Stocking 50 Gallon Ideas?

[noelllll]

Hey everyone, I'm almost done building a hood for my tank right now so that means getting fish is not too far away! I'm thinking it'll be a couple weeks before I add my first few fish maybe during the cycle? Anyways I'm kind of stuck on deciding what kind of fish to get..

I'm thinking something like:
1-2 centrepiece fish(probably same kind)
3-4 medium sized fish
1 or 2 schools of 10ish?
maybe a cleaner fish or two if there's room..

One main thing I'm looking for is constant activity, or as much as possible, especially the schools. The centrepiece maybe not I kind of like Angelfish but every time I see videos of them they're just standing in one spot lol..
I was thinking Cichlids are kind of cool. But would it be possible to fill that outline with them?

So yeah any ideas appreciated, thanks!

 

[Lucas82]

I have several tanks and one of them is a 55 Gallon that had African Cichlids in it. I really wanted it to work but the Cichlids were so aggessive towards each other that I ended up giving them away and buying Rainbow Fish. Now I will just say I am biased toward the Rainbow Fish and a school of about 5-7 of the same species (like Boesemani, Parkinsoni, Sepik) would look awesome in your tank. As far as smaller schools or medium sized schools stay away from the Buenos Aires Tetras, Tiger Barbs, or Serpe Tetras. They may look pretty but they nipped each other and my Rainbows pretty badly so I wouldn't suggest those for any kind of schools. I have had luck with the Neon Tetras and Black Neon Tetras, they haven't bothered my nicer Rainbows.

If you decide to get Cichlids I would stay away from extra aggressive species (Zebra, Blue Johanni, Jack Dempsey) or do some serious research before you mix Cichlid species and other fish species. Angel Fish are pretty cool, I know they are part of the Cichlid family so they are supposed to be aggressive, but in the videos I have seen of Angelfish they seem pretty docile. Of course pick whatever fish you desire , I just wish someone had really let me know about Cichlids and mixing species in tanks before I wasted time, money, and effort. Good luck on picking fish, let us know what you decide and post some pics.

 

[vanimal]

I would do
3 Angels
2 Rams
1 Gourami
5 Silver Dollars
3 Pictus Cats, they are extremely active in small groups. But leave a lot of room for them to swim.

 

[noelllll]

Hm okay thanks for the ideas. I like some you guys listed. Here's what I'm thinking so far maybe for now..

1 (or 2, if allowed) Gourami as the centrepiece fish
3 Rams (I like the German Blue and Electric Blue), do you know if they mix well?
10 of some type of rainbow fish, I'd have to look into them a little more to see what I like best
10 Giant Danios??

I looked up the Pictus Cats and it says the minimum for them is a 70 gallon tank.. Are they cleaner fish at all? I'm not too crazy about how they look or anything but if they're bottom dwellers and active it's a possibility.

I think I'm going to stay away from Cichlids for now and maybe one day in the future get a Cichlid tank or something?

 

[bettaowner]

A Discus with a school of cardinal tetras would look nice and some corydoras.

 

[noelllll]

A Discus with a school of cardinal tetras would look nice and some corydoras.

I like the Discus and maybe some Peppered Cory Cats for bottom dwellers. When I put Discus into AqAdvisor it says they need to be in schools and they're too big to have a school of them in my tank.. I want to be sure I don't get any oversized fish for my tank, I did that with my 10g and it was quite the headache trying to get it fixed lol.

So now we're sitting at:
1 or 2 Gouramis
3 Rams
10 Rainbow Fish
10 Giant Danios (still maybe)
4 Peppered Cory Cats

Does that look like it'll work?
Any other ideas for centrepiece fish?
Or even schooling fish actually, active and tight schools is the preference for that..

 

[vanimal]

I like the Discus and maybe some Peppered Cory Cats for bottom dwellers. When I put Discus into AqAdvisor it says they need to be in schools and they're too big to have a school of them in my tank.. I want to be sure I don't get any oversized fish for my tank, I did that with my 10g and it was quite the headache trying to get it fixed lol.

So now we're sitting at:
1 or 2 Gouramis
3 Rams
10 Rainbow Fish
10 Giant Danios (still maybe)
4 Peppered Cory Cats

Does that look like it'll work?
Any other ideas for centrepiece fish?
Or even schooling fish actually, active and tight schools is the preference for that..

