55 gallon stocking ideas?

[Juventus7shop]

Angelicus loaches are extremely entertaining to watch, and a group would be fine in your tank.


Fishobsessed7

Money Can't Buy Happiness, But It Can Buy Fish Which Is Pretty Much The Same Thing

I looked those up. They look awesome. I'm planning to go to my 3 lfs on Thursday so I'll update this thread after that.


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[Juventus7shop]

Alright everyone, I'm back. So today I went to my lfs, and I have a better idea of what I'm going for now. I think I want to have some Gouramis, probably a small group or just one larger Gourami. For bottom-dwellers, I will go with some Yoyo loaches or Corys or both. What I don't know about is what else I can put in the tank. I'm considering a school or two of smaller fish. However, I'm not sure if I could include a larger fish, or what other middle-level swimmers I could include. As always, all answers are welcome and greatly appreciated!


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[Fishobsessed7]

IMO, the loaches will outcompete the cories if you do both.


Fishobsessed7

Money Can't Buy Happiness, But It Can Buy Fish Which Is Pretty Much The Same Thing

 

[LayzorBeams]

A group of like 5-6 Pearl Gourami (as with any Gourami you should only have 1 male in a tank) along with a bunch of Cories, say 12, or maybe 8 Yoyo Loaches. I personally wouldn't do both due to the Loaches outcompeting the Cories. Then you could do some Tetras. Rummynose, Lemon, Silvertips, or Denison Barbs all come to mind as schoolers. Maybe add an Angel as a centerpeice, a Black or Platinum would look nice.

I would do:

4x Pearl Gourami
1x Platinum Angel
5x Denison Barbs
12x Silvertip Tetra
1x BN Pleco (Gold color)
8x Emerald or Panda Cory

On a black background with some plants, that would be awesome i think. Its not region specific but the aggression levels should work out. It might be a bit stocked compared to some other peoples preferences though.



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[Juventus7shop]

A group of like 5-6 Pearl Gourami (as with any Gourami you should only have 1 male in a tank) along with a bunch of Cories, say 12, or maybe 8 Yoyo Loaches. I personally wouldn't do both due to the Loaches outcompeting the Cories. Then you could do some Tetras. Rummynose, Lemon, Silvertips, or Denison Barbs all come to mind as schoolers. Maybe add an Angel as a centerpeice, a Black or Platinum would look nice.

I would do:

4x Pearl Gourami
1x Platinum Angel
5x Denison Barbs
12x Silvertip Tetra
1x BN Pleco (Gold color)
8x Emerald or Panda Cory

On a black background with some plants, that would be awesome i think. Its not region specific but the aggression levels should work out. It might be a bit stocked compared to some other peoples preferences though.



Like, seriously Mom... Not a hobby, its my life!

Sounds awesome! However, I'm not sure I can get Pearl Gouramis around here, so what are some other suitable Gouramis I could possibly include and how many of them? I like the idea of the Pleco and the Corys. Can I just do Silvertip tetras, or could I do other tetras? Finally, if we were looking at a semi-aggressive tank, would a pair of larger cichlids fit in there in place of the barbs?


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[Juventus7shop]

For example, can you put Gold, Honey, or Dwarf Gouramis in a group of 5+?


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[ImACoolguy]

For example, can you put Gold, Honey, or Dwarf Gouramis in a group of 5+?


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Not dwarfs.. Males would rip each other apart. Females maybe.


Caleb

 

[fishliker]

In my experience: you can have harem groups of honey gourami or pearl gourami as long as in the group there is only ONE MALE. And only one species. That would mean only all honey gourami or only all pearl gourami.

In my experience the honey and the pearl are the peaceful ones. And the above are the safest way to keep these fish.


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[fishliker]

And in my opinion, if you are going to have a semi-aggressive tank, then no honeys or pearl gourami should be in it as they are peaceful fish and would not do well.


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[absolutangel04]

I would actually avoid silver tip tetras with gouramis personally. When I silver tips, I found them to be very nippy with the flowing fins on my angels. Of course, that can vary. but, I would personally skip silver tips and go with a different tetra. Black neons, neons, cardinals, pristella, penguin, and lemon tetras are a few commonly available tetras that pop to mind and would work fine IMO.
It is generally pretty hard to find female dwarf gouramis in a lot of places. The males are often a bit more colorful and sell better, so you see far more of them. For this reason, I would avoid them as a harem fish. The most commonly available gourami is the 3 spot gourami. It will be called the gold, blue, or opaline gourami. Either sex can be pretty temperamental and may or may not work as a harem in a community. Individuals can have highly variable personalities. I believe a harem of honey gourami could work out, but honestly, honeys stay quite small and I think a different fish might be more impressive in your tank. Though, its you tank. If you want to try a honey harem, you certainly can. If you just want 1 gourami, I would get whichever color of the 3 spot gourami hits your fancy. Personally, I like the opaline the best.
A few other schoolers to consider are cherry or gold barbs. They are not nippy like tiger barbs are, and can dwell in peaceful communities just fine. Also, rather than being strong shoalers, the males will compete for the females attention and herd them around a bit rather like guppies do. They are attractrive, and very fun to watch. I also find they fill out the middle of your tank well.
I have kept a good handful of different cories and loaches. I will say that I personally like loaches sooooo much better than cories. They are quite active, and pretty adorable. I don't really think that they would out compete cories as long as you feed sinking food, but your tank will look more cohesive if you pick just one species or the other.
Another fish I suggest is either a bristlenose pleco or a rubber lip pleco. They really don't efficiently clean your tank, and they poop a lot, but they are very cool fish to keep and pretty entertaining to watch.

 

[Juventus7shop]

Alright, thanks for all the suggestions, especially with the Gouramis! I like the idea of the gourami, the Angel, and the Pleco, and I'll decide on a bottom feeder later. I'll probably go with some a school of tetras pr barbs for the middle. However, I have two questions before I make a final stocking list:
1. I really like Denison barbs, but I don't think I can get those around here. What are some similar fish that I could put in there? Would Bala Sharks work?
2. If I were to just go with one Gourami, could I do another top-level swimmer, or just keep the Gourami? If I were to add another top-level fish, which one(s) could I do?
I know I've said this every time, but I really appreciate you guys helping me out? Everyone on here seems pretty knowledgeable, and I'm just trying to learn as much as I can. So thanks!



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[coralbandit]

The denisons and bala are both fish that get too big IMO.
Minimum tank of 75 g with plans to upgrade IMO big fish.
I wasn't going to mention if you didn't like the roselines.(sorry)
Without direct knowledge of other sharks in particular I will go out on a limb and most are fish that should have 6' long tanks for their final home(minimum).

Rummy nose tetras look very similar to the roseline(Denison).
I keep both in my 180g.

 

[Juventus7shop]

The denisons and bala are both fish that get too big IMO.
Minimum tank of 75 g with plans to upgrade IMO big fish.
I wasn't going to mention if you didn't like the roselines.(sorry)
Without direct knowledge of other sharks in particular I will go out on a limb and most are fish that should have 6' long tanks for their final home(minimum).

Rummy nose tetras look very similar to the roseline(Denison).
I keep both in my 180g.

Oh ok thanks! So besides my tetra school, what could I replace the barbs with (it doesn't necessarily have to be a similar fish) and what about top-level swimmers?


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