Suggestions for an active, feisty 55 gallon community?

[sethanie]

Hi, I'm looking for some opinions and any experience you have to offer. I'm returning to fishkeeping after about 10 years. I've been reading more stuff and now I understand that when I got algae all the time in my little octogon desktop tank, it meant I needed to do more water changes . . . waaaay more water changes. And keep half as many fish. Anyway, I'm starting out better now. I have a liquid test kit and have been trying to keep my stepdaughter's betta from being overcome with ammonia. (We got her a 10 gallon and added her first inhabitant before I got the kit and read about fishless cycling)

I have a new 55 gallon tank that will be set up as soon as the stand is finished in a couple of weeks. Then I will fishless cycle it. I plan to slowly add inhabitants so as not to throw my water parameters out of whack.

So here are my two greatest wants:
I want is an active tank of zipping, shoaling fish
I must have kuhli loaches. The striped ones

Here are my likes, but are up for sacrifice if it conflicts with the kuhlis.
I love tiger barbs and their bickering
Serpae tetras sound like they could hold their own with the barbs and they will give me a nice punch of color

So, if I were to create a 55g tank, I'd love to go with
8 kuhlis
12 tiger barbs
12 serpae tetras

So, what do you all think?

Should I just choose barb or tetra and bulk up the school to 18? Would my beloved future kuhlis be pecked if they showed their cute, tiny faces? I initially looked at Ember tetras for my punch of red (i'm ready to be patient for them to show their colors. youtube had a gread video of them coloring up after a year and my jaw dropped. beautiful!), but I'm pretty sure I will not find them in my neck of the woods full of petcos and petsmarts that crush out LFStores. I really want a bickering school, but I want my kuhlis more if it comes down to it.

edit: i do plan on having at least 3 rock pile caves for the kuhlis

 

[Scottyhorse]

Welcome to AA! Serpae Tetras and Tiger Barbs will work together for sure! Although I am not sure about the Kuhlis. I would imagine they would, but I have no experience with them, and I have not read anything about them, so I would leave that to someone else

I do not think that Ember Tetras would not work. They are too small and too peaceful, they would become a toy, and possibly dinner for the Tiger Barbs. If you want to add another school, you could add something like 6 Silver Dollars, 8 Giant Danios, or 10 Green or Albino Tiger Barbs.

 

[karry1412]

+1 for the Giant Danio! Beautiful active fish. Not much colour though so I don't know if that will bother you... Maybe Rainbows?

 

[azmodan]

I'd avoid silver dollars -- they definitely need a larger tank. Personally I'd do even more tiger barbs. They look amazing the more there are.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Rainbows might be too flashy for the tiger barbs to resist!

 

[tweediebrd]

I know serpae tetras and tiger barbs are fine together as I have them together and the worse that will happen is a tiger barb will chase a tetra every once in a while but he can easily get away and there are many places to hide in my tank.

I absolutely love kuhli loaches as well. I think they are great! I know they are fine with serpae tetras! I use to have them together and they never once had a problem especially since the loaches mainly are active at night. But with tiger barbs, I do not know. Tiger barbs, as everyone knows are nippy, I have had a past experience where a tiger barb would chase a very small panda cory in one of my tanks nipping at him just because he was so small.

But, once again since kuhli loaches come out at night that shouldn't be a problem! Just make sure you have places for them to squeeze into and hide.

Another suggestion I have is that to add another punch of color (blue) maybe a group of emperor blue tetras. I think they look great in a school and their variance in color looks absolutely amazing especially when contrasting with serpae tetras.

Good Luck!

 

[sethanie]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice and ideas. I wasn't thinking of the Embers with the Tigers as I know from reading that they are too tiny and too meek to survive anything but other easygoing species. I was just awestruck at their intense color.

I like the idea of the blue tetras. I'll look into them more.

As much as I want the Tigers, I remembered how big they get. They won't be those dime sized cuties for long and I'm really fond of schools of small fish. I think my best bet is the Red Minor Serpaes. I know they are available about an hour away. They will give me the color punch and the scrappiness I'm looking for.

