barbs, ruby barbs, purple passion danios, and paradise fish.
For a peaceful community, I say avoid breeding fish and some of the more aggressive breeds like tiger barbs or golden wonder killis.

 

[emerald76]

Betta sorority!

 

[Rivercats]

If yjou do neons, don't do any angelfish, or the neons will be on the menu. You could go with cardinals for the same effect as the neons. Rummy nose tetras and diamond tetra (which pictures don't do them justice or two of my favorites. You can also do rainbow fish and little Threadfin rainbow fish look good with tetras (I have threadfins with rummy nose and diamond tetra's). Panda cory's are the most active cory's of the three types I have and have actually become my favorites. In a 60 if you didn't do neons you could do two angels or even a pair of Rams.

 

[severum mama]

Betta sorority tanks rarely work in the long term.

If you decide on Angelfish, I second the recommendation against neons as tankmates, but just wanted to throw in a bit of personal experience here... I have had adult Angelfish eat rummynose, and even young Corydoras. I'm not saying it will always happen, just don't be surprised. Our angels were quite large when this happened though-- it would likely be several years before it became a potential issue.

 

[CJonline]

I know I'm not getting angels. I love the look of the German Ram but I wasn't sure how it would go with the tetras. I saw some fish today that looked like neons but they were clear with a blue stripe (the same spot the neons have one) and a blue eye. The LPS called them "blue eyed neons". I would love to get some of those and build around them. I have never seen them before but with my luck they won't have any again when i am ready for them.

Would a betta go in with the tetras? Maybe that could be the stand out fish.

 

[severum mama]

Sounds like possibly gold neons to me. Same species, but the golds are just a selectively bred color variant. Once they settle in, the red stripe will be visible as well, but less so than in the standard neon.

GBRs are definitely compatible with neons, so you shouldn't have any problems there.