new 55 gallon, stock list for review please?

[DallasFish]

Hello All -

I'm setting up a new 55 gallon FW tank that will have sand substrate, driftwood, and live plants (have 2WPG lighting). I have the filter materials and driftwood in established tanks at a friends house Here's my list of fish I'd like to stock with, please let me know if it looks good or if I'm missing something?

1 - dwarf pleco
3 - weather (dojo) loaches
6 - cory cats
4 (2 pair) - angels

What do you think?

Thank you !
Mike

 

[Zagz]

The stocking looks fine, the only concern I have is the weather loaches. They are a cooler water species and keeping them in tropical temps will shorten their life span. I know this from experience. I kept one in a tank that was 78 and his life span was only 4 years. In cooler tank temps, 74 for example, they can survive over 10 years. You could susbstitute kuhli loaches or yoyo's. You could also have more mid to top dwellers in the tank if you wanted.

 

[MisticX]

also for you tank size i think you're understocked

OFC that is a personal taste ... if you wish on purpose to have few fish then ur fine.

 

[rich311k]

I don't know about loaches but the stocking looks good. You could do a school of tetras, rasboras or rainbows.

 

[DallasFish]

Thank you all for your comments so far!

Zagz - i hadn't thought of looking at temperature. I may want to re-think based on a lower temperature. Golden dojos are my favorite fish . Does anyone out there have dojos w/ other cooler-water tankmates? From the web surfing I've done it appears that plecos, corys, and even Angels would be ok at ~ 75 deg?

Mistic and Rich - thanks for the tips on more fish - I'll give that some thought too.

 

[Zagz]

I've kept dojo's with goldfish. Goldfish are super messy though and you will most likely need extra filtration. There are many nice fancy goldfish out there if you really want the dojo's. Another thing about dojo's you probably already know, they are escape artists. Keep the tank covered completely.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

I looked into a couple cooler water fish, seems panda cories can handle little cooler water. Also white cloud minnows, Danio's, a couple barbs(green, gold, 2 spot), buenos aires tetra, bloodfin tetra, american flag fish. Also Ghost shrimp can tolerate cooler temps AFAIK.

Prob best to let these other experts confirm these as I'm far from an expert

 

[DallasFish]

thanks Speed!

 

[kimo]

"please let me know if it looks good or if I'm missing something?

1 - dwarf pleco
3 - weather (dojo) loaches
6 - cory cats
4 (2 pair) - angels

What do you think?"

The Angels: Are you planning on breeding? If so then you will need to start out with 6 - 8 Angels to insure you will be able to get at least one compatible pair. The sex of an Angel cannot be distinguished at the Juvenile stage. Even as adults it will be very hard to tell the difference unless there is a quaranteed pair together where you can make comparisons.
Only difference: the female will be slightly wider between the pectorals than males. Looking in a tank with just one you can't spot the difference.

With a 55g, with all of the above fish plus 6-8 juvenile Angels (take the rest back to the lfs when you don't need them), all should fit nicely after the tank has cycled.

 

[DallasFish]

Kimo - thank you for the Angel tips! I'm not planning to breed at this time, my daughter likes "fancy" fish and these seem to fit the bill.

Zagz - on the goldfish, for this 55g tank I'll be running a Filstar XP3. Do you think I should add another canister filter to keep them?

Thank you!
Mike

 

[DallasFish]

Looks like fancy goldfish and planted tanks don't go well together? I've got 2WPG lighting and want to have several plants. Has anyone else had success with fancies and live plants? Thanks for your help!

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I suggest some sort of a school of fish to add some nice natural/color to the aquarium. I suggest around 7-10 neon tetras or 7-10 black skirt tetras, or even 5-10 silver hachets or marble hachets. Schooling fish are fun and give a great look to the aquarium.

 

[DallasFish]

FishCrazy - wow, I'd never looked at hatchet fish - how cool! The only concern is that the bottom temp for them appears to be 75, which is moving up towards warmer for the weather loaches.

I appreciate the suggestions!