Easiest Fish to Keep - new 55 Gal

[phoenixkiller]

Hey all!

i am wondering what would be a good, hardy fish for a newly cycled 55 gallon aquarium, only this time, I do not wish to keep Cichlids. Any ideas besides cichlids?

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Yup, i would get a pair of angels, and a large school of penguin/rummynose tetras. You could get 2 nice schools and the angels could e your centerpiece. Then id get some rams and a school of kuhuli loaches

[absolutangel04]

If you want hardier fish, I would go with an apisto of some sort over a ram. Angels are hardy once they get some size on them, but small angels tend to be very delicate.
A different direction for a 55g tank is tiger barbs, golden wonder killis, bnp, and a rainbow shark.
If you want a peaceful community, there are tons of cories, platys, Pristella tetras, bloodfin tetras, red-eyed tetras, silver-tip tetras, lemon tetras, bnp, black skirt tetras, and white cloud mountain minnows which all are usually pretty hardy and would do fine in a newly established tank.
There are tons of other options too. I wouldn't be overly concerned about a fish being particularly hardy though as long as you do your part with the pwc and tank maintenance, but I can understand if you just want to avoid overly sensitive fish.

[bs6749]

Angels, rams, and apistos are all cichlids. In my experience with these three I've found apistos to be the most demanding with blue rams in a close second (Bolivians are not as demanding as blues). Classic silver and black angelfish are very hardy in my experience and they are hard to kill off.

You could do 2 BN plecos on the bottom along with 6-8 cories, add in 8 or so ottos, a dozen hatchetfish, 18 or so cardinal tetras/neons/black neons, a couple of gouramis, and maybe some livebearers like platys, mollies, or swordtails. All of those are relatively easy assuming that you can keep up with changing 10-15 gallons of water every 5-7 days.

[Cynic]

Bronze Cories are nearly indestructable.

[phoenixkiller]

How many angels could be kept in a 55 gallon aquarium?

[bs6749]

If you are keeping just angels with maybe a couple of BN plecos in a 55g tank, you could do 6 easily. I've done 8 before but that was a stretch. Breeders used to favor 20H tanks for a pair of angels and a 55g tank would basically allow for 3 pairs using this logic.

[absolutangel04]

If you want a community, I would just do 1-2 angels personally.

[bs6749]

Also, make up your mind! LOL You said you didn't want any cichlids and now you are asking how many you can keep in the tank!

[Mumma.of.two]

Phoenixkiller can I suggest you have just one stocking thread for your tank. You've had at least 4 that I've seen. It will be a lot easier if you stick to the one thread then we can see what you have ruled out and what your interested in. Saves people repeating themselves.

[bs6749]

How about we make Phoenixkiller get a tank for EACH THREAD and stock it accordingly?

[Mr. D]

I still say go Oscar, cichlid, but u basically have to try to kill it

Goldfish

Some tetras are pretty easy (not neons or cardinals though)

[phoenixkiller]

Oscars are almost my dream fish, but you have to feed the live fish when they grow up! RE: threads- Ok, this is my last thread on stocking. I just wanted several opinions on stocking.

[phoenixkiller]

Can I put any other fish in a 55 gallon tank with the 6 angels? Or, is there any angelfish-compatible fish (ie: tetras) that I can use to cycle the tank?

[boadams87]

Originally Posted by phoenixkiller

Oscars are almost my dream fish, but you have to feed the live fish when they grow up! RE: threads- Ok, this is my last thread on stocking. I just wanted several opinions on stocking.

I've got 2 oscars and u don't have to feed them live feeders. I only feed mine a couple once a mth.

[phoenixkiller]

Thanks, but anyone on my angelfish question?

[OBEYtheFISH]

Originally Posted by phoenixkiller

Can I put any other fish in a 55 gallon tank with the 6 angels? Or, is there any angelfish-compatible fish (ie: tetras) that I can use to cycle the tank?

I thought your tank was already cycled?
He mentioned if it was only going to be an angels tank then 6
In a community 4 should be fine with a schooling fish & some bottom dwellers

Bs6947 & absolutangel gave great examples of stocking I agree with them both

A 55 gallon will eventually be too small for an Oscar specially once its full grown

[James_in_MN]

I would have thought that a 55g was too small for oscars... ?

If I had a 55g tank (I wish), I'd either make it a cichlid tank or a schooling community tank. Since you don't want cichlids... (I think?)

You could put 2-3 schools of fish in there with a centerpiece fish (or pair of fish).

Something like this:
10 gold or black neon tetras
6 cherry/rosy/odessa barbs
6 boeseman's rainbowfish
2 pearl gourami
6 cory catfish
3 bristlenose pleco

[phoenixkiller]

Wait. Stop there. What PH levels do cichlids tolerate without trouble?

[bs6749]

The only time you need to consider pH levels being a factor with cichlids is when you are dealing with African cichlids and must keep the pH alkaline at 8.0 or higher (or wild caughts from anywhere). All of the cichlids mentioned by me are South American species and they will do fine anywhere from 5.5-8.5.