Tweedie, I'm glad to hear you had no issues with Kuhlis and Serpaes. I figure the lusher its planted and the lighter its stocked, the happier everyone will be. (and the lesser the volume of weekly water changes will be lol)

I finally found larger (about 4 inches) stones that will be perfect for kuhli rock pile caves. My 1 year old and I have been experimenting with safe, non-potential to crush stacking. Well, I've been experimenting. He's been Godzillaing my efforts

Thanks all, I'm sure I'll be back for more sage advice

 

[sbruce75]

Hi, I'm looking for some opinions and any experience you have to offer. I'm returning to fishkeeping after about 10 years. I've been reading more stuff and now I understand that when I got algae all the time in my little octogon desktop tank, it meant I needed to do more water changes . . . waaaay more water changes. And keep half as many fish. Anyway, I'm starting out better now. I have a liquid test kit and have been trying to keep my stepdaughter's betta from being overcome with ammonia. (We got her a 10 gallon and added her first inhabitant before I got the kit and read about fishless cycling)

I have a new 55 gallon tank that will be set up as soon as the stand is finished in a couple of weeks. Then I will fishless cycle it. I plan to slowly add inhabitants so as not to throw my water parameters out of whack.

So here are my two greatest wants:
I want is an active tank of zipping, shoaling fish
I must have kuhli loaches. The striped ones

Here are my likes, but are up for sacrifice if it conflicts with the kuhlis.
I love tiger barbs and their bickering
Serpae tetras sound like they could hold their own with the barbs and they will give me a nice punch of color

So, if I were to create a 55g tank, I'd love to go with
8 kuhlis
12 tiger barbs
12 serpae tetras

So, what do you all think?

Should I just choose barb or tetra and bulk up the school to 18? Would my beloved future kuhlis be pecked if they showed their cute, tiny faces? I initially looked at Ember tetras for my punch of red (i'm ready to be patient for them to show their colors. youtube had a gread video of them coloring up after a year and my jaw dropped. beautiful!), but I'm pretty sure I will not find them in my neck of the woods full of petcos and petsmarts that crush out LFStores. I really want a bickering school, but I want my kuhlis more if it comes down to it.

edit: i do plan on having at least 3 rock pile caves for the kuhlis

Stay away from the Tiger Barbs. They will nip at every fin in sight. I have kuhlis (striped ones) & as long as you have places for them to hide, you can have fish that are classified as "semi-aggressive" in your tank, just like myself. I have SEVERAL types of loaches in my tank & they get along just fine. For ideas, you could get some purple loaches, clown loaches, yo-yo loaches, angelicus loaches, striatus loaches, some cory cats...even a whiptail cat (very cool to watch him.) 1 angelfish would be cool too. Petco has a 30-day guarantee on their fish & they're cheaper than Petsmart. If you're interested in the whiptail cat, that's something you might find at a local pet/aquarium store. Hope this helps.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

If you skip the barbs, you could try the serpae tetras, khuli loaches, and a school of rainbows. I have boesmani rainbow in my 55 and they are very cool. Fast and active, wont nip the loaches or tetras, and can hold thier own against the tetras.

 

[sethanie]

As I learn about all the different fishes out there, my "ideal tank" seems to morph. I imagine that happens to you all, also

Again, I'm starting out with my kuhlis, but I keep going back and forth between feisty and fantastically small. So now, i'm thinking:

12 striped kuhli loaches
12 ember tetras
12 neon blue rasboras (harder to find, but I did find a LFS in tulsa that seems like they might be able to order almost anything i want)
20 cherry shrimp

According to aqadvisor this gives me about a 65% occupancy rate, but I think these shy species would like having less crowded conditions. I could always up their school sizes, tho.

It's not fiesty, but with a few indian almond leaves and a little time, I think the tank will glow with color.

On the subject of lighting, do any of you in the freshwater world have any experience with moonlight lighting? I kinda like the idea of that due to the kuhlis and the live plants I intend to do. What I mean is that light for plants is recommended for about 10 hours, but I'm in the living room with little one at 7am and enjoying a few hours of peace until 11pm. I'd love to have a moonlight option, so I can see my tank more clearly for more hours.

Thanks all You've helped me out so much.

PS Karry, I'd never looked at rainbows before. Oh wow, they are some beautiful fish. A little big for me, but I did, for a while, play with what a group of 6 would look like in my tank.