10 Rainbows is too many. I think 4-5 would be better. They can get up to 5" but 4" is more common.

 

[noelllll]

10 Rainbows is too many. I think 4-5 would be better. They can get up to 5" but 4" is more common.

Okay so I'll cut the Rainbows to 4-5 depending on which ones I decide with, thanks
Do the Gouramis and the Rams go well together? Can I get more than one Gourami? And are we talking regular Gouramis or dwarf??

 

[vanimal]

I think two Dwarfs would have enough room to avoid fighting but if you go with one of the larger species I would suggest only one. They should get along with the Rams just fine. My Dwarf Gourami wasn't aggressive at all.

 

[noelllll]

I think two Dwarfs would have enough room to avoid fighting but if you go with one of the larger species I would suggest only one. They should get along with the Rams just fine. My Dwarf Gourami wasn't aggressive at all.

Hm alright good to knoww. I kind of want the centrepiece to be a decent size like 5" or so. So I think I'll get one normal Gourami if my LFS has a nice one there.

Do you know what kinds of fish have good schools? I was thinking Danios I have a few in my 10 gallon and they're soooo active and fun to watch I wouldn't mind getting a bunch for the new tank. Maybe a few different kinds to add colour? The guy at my LFS said all kinds of Danios swim together, is that true?

 

[Old Scales]

Rummy nose tetras school very tightly most of the time. Look at them as a possibility.
Caudailly, OS.

 

[noelllll]

Rummy nose tetras school very tightly most of the time. Look at them as a possibility.
Caudailly, OS.

Thanks, I watched a couple Youtube videos and they do seem interesting indeed. Would they get along fine with all the other fish? If so I'm thinking this'll be the list::

1 Gourami
3 Rams
5 Rainbow Fish
10 Danios
10 Rummynose Tetras
4 Peppered Cory Cats

Do you guys think that would look too crowded with all those fish? I have no idea where they all like to swim, so if they're all middle I'm thinking it'll be a bit much, no?

 

[Old Scales]

The danios and rummys will school the same way and even together. You may like this or you might find that each distracts from the other. Its really what you like, but something I would consider. OS.

 

[vanimal]

Seems fine to me with good filtration. What are you planning for filtration?

 

[noelllll]

The danios and rummys will school the same way and even together. You may like this or you might find that each distracts from the other. Its really what you like, but something I would consider. OS.

Yeah I think that'll be fine. I'll keep reading up on schooling fish and stuff but for now that looks good to me

As for filtration right now I just have an AquaClear 200. I plan on getting another filter(probably HOB as well) once I find a decent deal around. But for the first little bit I won't have all those fish just adding one kind at a time, probably starting with Danios as they're the only ones I know that could withstand a cycle..

 

[Old Scales]

Danios best for cycling. Don't add rummys until you have stable tank. Rummys are known as a "canary fish" as the red in their noses will fade to pink if the water is getting out of balance. The better the water parameters the darker their red gets. They are great indicators of when its time to do a water change. However I wouldn't wait that long to do one. Caudially, OS.

 

[noelllll]

Danios best for cycling. Don't add rummys until you have stable tank. Rummys are known as a "canary fish" as the red in their noses will fade to pink if the water is getting out of balance. The better the water parameters the darker their red gets. They are great indicators of when its time to do a water change. However I wouldn't wait that long to do one. Caudially, OS.

Alright so now I'm 100% putting the Danios in during the cycle. Thanks for the info about Rummys, definitely interesting, and useful

On a quick side note, I'm almost done building the hood and looking into lighting. Don't really need anything too crazy as I only plan to have some mosses, maybe Anubias, and maybe other low light plants.. Would those swirly fluorescent light bulbs works? Maybe 2-4 of them..

 

[vanimal]

Yeah I grow plants with 2 of them on a 10 gallon and they work great. I would do 4-5 though on a larger and deeper tank.

 

[Deftpunk79]

With the rainbowfish, it largely depends on the speicies you choose. Some only get to be 2-3", so 10 would be fine. Others get larger (4-5").

 

[vanimal]

With the rainbowfish, it largely depends on the speicies you choose. Some only get to be 2-3", so 10 would be fine. Others get larger (4-5").

Exactly, but the larger ones are a lot more common.