Looking for fish for a 55 gallon...

[Catkramer]

We received a 55 gallon for Christmas from Santa. He was kind enough to set it up with feeder gold fish to help cycle it. Since then, we have added all fake plants and pirate fixtures.

We have also added 5 mickey mouse platys and then cycled that for a few days and then added 6 mollies (2 dalmation, 2 black, and 2 gold fancy). We also went ahead and added 2 tiger corys and one upside down catfish.

We are looking to load the tank, but not over load it. These new fish have been in the tank now about 48 hours, and I saw the nitrites climbing, but so far, nothing else is going on. Every one has seemed fine, and I have only fed them once. And probably won't feed them again until tomorrow night or so.

We have been adding the conditioning salt, extra chlorinating remover and the regular conditioner. We have high amounts of chlorine in our water for some reason.

We had been throwing around getting some dwarf gouramis but I have since read on line that they don't like salt in their water. Plus, I am not quite sure how they would do in a tropical non agressive tank. Honestly, I don't know much about them, but the pet store mentioned them and since I haven't had them before, I have been trying to read up on them.

We are in the need of some top feeders, and we were looking at hatchets, but also wanting something with some color. I don't like guppies or minnows or anything like that. Maybe I have just seen too many tanks that are not cared for with these types of fish in them, but I am just not turned on by them.

Any suggestions on what to put in there? We have room for approximately 20 more, including our algae eaters. We were looking for fish that are interesting, friendly, conversational pieces, and colorful. My son has autism and he enjoys the trips to the pet store, and enjoys watching the fish. So anything that requires him to spend more time hunting for them is not going to work. Which I found out the hard way with my upside down catfish

We have several weeks to study up on any suggestions. My 8 year old daughter has taken this tank very seriously and has made charts as to what fish can be placed in with other fish. She is already talking about wanting one for her room. But that is a whole other post.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Catkramer

 

[Catkramer]

Babies

Well, now we have babies! Right now I have only seen two. I am sure many have not survived. We are not equipped to give them any extra care right now. I am not sure if I am supposed to give them any thing special or if we should stick with the "strong" will survive attitude. I think they are from the mickey mouse platys, although they could be from the fancy gold mollies (but she didn't look pregnant).

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to the site!

For an uncycled tank, you have a lot of fish in there. For now, I recommend that you do not add anything else to the tank. Rather, keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrIte readings, as if they haven't already, theyre going to spike up pretty high. If you don't have a quality test kit, you should get one. I recommend the API freshwater master kit.

You'll also want to read the article in my signature (below) about the nitrogen cycle. This will explan what's going on in your tank.

You'll need to do water changes to keep the levels down below where they're toxic to your fish.

 

[Catkramer]

Well crum

Well, darn. I had feeders in there to cycle the tank and had my water tested by the same pet store that gave us the feeders. They said the water was fine and I could start adding fish. They did tell me to add fish slowly, but schooling fish needs to be added in schools of 5 or 6.

So if you are adding a new type of fish, how can you do that only 1 or 2 at a time?

through out the process, i have been testing the water in the mornings and at night and if my amonia goes up, or the nitrites, I have been doing a 20 to 25% water change. In fact, I did one last night. This morning the amonia is fine and the nitrites are fine.

I will read your articles. Thank you for the help!

Cat

 

[Codefox]

You can add more than one or two at a time but you've only had your tank set up for about a week. The whole cycling process is around 4-6 weeks. When you introduce more fish you'll increase the bioload and the bacteria will need time to 'catch up'.

When everything has stabilized you can add another school of fish!

 

[Catkramer]

You can add more than one or two at a time but you've only had your tank set up for about a week. The whole cycling process is around 4-6 weeks. When you introduce more fish you'll increase the bioload and the bacteria will need time to 'catch up'.

When everything has stabilized you can add another school of fish!

Ok, cool. We will just sit on these fish for a while and watch the levels.

Thanks again!

Cat

 

[Codefox]

Patience is always the hardest part of setting up a tank. But it will be worth it

 

[Catkramer]

LOL. I think that is what got us in trouble. We had this HUGE tank with 6 little fish in it and we couldn't see them. They were always back in the plants or something. So we kept testing the water and waiting, and we added a few more.

No biggie though. I think we have enough to just sit and watch. You can atleast see them from the couch now.

I do wonder though. We have a set of dalmation mollies, and then two female black mollies. Will the male dalmation mate with the two black mollies? I didn't know if they would cross mate like that.

 

[Codefox]

Yeah they'll mate with each other. They're not different species, just different strains. Most fancy aquarium fish have been selectively bred to give them their colors and finnage. I'm not sure if mollies are like guppies and store sperm from previous matings as well. They're all the same family and I believe they do but I could be wrong.

That means you could end up with mixed strains that don't seem to be related to the fish you have in the tank if they mated prior to being introduced to your tank.

Take some pictures for us!

 

[Catkramer]

I just took some pictures, now I have to figure out how to upload them.

 

[Codefox]

Well if you're just posting to the thread you can use the "manage attachments" button after you click on the big Reply button

 

[Catkramer]

 

[Codefox]

Y'know I'm usually not a fan of the more fanciful decorations in a tank but I love the way you have that pirate ship in there. It just looks like an actual shipwreck down there and I really like bubble walls You hid a lot of the equipment pretty well too.

Why the dual thermometers though? Its going to look great when its fully stocked!

 

[Catkramer]

Thank you! I really didn't want it to look hokey but it was really for our kids. My 8 year old is into princesses so much that I was trying to get her to like something more fish appropriate, so we just all call it the Pirates of the Carribean theme. So we were trying to balance out stuff for them with something that looks more life like. And I saw all of the tubing and I hated it, so I just kept adding those tall plants to try and had it all. I know we probably still need some more, but it is a great start.

Thanks for asking to see it! I am pretty excited about it. It has been fun. I was just at the store the other day and saw a 125 gallon and my husband told me to "keep walking".

It is quite addicting.

Oh yeah, the duel was just to make sure it was the same temp on each side. I wanted to make sure the heater was working. We usually take the left one out and use it for checking the water temp when we are adding water with the python. It is more for me than anything.

Cat

 

[Codefox]

Hah, yes, I know that itch...