Silver Dollar 55 gallon.

[BrownCoat]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post, so please be gentel with me.

I'm thinking about a silver dollar species tank. How many Silver dollars can I put in a 55g? Does the one inch per gallon work with these guys if I measure their diameter (dorsal to anal fin)? Is a 55g too small? I DO NOT want to mistreat any fish so please don't sugar coat any bad news.

[fort384]

I think you could put 4 of them in a 55. I wouldn't go much more than that. They can get big quick.

[BrownCoat]

How big do they get? I think it's 5 inches in diameter, right?

[fort384]

Up to 7" I believe. They need to be in groups of at least 3-4... 55 is about the smallest tank I would consider them for. You might get away with 5 if you are strict with your tank maintenance schedule.

[BrownCoat]

4 is just fine. Will they have enough room to swim around? I don't want them to get stunted.

[fort384]

I think 4 in a 55 would be healthy. You might get some differing opinions... I tend to push the stocking limits (hopefully responsibly).

[BrownCoat]

I do too. But i've never had any sickness (in my fish tanks) worse than dropsy once in a while.

[Tim Wheatley]

The bioload of SDs compared to other fish of their size is absolutely minimal. I do overfilter my tank by quite some way though (I have an FX5 on a 29, an FX5 on a 55 and another FX5 on a 75). My 75 has an Oscar, a Convict Cichlid and 13 (yes, 13) Silver Dollars. While I have every intention to upgrade to a bigger tank, I am not seeing any complaints from any of the fish about their conditions or available space. My SDs really love the safety in numbers aspect of their tank and they are (if anything) cleanup fish for the Oscar.

Here is a good video which shows the positive affect of me keeping SDs with an Oscar. But I'm absolutely certain also that SDs do not carry the bioload proportionate to their size. And with their size, they are less than an inch wide even when fully grown, mine spend their time eye to eye and all stay in the same area. The Oscar does not seem bothered in the slightest by the amount of space they occupy, and the Convict spends all his time in his hole.

Take a look.
DSC_2923 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Tim Wheatley]

So, to sum up, what other fish do you have in your 55? If none and if you have very good filtration and do proper maintenance, I would actually say you could go with 10. Especially when you consider their growth pattern... They grow VERY quickly to about 5 inches and then slow greatly.

Just remember you either need a few small bottom feeders, or you need to feed the SDs very slow sinking food because mine never really feed from the bottom.

[Tim Wheatley]

And here they are eye to eye. Minimal space in the tank taken by the many fish:


Oh, and mine don't eat plants, either.

[BrownCoat]

Beautiful oscar! And the silver dollars look great!

I have no other fish in the 55g because I haven't bought the 55g yet.

Could I put a chinese algae eater in with them? Or a Cory cat?

[Tim Wheatley]

Cory cats would be absolutely fine. CAEs are probably too aggressive (when mature) for the SDs. SDs are easily spooked and a CAE will try to suck on them at some point. People say Siamese Algae Eaters are better, but I have never kept SAE so can't confirm that myself.

[fort384]

I kept SAEs for awhile. They are docile. I would think they would be just fine with SDs.

[BrownCoat]

I've read that as long as they are a fast moving fish the CAEs won't be able to suck 'em. But I see your point. My CAEs will attack the platys sometimes but the platys are small and fast. And platys are not flat bodied fish.