suggestions for cool community tank 50g

[talloulou]

After years and years of playing around with itty bitty 10 [acronym:7cb42b11cb="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:7cb42b11cb] tanks I have finally gotten what I consider to be a real tank. It's 50 gallons, (already I'm thinking even bigger would be better-but I'm getting ahead of myself.) Anyway, so far the tank has 4 hatchet fish, 4 black skirt tetras, 2 sunset gourami's and a crab. I'm looking to add some more fish but I want them to be super cool and interesting. So I'm looking for suggestions. So far I am pretty set on a coolie loach. But not sure as to anything else. I was thinking a discus but then realized they are very picky about cleanliness and require very high temperatures, and my tank is planted. Are there any other fish that are very striking, yet peaceful and able to exist in my tank. I want to have mostly small fish. But it would be great if I had 1-2 real eye catchers that grew to 5 inches or so. I know most cichlids are out but aren't there some peaceful colorful ones that may work? Perhaps a dwarf cockatoo? And I'm also looking for a cool catfish. I've always had cories and glass catfish in the past. I like to try a bigger one, yet one that stays under 6 in fully grown. Also I was thinking of getting some freshwater clams, and perhaps a mystery snail. The tank is planted heavily and has lots of caves and hiding places. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Blucat]

WELCOME TO AA

How about:
two pairs of Blue Ram: http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/img/ram5.jpg
a school of 6 Bosemani Rainbowfish: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=28378
(this is a beautiful photo of madasafish's)
a school of 10 congo tetras: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=28484
1 pair of angelfish: http://home.earthlink.net/~photofish...Angelpair2.jpg
A pair of opaline gourami: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile84.html
A pair of Dwarf gourami: http://www.fishpalace.org/C_lalia.html

As for catfish, a type of fancy Pleco?
Here is an example, this is also another stunning photo of madasfish's queen arabesque pleco
(hope you don't mind madasafish)
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photop...cat=all&page=1

[talloulou]

Thanks Blucat. The fish encyclopedia I read led me to believe that all pleco's got ridiculously big. The Queen Arabesque Pleco is beautiful and it's maximum size is under 5 in so that's perfect. I think I will also definitely get the blue rams. The dwarf gourami's are looking like a definite possibility as I love my sunset gourami's. I would love to have an angel pair, they're so beautiful. Great suggestions!

[Blucat]

if you are going to have the dwarf gourami, angelfish or pleco, you must make sure there are lots and i mean PlEntY of plants (live or fake) and hidey places. This is very important as you may encounter slight agression problems betwween both types of gourami and angelfish. Also the pleco will greatly benefit from driftwood if you havn't already got some.

What is your filtration?
If you get the pleco or angelfish or both of these species, make sure you have adequate filtration. You may need to purchase additional filters and such as angelfish gets quite big and the pleco produces lots of waste.

[acronym:3b03b52159="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:3b03b52159] before you get any fish how long have you had your tank?

[Veneer]

What type of crab do you possess? Most species sold for freshwater, in truth, are amphibious and require brackish salinity to prosper.

[talloulou]

The crab in my tank is a red claw crab, about 4 cm. I have had it for a little over a year. It runs around the tank and is quite active. I know now brackish water would be better for this fella, unfortunately I didn't know that when I bought it. I may set up a brackish 10 gallon later and try to keep this crab with some black mollies. But for now, it's running around the 50 gallon. My 50 gallon is quite new and the fish that are currently in there have only been in there about a week or so, so I plan own waiting and adding my other fish slowly over time. I used aquarium substrate from other established tanks to help this one cycle faster. It is really well planted and has tons of hiding caves. Any suggestions on how long I would need to wait before adding the queen Arabesque Pleco? This fish will probably be my most costly so I would hate to loose because I added it too soon out of haste. I think I am going to skip getting the angels due to their size and my worrry that the black skirt tetras or hatchet fish might nip their fins. Also I want to avoid agression problems with my gourami's. Will new dwarf gourami's get along well with the sunset gourami's I currently have? If I go with what I want now my 50 gallon will eventually contain:
4 hatchetfish
4 black skirt tetras
4 gouramis, 2 sunset and 2 dwarf
1 queen arabesque pleco
2 blue rams
3 kuhli loaches
1 red claw crab
1 freshwater clam (this I definitely want as it sounds so cool but I have not been able to find much info as far as pros and cons of keeping in with my community tank) Anyone have experience with them?

So how does that sound for a 50 gallon? I really want to have all my future fish figured out before I start adding more stuff. From experience I know you can run into major problems by just going to the [acronym:f113cd0b88="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:f113cd0b88] and picking out stuff that looks cool with no research. So I am really trying to do this tank right.

[talloulou]

Also, if my [acronym:3c74295615="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:3c74295615] don't carry the fish I carefully deliberated over, what do you think about ordering from an online store. Has anyone ever done this and know which ones are reputable. Locally I am stuck with petsmart and petco. I would hate to carefully research what I want and then not be able to get the ideal set up do to local availability.

[severum mama]

www.liveaquaria.com is reputable, but expensive. They also have a live arrival guarantee. Or you could always try www.aquabid.com and see what happens. I've never ordered online because I can't really afford the shipping. the shipping is what really gets you, because most online retailers (and aquabid sellers) will only ship overnight.