55g planted community stocking suggestions

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Mebbid

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
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Location
Michigan USA
Well having finally gotten rid of the columnaris outbreak that took the lives of a few of my guppies and with the subsequent testing on my water levels revealed that I have no nitrates in my heavily planted community tank. With that I figured it would be a nice chance to add some fish to my tank and was looking for suggestions.

Currently I have:
Siamese Algae Eater x2
German Blue Ram x1
Harlequin Rasbora x6
Panda Cory x4
Bristlenose Pleco x2 (considering moving 1 to a dif tank)
Orinoco Angel Pleco x1
Swordtail x3
Guppy x7
Unknown shrimp - lots
Malaysian Trumpet Snails, Pond Snails, and Assassin snails

I was thinking of upping my harlequin Rasbora school to 10. I even considered increasing the number of panda corys by 3 or 4 more but wanted to wait on that to see if their barbels are going to recover or not since two of them have lost theirs. I am wary of adding more GBR to my tank because I seem to have terrible luck with them. I also like the look of loaches but have had issues with them hunting my shrimp in the past.

What would you guys add in my shoes?
 
Well having finally gotten rid of the columnaris outbreak that took the lives of a few of my guppies and with the subsequent testing on my water levels revealed that I have no nitrates in my heavily planted community tank. With that I figured it would be a nice chance to add some fish to my tank and was looking for suggestions.

Currently I have:
Siamese Algae Eater x2
German Blue Ram x1
Harlequin Rasbora x6
Panda Cory x4
Bristlenose Pleco x2 (considering moving 1 to a dif tank)
Orinoco Angel Pleco x1
Swordtail x3
Guppy x7
Unknown shrimp - lots
Malaysian Trumpet Snails, Pond Snails, and Assassin snails

I was thinking of upping my harlequin Rasbora school to 10. I even considered increasing the number of panda corys by 3 or 4 more but wanted to wait on that to see if their barbels are going to recover or not since two of them have lost theirs. I am wary of adding more GBR to my tank because I seem to have terrible luck with them. I also like the look of loaches but have had issues with them hunting my shrimp in the past.

What would you guys add in my shoes?

I would up the harlequins up to ten, as well as the panda cories (so cute!). If you feel comfortable adding a GBR I'd do it. If you are concerned about you shrimp I wouldn't add a dwarf gourami. What kind of shrimp are they? Do you have a picture of them? Most fish would LOVE to eat your shrimp, especially if they are small. I know that the GBR will eat some if they have the ability. If you aren't concerned about the shrimp or if they end up being a larger kind of shrimp I'd do a gourami of some kind. They like to hang out at the top and so might even not eat the shrimp if kept well fed.
 
I would up the harlequins up to ten, as well as the panda cories (so cute!). If you feel comfortable adding a GBR I'd do it. If you are concerned about you shrimp I wouldn't add a dwarf gourami. What kind of shrimp are they? Do you have a picture of them? Most fish would LOVE to eat your shrimp, especially if they are small. I know that the GBR will eat some if they have the ability. If you aren't concerned about the shrimp or if they end up being a larger kind of shrimp I'd do a gourami of some kind. They like to hang out at the top and so might even not eat the shrimp if kept well fed.


I believe they are malawa shrimp. They are too small to be ghost shrimp and are breeding like crazy in fresh water so they can't be amano. My original plans were for schools of 10 with both the rasboras and corys. But sadly the plan for corys kind of got derailed because the first two I bought aren't doing so well with their barbels being worn down. Even if I do increase the number of rasboras to 10 they still won't make a dent in my bio load so I need to add a few fish aside from those.
 
Your could try some kuhli loaches, or dwarfs chain loaches instead of the pandas, maybe they will be a little more suited for your tank. I have a pearl gourami, German blue ram, and a betta with amano shrimp and they don't even look twice at them.
 
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