Will this stocking list work?

[mildlyobsessed]

I'm cycling a 55 gallon tall right now, and find myself in possession of a single yo-yo loach, so now my stocking decisions have to work with him. This is what happens when you spend your lunch breaks at the LFS staring at/being charmed by a goofy, lonely drop-off.

I plan on getting him two* other yo-yos when that becomes possible, I rarely see them and haven't ventured into ordering online yet. The LFS owner said that 3 would be fine in a 55 gallon community, that he's only seen them get 4.5" max, and BSing me would require speaking more words than absolutely necessary so I'm quite certain he would never XD

Would a combination of electric blue acara and Bolivian rams (or other suitable dwarf cichlids) work with these guys? What upper-level fish would you recommend to round out the tank? I would like to do some sort of rainbowfish, but realize they would be incompatible with the rams as far as water requirements (From what I've picked up, you can go to the edges of the pH/dKH/GH range with most widely-available fish, but that rams are kind of divas about it unless they've been tank-bred, or am I way off base?).

*I have read that they should be kept in schools of at least 6, or 10, or 15, but I've also seen people saying that 3 works just fine, especially in a community tank, so I'm going to try that to start. If they're miserable, we'll work something else out.

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

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Rainbowfish do best in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more. You can mix different species of rainbowfish to make up the group. Just make sure they all grow to a similar size. Have even numbers of males (2, 4, 6) so they can display to each other. Odd numbers of males or having one bigger male can cause problems to smaller weaker males. Have females in the tank too, try to have a similar number of females to males.

Most loaches (including Botia lohachata) need to be in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more. They have a pecking order with a dominant female ruling the tank. Females get bigger and fatter than males. There appears to be 2 species or races within Botia lohachata (dwarf Pakistani/ yoyo loach) with one group growing to 8-10 inches and the other group staying smaller at 4-5 inches. Their size could also be linked to tank size. I had a group of 20 juveniles in a 4x2x2ft tank and they grew to 4 inches (1 grew to 5 inches). I gave a friend 10 juveniles from the same batch I got my 20 from and his were kept in a 6ft tank and grew to 6-10 inches. His adult fish had slightly different marking to my adult fish. One big female loach in his tank was 10 inches and the other loaches were 6-8 inches. Other people have had similar results with some fish growing huge and others from the same batch staying smaller. We're not sure why, but your fish might remain small or could grow big.

You can't keep Bolivian rams and blue acaras together. It is preferable to only have one species of bottom dwelling cichlid per tank unless the tank is big. All cichlids are territorial and having a big and small species of cichlid living on the bottom, with loaches or catfish, can cause problems.

Bolivian rams are usually found on their own or in pairs. If you want a breeding pair of cichlids, buy a group of 8-10 young fish and grow them up together. let them pair off naturally (choose their own partners) and then move the prs into their own tanks, or keep one pair and remove the others.