Help with stocking?

[Love2Fish]

Hey all, Newbie here to the forum. I had fish for awhile when I was young but I just got back into it recently. I got a 55 gal tank for my bday and finally got it all set up and ready to go. I cycled with fish, I hope people don't get mad at me but I have sulpher water at my house and kind of live in the middle of nowheres so I have to haul water a long ways every time I want to do a change or whatever and it just was convienent for my situation. I cycled with 6 zebra danios who are still very active and recently it completed so earlier in the week I added two female orange swordtails. Obviously I am looking to do a freshwater tropical setup. Now to my questions:

This was my original setup idea- something like.. 6 neon tetras, 2 pearl gourami, 6 cory cats, 1 clown pleco, 4 male metallic guppies, and a couple swordtails.

Obviously this is already out of whack because of the zebra danios. My question is, would the other fish I had planned be ok to add still? Are the gouramis going to be ok or will they harass my other fish? If so, should I sub maybe a few glofish or something else instead? How long should I wait between adding more fish each time? Also, Is the pleco going to be a big pain in the butt? how much driftwood or how big of a piece do I need to have in there for him? I think they are really cute fish but if something else would be better suited for my tank any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! On a side note, I was pretty sad when I went to the pet store today and saw that they had several dory's and clown fish in a little like 10 gal tank. Seemed almost cruel.

 

[Homedog98]

Hey all, Newbie here to the forum. I had fish for awhile when I was young but I just got back into it recently. I got a 55 gal tank for my bday and finally got it all set up and ready to go. I cycled with fish, I hope people don't get mad at me but I have sulpher water at my house and kind of live in the middle of nowheres so I have to haul water a long ways every time I want to do a change or whatever and it just was convienent for my situation. I cycled with 6 zebra danios who are still very active and recently it completed so earlier in the week I added two female orange swordtails. Obviously I am looking to do a freshwater tropical setup. Now to my questions:

This was my original setup idea- something like.. 6 neon tetras, 2 pearl gourami, 6 cory cats, 1 clown pleco, 4 male metallic guppies, and a couple swordtails.

Obviously this is already out of whack because of the zebra danios. My question is, would the other fish I had planned be ok to add still? Are the gouramis going to be ok or will they harass my other fish? If so, should I sub maybe a few glofish or something else instead? How long should I wait between adding more fish each time? Also, Is the pleco going to be a big pain in the butt? how much driftwood or how big of a piece do I need to have in there for him? I think they are really cute fish but if something else would be better suited for my tank any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! On a side note, I was pretty sad when I went to the pet store today and saw that they had several dory's and clown fish in a little like 10 gal tank. Seemed almost cruel.

Welcome to AA! Before we add more fish, are you sure you're cycled? If you don't already have one, I highly suggest making the switch to a high quality liquid test kit (no strips) to make positively sure you're cycled. (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, below 40 nitrate) the API master kit is everyone here's personal favorite. As for your fish selection, I wouldn't go with 2 gouramis. They are anabatoids (sp?) and like bettas, are likely to attack each other over time. As for the rest of your stocking, you'd be fine adding the danios to your list, and could possibly even bump up the schools of neons, corys, and danios to 8 even. your gouramis shouldn't attack the other fish. Only each other if there is more then one. Glad to have you!
-Lauren

 

[Love2Fish]

Welcome to AA! Before we add more fish, are you sure you're cycled? If you don't already have one, I highly suggest making the switch to a high quality liquid test kit (no strips) to make positively sure you're cycled. (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, below 40 nitrate) the API master kit is everyone here's personal favorite. As for your fish selection, I wouldn't go with 2 gouramis. They are anabatoids (sp?) and like bettas, are likely to attack each other over time. As for the rest of your stocking, you'd be fine adding the danios to your list, and could possibly even bump up the schools of neons, corys, and danios to 8 even. your gouramis shouldn't attack the other fish. Only each other if there is more then one. Glad to have you!
-Lauren

Hey, I didn't use a liquid but I am pretty sure. I waited 5 weeks since I first introduced the fish and did regular water changes and according to the strips everything has stabilized at acceptable levels. So I guess I could go with one gourami and sub in a couple extra of the smaller fish

 

[Homedog98]

Hey, I didn't use a liquid but I am pretty sure. I waited 5 weeks since I first introduced the fish and did regular water changes and according to the strips everything has stabilized at acceptable levels. So I guess I could go with one gourami and sub in a couple extra of the smaller fish

Sounds good. Maybe when you go pick up the fish, you could get a better test kit? Strips are notoriously inaccurate, so acceptable may be dangerous. On another note, exactly how often do you change your water, and how much?

 

[Love2Fish]

i watched the levels of stuff and when it started to get high I changed it up. Off the top of my head I added approx 10% a couple times to compensate for evaporation, but I would say on avg once or twice a week i did a 10% and then a 25% towards the end and then it spiked and I did around a 50% and it slowly started to stablize and has been consistant since

 

[Homedog98]

i watched the levels of stuff and when it started to get high I changed it up. Off the top of my head I added approx 10% a couple times to compensate for evaporation, but I would say on avg once or twice a week i did a 10% and then a 25% towards the end and then it spiked and I did around a 50% and it slowly started to stablize and has been consistant since

On average, you should be doing a 50% water change a week, even with constant levels, to keep nitrates down. nitrate poisoning is one of the most common ways for fish to croak in an established tank.

 

[Love2Fish]

ok i will get a different test kit if you think. nitrates have been at 0 and I have been changing as regularly as I can, Like I said, transporting water is an issue so doing 50% a week is unrealistic but I have been as consistant as I have been able to, considering. I would have went with a salt water if I could change it that much every week :-/ i literally have to go like 20 miles to my parents house every time I want to re-fill my water jugs. I just have to make due with what I can. Anyways, I was more concerned with the fish end not the chemistry end for now. Thanks for all the help

 

[Homedog98]

ok i will get a different test kit if you think. nitrates have been at 0 and I have been changing as regularly as I can, Like I said, transporting water is an issue so doing 50% a week is unrealistic but I have been as consistant as I have been able to, considering. I would have went with a salt water if I could change it that much every week :-/ i literally have to go like 20 miles to my parents house every time I want to re-fill my water jugs. I just have to make due with what I can. Anyways, I was more concerned with the fish end not the chemistry end for now. Thanks for all the help

Oh, well in that case, good for you for trying! If you'd rather Pm this that's fine, but may I ask where you live? (country/state... No address) it might help us understand things a bit better. if not that's cool too. On another note, you say nitrates are 0, are you sure you're not confusing these with nitrites? Do you have plants in the tank? Unless you have an extremely thickly planted tank, or are getting confused between nitrites and nitrates, it sounds like your kit is faulty.

 

[Love2Fish]

ohh yeah, woops. LOL sorry bout that, I meant Nitrites. LOL typing error. I live... In NY state, Northern Oneida county on the outskirts of a small town of a couple hundred people. Nitrates read in the acceptable level, nitrites are at 0.

 

[Homedog98]

ohh yeah, woops. LOL sorry bout that, I meant Nitrites. LOL typing error. I live... In NY state, Northern Oneida county on the outskirts of a small town of a couple hundred people. Nitrates read in the acceptable level, nitrites are at 0.

Alright good, that clears some stuff up. what's the ammonia? And by acceptable nitrates, what do you mean exactly?