New tank! Stocking tips?

[eah]

I just upgraded my 29 gallon tank to a 55 gallon. It was a great deal: tank and cabinet style stand for US $100. I'm very happy to have room now for some more fish since (besides my tiger barb species tank) all I have now is:

1 Rubberlip pleco
5 peppered corydoras
5 serpae tetra
1 blue gourami

I'm planning on getting one more pleco and upping my tetras to a higher number (not sure how many but I'd like to encourage them to school). Does anyone have suggestions as to what else I might put in the tank and how many tetras I should have total? I'll try to post pics as soon as I can get a decent shot of the tank.

[Zagz]

I personally would add 5 more serpae's. Have you considered angelfish for the tank?

[rich311k]

gouramis or rainbow fish?

[JustOneMore20]

Rainbows are so pretty, I'd get a school of 6-8 dwarf neon rainbows.

Not sure I'd do angels with the serpaes. I'd be afraid they would tear their fins to shreds.

Definitely add 5 more Serpaes though. They'd be happier in a bigger group.

[MattAquaBio]

The gourami SHOULD make them school because of the threat. Add 3-5 more tetras and they'll thank you.
You could do sunburst platies if you wanted. Maybe some ottos. Or a pair of gbr's would be cool.
Good luck.

[RoK]

I don't really think a gourami is a threat to the tetras. If anything, it might be the other way around; with nippiness anyway.

[MattAquaBio]

Well thats true, i was thinking chichlid when i said that. A large "threat" posing fish of your choice lol.

[Jchillin]

Originally Posted by Justonemore20

Not sure I'd do angels with the serpaes. I'd be afraid they would tear their fins to shreds.

Serpaes get such a bad rap but not if they are in significant numbers. I have had a school of 6 in my tank with angels for nearly two years...they bother no one, including themselves.

No one mentioned dwarf cichlids, such as apistos or Rams. They'd do well too.

[eah]

Thanks for the advice! I bought five more serpae tetras today and have them in quarantine. I'll add them to the tank provided that they all still look okay in 4 or 5 days.

[Lonewolfblue]

Originally Posted by eah

Thanks for the advice! I bought five more serpae tetras today and have them in quarantine. I'll add them to the tank provided that they all still look okay in 4 or 5 days.

I'd say 10-12 days, lol. I added tetras to my 29G, and now have ick. Thought I was in the clear after 4-5 days, but 2 weeks later, there it was. Now I'm doing the heat treatment for ick. Seems like I get it the most around here, lol.

[eah]

Yikes! That would be disasterous for me, especially since I'm planning to be out of town for a couple of days at the end of the month. I think I'll go ahead and extend that to a good week, probably more. Thanks for the warning.

[Lonewolfblue]

At least ick is one of the easiest to treat, as you just do heat treatment. So if it does go by the QT and makes it into the main tank, it's not a real bad deal as long as it's caught early and only a couple fish are infected.