Help me Stock This 55 Gallon! :)

[Chronos313]

Okay so I'm at odds at what I want stocked in my 55. I have platys, dwarf rainbows,rummynoses,danios in my 30 gallon.

I was thinking this:

10 rummynoses
9 platys
2 Bolivian rams
1 angel fish
5 Praecox dwarf rainbows
1 bristlenose pleco
5 Pygmy corys or Kuhli loaches

I'm gonna go sand, driftwood, gonna try and get hornwort, flame moss or Xmas moss.
I'm gonna run a aqueon 55 and a tetra whisper 30 ( I would go higher but budget with baby due in June does not work right now ), gonna try and get an aqueon air pump and do an air wall. I have two hoods with lights. Not sure of specs ATM.

I'm going rock hunting with my 3 year old on Tuesday so I will have rocks in my tank and I'm gonna create my own rock caves.

Any input/suggestions is greatly appreciated. I'm kickstarting this project within the next two weeks.

 

[Coursair]

Be careful with random rocks. Some change PH or add things to your tank. There are ways to test rocks. Google it.

 

[Daymine]

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure you get fit more fish in there. I'd get a bigger school of pygmy Cory's, and maybe a larger species of Cory in general. 5 pygmys would get lost in such a large tank imo

 

[Chronos313]

These are gonna be river rocks from the river behind my apartment block but I will google the test methods. Thanks. I don't want to overcrowd the rams on the bottom. Any other species? I'm thinking a blue angel if I can afford one or swap with my lfs

 

[Daymine]

The rams should be ok in that large of a tank with a good sized school of corys.

 

[siva]

You'll never see pygmy cories in a set up like this. They are almost always wild caught and are very skittish and shy by nature. Mine spend most of the time in hiding even though their tankmates are roughly their same size. I would go with the kuhlis and/or a larger type of cory.

 

[Chronos313]

I was thinking that too, that's why I'm looking at alternative bottom feeders. What other suggestions would be compatible with this lay out?

 

[absolutangel04]

You should be fine with about any type of cory. If the Bolivians pair up, they will chase cories out of their territory while spawning, but rarely ever cause harm. With the footprint of a 55g, the cories will have no problem avoiding the rams' little territory. IMO, you could get cories and kuhli or you can pick one or the other if you want to. If you choose only kuhlis, you can easily fit more of them in there. You see them more if have more of them because they are most comfortable with friends. They also have a pretty small bioload.

 

[Chronos313]

Ya I'm really interested in kuhli's as they are different and unique to me. What other species of mid/upper level could I inquire about or look at getting?

 

[lilbetta]

there are tons of different types of other corys that would fit better than the pygmys.. i like the loach idea personally but im not a big fan of the Kuhli loaches... the ones with the stripes are much better but i dont think kuhlis are good for this tank unless added later "All kuhlis need well-established aquaria and should not be considered for newly set up tanks. This fish likes a soft substrate with lots of hiding places and plants such as Java Fern. Best kept in groups, the larger the better. Three fish is the absolute minimum that should be kept together"...

i am posting a great site which has an alphabetical and picture index of all the loaches.. but i also have a few that might work... One is the Lepidocephalicthys (or panther loach) it grows to max 3 inches also and has the long body like the kuhli..

My fave is the Nemacheilus rueppelli (or mongoose loach)... First of all the name is cool its max sizes is a lil over 3 inches it loves the company of others of its own species a well as other species at times and is not easily intimidated by bigger fish (unfortunatley the water temo for this fishs' preference is low at 68-77 degrees :c)

Also zipper loaches might do well they are best breeding loaches or u could try any of the homaloptera species the only thing with them is they like oxygen but it sounds like u got that taken care of... listen to me here i will just let u look oh and btw dont forget about the many other species of corys... (OMG coolest loach name EVER! Yunnanilus cruciatus )! from the latin to torture plus like harry potter wasnt that in those books?? lol

Loach Species Index (Alphabetical) — Loaches Online

 

[absolutangel04]

Kuhlis do fine on gravel, but have some plants and caves they can hang out in. I haven't actually found them to be very sensitive at all, so don't worry about the well-established aquaria part, just make sure to keep the water clean (like you would with any fish).
Beware of Lepidocephalicthys species since they are varying ideas of how big they get. Somes sites say they can reach over 6 inches.

 

[siva]

Personally I would only keep kuhlis in sand or small round smooth stones. I've heard from other hobbyists of theirs being damaged from sharp gravel and have seen some ugly pics of it.

A couple other cool bottom dwellers that would work are panda garras and farowella cats.

If you're looking for some cool larger cories, I love my similis and orange laser cories.