Salty is curious....

[MACATUA]

Hey all, I am upgrading my 55 gallon salt to a 125. Now I need something to do with my 55. Thinking about a freshwater. Don't know what i want. Any suggestions on a good 55 gallon community, or I may even do Cichlids. Don't know, what is cool?

Just bounce some ideas or pics!

 

[TankGirl]

Definitely cichlids

 

[Lance M.]

Cool pic.

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

im starting my first fresh also, im gonna try Bichardi cichlids check'em out they are beautiful

 

[MACATUA]

OK, so the fish that I have seen that I like so far are Platys, Mollys, Rasboras, Angels, Rasboras, Maybe Tifer Barbs, and maybe Bala Sharks.....

Now the rule is about 1 inch of fish per gallon right?

Any suggestions of these, waht can go, can't go, cool fish to have?

 

[MACATUA]

How many Balas can go in a 55? Do they really get 10'?

 

[Maillis]

No more than 3 balas in a 55, I've got two but one of them chases the other a lot which isn't good. If I could do it over I'd get either 1 or 3 (they are schooling fish however and may not do well alone). Mine are about 6 inches right now, not sure if they'll reach 10 inches but it is definitely possible. Even with only 2 in the 55 they seem a little cramped and sometimes scrape some scales on the driftwood darting around the tank, wish I had room for a 75 for them. Oh and they are very nervous fish, easily startled.

 

[TankGirl]

Forget the 1" per gallon rule - there are too many exceptions and caveats.

Platys and mollies are very good choices, but IME mollies do much better in a slightly brackish tank, and the other fish you mention do not, so maybe platys instead. Rasboras of all kinds are very cool, and a school of them would be nice, plus a pair of angels. You can't generally keep many adult angels together in a 55, unless they are all one gender, which is almost impossible to tell. What you can do is select 5-6 babies and wait a few months until they grow out. Almost certainly you will get a pair out of the bunch, and they'll make life very difficult for the other angels, so you remove the extras to another tank or return them to the LFS (mine will do this).

Then a school of cory cats for the bottom, and maybe 2-3 bushynose or rubberlip plecos (the common pleco gets too large even for a 55).

I'm not a fan of the bala shark unless you have at least a 125, but that's just me - a 55 is relatively narrow so it does not provide enough turning space for them, IME.

This is just one of a million possible combo's so maybe a good question for you, MACATUA, is what kind of tap water do you have? Hard and alkaline makes certain types of fish do better, and the same is true for soft, acidic water.

 

[MACATUA]

I have nixed the bala idea. I like the platys and rasboras. I don't use my tap water, I use the water from a rothingy at walmart for my salt tank, so i will keep using that in my fresh I imagine.

If I went with platys and rasboras, what number would make good schools to put with a pair of angels and a small pleco? And the Cory cats of course .

 

[TankGirl]

Do you mix your R/O water with tap or do you add traces?

Platys will increase their numbers all by their lonesome, but I'd try to keep at least three more females per male. Maybe even just the four to start, because they WILL reproduce, no stoppin it. Then you could get a school of maybe 10-12 rasboras (harlequins, maybe?) and they will school together very nicely. 4-6 cory cats, also schooling. The angels even school together when they are young. This is fun....