55 Gal Stocking

[spankym13]

hey guys well im new to this site, not to fishkeeping tho. Been keeping for 4 years now! I have a 55gal that I need to restock, My wife and I were thinking tetra sizeds fish. Cardinals,ect. How many of ea group would you reccomend to have a amazing looking aquarium! We would like a few types for a little mix!!! All input it welcome!!!!!
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Jason7894561230]

I would put the more smaller to medium sized ones in there. so
Cardinals
neons
rummynose
green neon
Ember
fasle rummynose
head and light
glowlight
Are a few nice and smaller sized tetra. I would put around 12 in each group and the less tetra you have the more you can have in one group!

 

[BigJim]

Welcome to AA!

Tetra-sized fish ranges from 1/2" to 4" or 6". If you're looking at the smaller tetras, 10-20 fish per species creates a nice effect. Fewer species and larger groups would be the way I'd go.

 

[HN1]

I'd do the same as Jim. A large school is soooo much more interesting to me than multiple small schools. Don't forget the cories for the bottom. No tank is complete without a lil cory party!

Welcome to AA!

 

[fort384]

I agree with the above. I would pick 2 species, and make 2 large schools.
ala, this:

 

[Coleallensmom]

I'm another in agreement with everyone else.

I have three types of tetra in my community tank and love to watch them swim together. Some tetra school together better than others, so keep that in consideration when you pick which type you want to go with. I have Black Neon, Pristella, and Black Skirt tetra. My Black Skirts and Black Neons school quite a bit while my Pristella on the other hand rarely swim together in numbers larger than 4-5.

 

[spankym13]

Wow, thanks for all the help! I like cardnials for sure! And unsure which other we will pick depends on what the store have HAHA! Also thought maybe some whitecloud minnows. My other question is I have heard with the smaller tetra like these you can count them for 1/2 a fish instead of 1. as far as the inch per gallon goes due to there smaller bio-load???

 

[BigJim]

Disregard the inch per gallon rule. It just leads to trouble.

If your 55g is well-filtered, you should have no problem with putting 50-100 small tetras in the tank.

 

[spankym13]

I have a rena filtstar canister filter so...

 

[BigJim]

What's the filter rated for? There are canisters that won't handle a 55g.

 

[spankym13]

It is the Rena filstar Xp2 rated up to 75 gallons and pushing around 300 gallons per hour! So tonight i had to hit the pet shop and that just got some NICE looking cardnials in so I grabbed 8! What other type would make a nice color mix with these? They had some nice looking zebra danios, whitecloud minnows, and few few other tetras but stock was low! I've also thought for the bottom of the tank to go with a few golden rams, as I've had blue rams before and loved them!

 

[LemurLad]

I'm a big fan of White Clouds in their natural color. The stripe on their side can have quite the range in iridescence. Or Glowlight tetras would probably look spectacular, the orange stripe will really compliment the blue stripe on the cardinals.

 

[BigJim]

Black neons or Penguin tetras. Penguins get a bit bigger than neons, but they're pretty striking fish.

 

[Coleallensmom]

+1 on the Black neons. I love mine.

I've always wanted to try whitecloud minnows, but I've yet to find them at my LFS. I have some zebra danios and while I do enjoy them, Idk if I'll be getting any again in the future. Mine enjoy chasing everyone else around, produce waste more than just about any other fish in the tank, and love to hog all the food at feeding time.

 

[spankym13]

Wow didnt know that about danios, I just love the striped look!