55 gallon stocking questions

[Skeeter4158098]

So I have a 55 gallon fresh water tank.
Here is what I am running in it.

Fluval 306 canister filter
Aqueon pro 150 heater (running 78d)
2 x14" bubble bar
Substrate is small black gravel rock
Assortment of fake plants and decorations



Here is what I have now.

5 serpae tetras
5 high fin black skirt tetras
5 yellow pristillas tetras
5 blood fin tetras

Here is what I want

2 angel fish (to name after my parents who passed away 5 years ago.)

1 or 2 clown plecos or other pleco that stays on the smaller size.

Any of these either one or two more schools of

5 penguin tetras
5 rummy nose tetras
5 other type of tetras

Also looking at one or two do jo loaches.

So lets hear some opinions as far as how many schools of tetras can I have (keeping school size at 5) with say
2 angel fish
1 or 2 clown plecos and
1 or 2 do jo loaces?

And if only keeping the 4 types of tetras I have now and adding
2 angel fish
1 or 2 clown plecos
1 or 2 dojos loaches
What size of school can I increase them to? Would like to go to say 8 or 10 each.

 

[tamtam]

I'm not the best with numbers for stocking but just wanted to say with the angels to keep in mind that when they grow they will eat anything that fits in it's mouth. May out some of your options for tetras.

 

[Stephen Rollins]

Here's a guideline for your sticking question. Plug and play. Good guideline for beginners
http://aqadvisor.com/

 

[siva]

Aqadvisor is pretty much junk IMO. You're much better off asking the quesiton here, like you have. Not to say it won't give what I believe is accurate advice some of the time, but not all of the time.

I would add the two angels, two dojo's, and two clown plecs, and up the school sizes to 6-7 ea on your tetras. As far as adding additional tetras, I think that sticking with the four you have will be most visually appealing. I would atleast go with this for a while, and then after waiting and watching, if you feel like there is room for more, add them at that time.

Remember clown plecos diet is made up primarily of wood, so add plenty of it to the tank. I kept my clown pleco in a tank with two small pieces for a long time, and noticed when I moved it to another tank with lots of wood in it that it quickly doubled in size.

 

[The Iceman]

I know this doesnt help with your stocking question but your tank looks nice, i like the setup

 

[Skeeter4158098]

Here's a guideline for your sticking question. Plug and play. Good guideline for beginners
http://aqadvisor.com/

So I checked out the advisor app (cool idea) only a little confusing tells me all the tetra will nip at angel fish but to increase to 6 each then they don't show that they will nip lol. And second it doesn't have any fluval filter systems in its filter selection.

Aqadvisor is pretty much junk IMO. You're much better off asking the quesiton here, like you have. Not to say it won't give what I believe is accurate advice some of the time, but not all of the time.

I would add the two angels, two dojo's, and two clown plecs, and up the school sizes to 6-7 ea on your tetras. As far as adding additional tetras, I think that sticking with the four you have will be most visually appealing. I would atleast go with this for a while, and then after waiting and watching, if you feel like there is room for more, add them at that time.

Remember clown plecos diet is made up primarily of wood, so add plenty of it to the tank. I kept my clown pleco in a tank with two small pieces for a long time, and noticed when I moved it to another tank with lots of wood in it that it quickly doubled in size.

As far as adding other tetra I most likely will just keep the 4 types and increase school size.

Clown pleco. I will add some drift wood. I want to add a good size piece. Just not one that will over crowd the tank and take away from the symentry of the tank. I'm thinking a piece say 6" or so or maybe two on each side? Some suggested I put it in side the sitting buddha? The thing with that is I want the pleco to have enough room in there with the driftwood in as well.

 

[siva]

The pleco will be on/under the wood pretty much at all times, so you don't need to worry about room for the pleco. The more wood the happier it will be. Which brings up a good point, if you want a pleco you will see a lot, the clowns may not be what you want.

 

[Skeeter4158098]

The pleco will be on/under the wood pretty much at all times, so you don't need to worry about room for the pleco. The more wood the happier it will be. Which brings up a good point, if you want a pleco you will see a lot, the clowns may not be what you want.

So what would be another smaller pleco? Other then say a bushy nose there the ones with a bunch of whiskers (not fond of the looks).

