A 55-gallon tank

[fishstixs05]

Right now I have a 55-gallon aquarium with nothing in it (discus problems I'd rather not disuss) and I am wondering what to put in it. So any ideas on cool tank setups would be great. It is currently being filtered by a 750 via aqua canister filter and a 30 gallon HOB. I already have a tangayikan tank setup so i wont go with that, and im thinking about it being havily planted with a possible school of rainbowfish. TIA!

 

[LAGlocker]

If you go planted, go ahead and invest in a good CF light setup or even some mh lights. Go for at least 2.5 wpg or higher, depending on the plants, and a good co2 setup, with that size tank I would look into a good pressurized system.

 

[Cichlidguy]

Unless your ready to dump another $200-300 on lighting and co2, I advise you stay away from planted, unless you already have the equipment.
You could do a south american cichlid tank. You could have 3-5 medium-large cichlids in a tank like that. Stay clear of oscars though, unless thats the only thing in there.

 

[Menagerie]

A rainbow tank would be beautiful. Many members are getting into rainbows. One LFS up here has a display tank that is planted with a ton of rainbows--just gorgeous!

 

[fishstixs05]

I think I no what im gunna do, and angelfish tank with a pair of rams, not sure what type yet. Beyond that i am not sure. Possibly some cory cats or otos for the bottom, maybe some marbled hatchets for the top. Im not sure, can you keep the small neon blue rainbows with angels? Maybe a pair or apistagramma instead of rams? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Guest]

WOW......another mention of Rams today

Angels and rams would do well together. They both like approx. the same water para's ( clean, stable water).

Keep in mind, angels get rather large. Do'nt overload your 55g's bioload capacity or the fishies will be upset. I've never kept angels, hopefully someone can chime in on how many angels can thrive in a 55G community tank.

Sounds like nice idea's on your tank.

 

[BrianNY]

I've got 3 adult angels in a low light planted 55g. It has plenty of other inhabitants however. 10 rasbora, 4 black tetras, 6 rummy nose tetras, 4 corys and 6 otos.

Very curious about your discus probs and sad that you're giving up on them. I know theres a plague going around, but I managed to save all but 1 .

 

[fishstixs05]

It was very strange. I got 6 of them, 3 pigeon bloon 3 turquoise, and they seemed to b doing fine. They mostly hung ot under my big driftwood/root piece and were eating fine on a mix of frozen food, dried, and live tubifex. Bt then, evey once in a whille, one would stop eating, clamp there fins, and just die. This is a well-cycled tank that used to have many fis in it living fine.
Anyway, back to the angelfish, I planned on setting up a 20 gallon in case some paired off with the basics (sponge filter, swordplant, slate, etc.) If they do pair off should I remove them and put them in the breeding tank immediatly, or wait a while. Normally I would just let the fish do there thing in the community tank, but I dont want to risk the fish(parent being overly protective and killing off tank mates or tankmates attaking exhausted females), and I would really want to get the most amount of babies out of a batch.

 

[BrianNY]

Well fishstix, I keep discus and they require lots of water changes to survive (especially if they're juveniles). Feeding live tubifex worms is a ticking time bomb for most fish. Uneaten they will die and quickly foul a tank. That spells disaster for discus which need very clean water or they succumb to a multitude of bacterial and intestinal infections.

Angelfish pair off and spawn quite readily. Being cichlids they may or may not become aggressive to their tankmates. IMO it's always better to give a spawning pair their own tank.