Stocking a 58 gsllon tank

[Alyxx]

Get to go pick up a 58 gallon tank on Tuesday, which will replace my current 20 gallon. It will house my current fish, which are approximately 10 guppies, mostly juveniles, and my three female Bettas. The main purpose of this upgrade is to get some angelfish. I plan on starting off with a group of six or so juveniles, which will hopefully pair off. I am only planning on keeping a pair long term, the others will be going back to the LFS. So, what else can I put in there? This will be my first large tank, and therefore my first true community tank. I was thinking a group of Cories and maybe a small breed of Pleco if I can find one.

 

[DavidAl]

Hi alyxx,

Throw in a large school of cardinal tetras along with Corydoras sterbai. They all share the same warm water temperature so it's a good combination. Make sure the cardinals are fully grown, or match them to the growth rate of the angels so they don't become food for the angels when they are al grown up. The guppies will be a little out of place and they probably won't last too long once the angels mature.

David

 

[Samzter]

Get to go pick up a 58 gallon tank on Tuesday, which will replace my current 20 gallon. It will house my current fish, which are approximately 10 guppies, mostly juveniles, and my three female Bettas. The main purpose of this upgrade is to get some angelfish. I plan on starting off with a group of six or so juveniles, which will hopefully pair off. I am only planning on keeping a pair long term, the others will be going back to the LFS. So, what else can I put in there? This will be my first large tank, and therefore my first true community tank. I was thinking a group of Cories and maybe a small breed of Pleco if I can find one.

You could add 6-7 panda Cories and 1 bristle nose pleco.

 

[Alyxx]

Don't panda Cories like cooler waters?

 

[DavidAl]

Don't panda Cories like cooler waters?

Yes, they are from the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Peru, but that's not to say that they won't do fine in a tank with a peak temp of 78°. I would not go above that temperature though. They have been farm-bred for over 25 years, which is probably what you'll find at your LFS.

David

 

[bettaowner]

The angelfish are designed for hunting fry so your young guppies will need to be good at hiding or very fast.

 

[Alyxx]

I'm not all that concerned with keeping guppy fry. If I do decide to keep a batch, I have an empty 5 gallon for birthing. What are some of the hardier variety of cory?

 

[bettaowner]

The bronze corydora is a hardy species. Pygmy corydoras are another option if you want to save space.

 

[tamtam]

Don't panda Cories like cooler waters?

a bit but I wouldn't worry too much. You could keep your temp around 76-78 and keep the angels and corys happy. I'd have a back up plan for guppies in case things fly apart, if your angels pair up(which it sounds like you want) they can get nasty with other fish, those flowy fins may become a target. Provide lots of hiding spaces and consider adding your angels after everyone else.

I'd personally stay away from smaller tetras like cardinals and neons, they may or may not get eaten once the angels are full grown. Larger kinds are ok though and would work nicely..

Corys will be great, you will need at least 4, preferably more and you could also do a bristle nose pleco. They will share the bottom peacefully.

I've heard several people keeping gourami(honey, dwarf and flame mostly) with angels successfully. I've kept them with female betta fine but can't speak from experience on the angels.

 

[Alyxx]

Thanks. Yeah, I know the guppies may become a target later on, but I plan on providing a good bit of cover and possibly moving maybe three or four of my favorites into another tank at some point and rehoming the rest. In fact, I've been meaning to trade some for store credit and I may do that when I pick up my angels. I'll let the few I keep stay in the big tank until the angels get to be bigger. And trust me, I know about angels and neons. Made that mistake once and once was enough. They just disappeared one by one. I need to go look at the tetras my LFS has, and I may try to get down to Slidell to look soon simply because there are about three times as many places to get fish down there. I've never really paid attention to the tetras before. I know skirt tetras can be nippy, what are some others to avoid for this issue?