best 55 gallon kit

[mr funktastic]

i am looking for peoples opinions on what is the bast 55 gallon kit to buy. ie. top fin, marine land... and where to buy it as well as price. OR the cheapest way to have a complete aquarium with heater, tank, lights and filter. i would like to get it all new rather than garage saleing or buying in a used magazine. i am in canada so prices in canadian would be great. i have seen kits that were 269.99 and i have seen other that were 399.99. anybody who has ever bought a kit like this please help me out so i can make the right choice, please list the pros and cons of buying a kit verses individually. thanks

i bought my 20 gallon kit from big als with the penguin 125 biowheel filter, flourecent light and hood for 229.99. was this a good deal? i really like it and the filter has never let me down.

 

[Jchillin]

IMO, the kits in this range (55 and over) are not up to par with what you will really require. They just throw a lot of insufficient equipment together giving the impression that you are getting a deal. IE: The heaters, filters will be just the minimum required or less than what is required for the tank size.

I have found it better to get the tank and stand locally and order the equipment on-line. It does save money and you get better equipment in the long run.

HTH.

 

[mrcrazypants05]

yea i bought a cheap 55 gallon kit from walmart to start me off, and I don't wanna spend much more money on it since I'm getting ready to setup my 125gal tank... BUT I'll probably end up getting another HOB Filter for it...

 

[severum mama]

I agree that you will come away with better equipment for the money if you buy the tank and equipment separately. Here's an example:

I bought my 55 gallon tank for $99.99 from Petsmart, and it came with the hood and lights.
Emperor 400 filter: $40
Emperor 280 filter: $30
300W heater: about $30 (I could have gotten this cheaper online if I had thought to shop online!)
70 lbs. of rock: $20
driftwood: $20
huge clay pot: $17
gravel: about $20

So, for about the same cost, I not only got the tank and equipment, but I also got decor. I think you'll save a lot of money, plus you get the exact equipment that you want. You'll need to upgrade your lighting if you want to grow live plants.

 

[mr funktastic]

i was looking at a tank at big als because there is one near me it come with a marineland penguine 350 bio wheel power filter and a 300 watt heater for 299.99.
i plan on custon building the stand like i did for my 20 gallon tank so thats not an issue. is that a good price based on the equipment i am getting. this also includes the light and hood cover.

 

[mr funktastic]

is that american or canadian prices severum mama? i plan on buying the sand that raises your ph because i am planning on getting cichlids. it is 44.99 for 50 pounds at big als. and i was gonna go with lava rock and red slate for the interior. but thanks for your ideas

 

[severum mama]

Oh, I wasn't suggesting that you decorate your tank the same as mine, just illustrating a point. And I was talking about American prices, I didn't notice you were from CA!

What cichlids are you planning to keep? If you want African cichlids they will do better with aragonite/crushed coral like you are talking about because they need the higher pH. If you want South or Central Americans, it won't be necessary to alter pH.

If you really want to buy the kit I would advise you to add another filter in addition to the Penguin 350B. Cichlids are messy fish and 350 gph may not be enough for them. I filter 680 gph on my 55 gallon SA/CA cichlid tank and it works great for me. Of course, if you can afford a canister, that would be even better.

 

[mr funktastic]

i wish i could afford alot of things lol and i was planning on getting the aragonite sand. i was thinking about getting 4 yellow labs and 4 demonsoni. i will also put in some suckers to clean up the bottom of the tank and i was wondering if cories or loachs are compatible with these fish. the penguin 350 is rated for up to a 70 gallon tank so i thought that would be sufficent.

 

[severum mama]

I don't usually pay attention to the manufacturer's rating for filters. I usually shoot for about 10x per hour, but there are people here that would disagree with me so that's really up to you.

As for corys and loaches with Mbuna, my opinion would be no, but I've never kept Mbuna so take it for what it's worth. They just seem awfully aggressive to be kept with peaceful fish. Good luck!

 

[mr funktastic]

i have heard that the labs are really peaceful but i dont know about the demonsoni i guess i will check up with the fish store people thet actually seem to know what they are talking about. thanks for your help

 

[severum mama]

Well, the labs are peaceful as far as Mbuna go, but not necessarily compared to a lot of other fish. I don't know anything about the demasoni, though.

 

[Guest]

For a normal tank (i.e. not a discus tank or a planted tank for example) I think the Top Fin kit is the best deal for your $. Everthing it comes with is fine for general fishkeeping, and at $150 its tough to beat the price.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I wouldn't mix Africans with non-Africans. There are a few exceptions, but it varies with each fish personality.

 

[mr funktastic]

i plan to get them small and there will be alot of hiding places for the fish. what would go well with the yellow labs that look like demonsoni? i want to have a really yellow fish and a really blue fish to create contrast in my tank. any ideas?

 

[tetrin]

if you want the 125 set up in near future, i'd suggest you do just that, skipping the 55g on the way.

but if you really want an intermediate cichlid tank and don't want to handle the demasoni aggro (BTW, they are fondly called 'demons' ), i'd suggest ps. acei - a blue fish with yellow/white tails. they have a mild temperament and will occupy the upper region of your tank (pretty rare for a mbuna). i think fishy would vouch for them .

clown loaches are a common fixture in ARLC tanks. but put them in at a slightly bigger size (3"+ ) to avoid bullying. they have erectable spines under their eyes, which is why they are left alone. cories would definitely be bullied.

you could try ps. socolfi or ps. saulosi (only dominant male) for the blue effect too...melanochromis johannii / cyaneorhabdos...and...and...

 

[Fishyfanatic]

You know my style Tetrin. I would definately vouch for Acei's. They are beautiful fish and tend to school. Not school in the sense that you see Tetra's schooling, but they hang together most of the time and swim together. I haven't seen any other mbuna's do that before. They just have a uniqueness to them. There are also other colored Acei's, but then you are looking for the rare ones. Well, rare around here at least. The Tanzanian Black's are black with the yellow tail. The Acei's and Yellow Labs get along together perfectly.

Regarding the Johanni, it depends on which strain you get. Some of them are highly aggressive and some are pretty calm. The socolfi and saulosi are also good choices. My brother has a Socolofi that he calls his Bling Bling fish because it looked like platnum when they bought it.

I have some pics of my Acei's in my gallery if you want to get a visual. A great site for pics of Malawi's is www.malawimayhem.com You're going to want to look in the Pseudotropheus section. They tend to be the less aggressive. HTH

 

[mr funktastic]

ok i really like your johanni. and from what i see it is compatible with the yellow labs. in a 55 gallon tank how many of these fish could i have? i was thinking somewhere along the lines of 4 johani's and 4 yellow labs with a few chinese algea eaters (because they are yellow i tohught they would look best in the tank) and maybe a loach or 2 (i was thinknig clown loaches) will this be ok?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The clown loaches are going to be about 12 inches at full size. Be prepared for an upgrade in the tank.

The johanni that I had was really aggressive. That particular strain is aggressive. Scientific name: Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos. Mine reached about 6 inches before we had to give him up (too aggressive). But if you get juvis, you may have a better experience mixing them.

 

[tetrin]

just a note on the johanni's -
in case you are attracted to them by their color, only males attain that coloration, females are orange. in a 55g, its not advisable to have more than 1 male. it can be done, just not advisable. the melanochromis genus is not renowned for their social skills.

melanochromis cyaneorhabdos, on the other hand, is sexually monomorphic, i.e. males and females have the same coloration. and its really hard to tell them apart at the size they are usually sold. they'd also love to be in a harem of 1m-3f.

but in the end i'll second fishy and say acei's are the best tankmates for labs.

 

[manooosie]

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