 

[siva]

You and me both. Although I am fond of the starlight BN's. Another popular one is the rubbernose, but I'm not fond of those either. I love pitbulls, they are actually smaller than the clowns and like to be kept in trios or more, but I have found them to be more sensitive than the other plecs I've kept. My fav plec currently is a blue phantom I picked up not long ago. It's out and about all the time and is totally gorgeous. Get's larger than the clown, but still fits your tank. Check out wetspottropicalfish.com. They offer a wide variety of plecos with the selection changing all the time. I'm currently after a leopard frog pleco. Also, if you want to think about something a little different, farowella cats and panda garras are great algae eaters.

 

[Skeeter4158098]

You and me both. Although I am fond of the starlight BN's. Another popular one is the rubbernose, but I'm not fond of those either. I love pitbulls, they are actually smaller than the clowns and like to be kept in trios or more, but I have found them to be more sensitive than the other plecs I've kept. My fav plec currently is a blue phantom I picked up not long ago. It's out and about all the time and is totally gorgeous. Get's larger than the clown, but still fits your tank. Check out wetspottropicalfish.com. They offer a wide variety of plecos with the selection changing all the time. I'm currently after a leopard frog pleco. Also, if you want to think about something a little different, farowella cats and panda garras are great algae eaters.

Do the blue phantoms get much bigger? Or are they like the common plecos and HUGE?

 

[josh7]

Blue phantoms only get up to about 6-8 inches I have a green phantom basically the same but green and is a beautiful and active Pleco.

 

[Samzter]

On aqua advisor the fluvals are under Hagen fluval 206 etc.

 

[siva]

Do the blue phantoms get much bigger? Or are they like the common plecos and HUGE?

No, or I would NOT have recommended them They typically won't exceed 7". I have read they can be territorial and aggressive towards other plecos, so it may need to be the only pleco in the tank.

 

[Skeeter4158098]

On aqua advisor the fluvals are under Hagen fluval 206 etc.

Ok. Thanks I will double check it.

For the most part think I will stick with the 4 type tetras I have. Then adding a clown pleco or a blue phantom pleco. Then a dojo loach. And 2 angelfish (to be named after parents) want to know how many more tetras I can increase to there schools? Currently I have.

5 serpae
5 black skirts
5 yellow pristilas (x-ray)
5 blood fins.

So with those a dojo loach (maybe) 2 angelfish. And a clown pleco or a blue phantom pleco or (some other small pleco.) Just not a bushy or bristle nose.

 

[Skeeter4158098]

No, or I would NOT have recommended them They typically won't exceed 7". I have read they can be territorial and aggressive towards other plecos, so it may need to be the only pleco in the tank.

Lol. Thanks. As far as territorial and aggressive against other plecos. What about other fish?

 

[siva]

I'd start with schools of 7 each. Then maybe decide from there a little down the road if you feel like there's room to increase the school size.

No problems with any other fish..only other plecos. And that's just what I've read. The same is said for many pleco species. I'm still tempted to try and mix him with another. He's growing out a bit in my 29 right now but I intend to put him in my 55 which does contain a clown pleco. So we shall see....

Not sure if you want to stock just one dojo loach. I've never kept that species, but every loach I know of is more comfortable with it's own kind. You may want to research that a bit and maybe go for two.

One concern...I hope the black skirts aren't too nippy for the angels. If they end up with nipped fins, you may want to get the skirts out.

 

[Skeeter4158098]

Well how sad. Just did a water change on my fish tank. And last Friday I added 5 blood fin tetras and have not scene one for the last couple days. Well found him. Well what was left of him. Sad day. So I think I know which one he was when I got them he was kind of the smaller of the group and at PETCO when I got them he was the one who didn't have a lot of color to him and wasn't looking to good. Time to go to PETCO and see what they say. Usually they want the dead fish for new fish. Maybe they will still even with out said dead fish.

I sent him to the great porcelain bowl in the sky. If I would of had time I would of gave him a viking burial. I think he would of wanted it that way lol.

 

[siva]

lol you're sweet. They typically want a water sample and the dead fish. I doubt they can help you w/o that. Hopefully it was cheap..

 

[Skeeter4158098]

lol you're sweet. They typically want a water sample and the dead fish. I doubt they can help you w/o that. Hopefully it was cheap..

Lol. My PETCO rocks. No dead fish no water sample. NEW FREE BLOOD FIN. Now to get the little guy home to his brothers so they can play. Lol.

 

[siva]

Score