55 Gal Stocking Ideas

[lyomat21]

i have a 55 gal corner tank and i was thinking of stocking it with a whole bunch of types of mollys. good or bad idea? if not what do u guys think i should stock it with? a list of type of fish and quantity of the fish would be apprecated.

i want something with alot of action and will be fun to watch and not too difficalt to take care of.

(forgive me for any spelling errors)

thanks matt

 

[mancin]

I'm in the same boat right now. Trying to figure out stocking for my 55 gallon. The only problem you may run into with Mollies is they are live bearers and breed like crazy. Also, from what I've read Mollies seem to like a little bit of salt, which could pose some problems with other fish you may be interested in.

 

[lyomat21]

I'm in the same boat right now. Trying to figure out stocking for my 55 gallon. The only problem you may run into with Mollies is they are live bearers and breed like crazy. Also, from what I've read Mollies seem to like a little bit of salt, which could pose some problems with other fish you may be interested in.

thanks for the info, and yes i have herd that too... i am deciding between a live bearers tank with mollys, platies, swordtails, and maybee some tertas and what not.

or i was also intrested in trying to breed some of the smaller Cichlid. like blue rams, but i have no idea what i would put in the tank with a breeding pair of blue rams.

 

[lyomat21]

also is the tank too small for african Cichlids?

 

[mancin]

also is the tank too small for african Cichlids?

I'm looking at getting 2 German Blue Rams myself (male/female). They get to about 3" at their adult size. I'm not too familiar with other types of cichlids, but I'm interested in these because they are attractive fish and some of the more peaceful cichlids.

A friend of mine has a bunch of cichlids and he also recommended the Kribensis. They get a bit bigger than the GBR (about 4"), but they are also peaceful and have beautiful colors.

 

[lyomat21]

also is the tank too small for african Cichlids?

I'm looking at getting 2 German Blue Rams myself (male/female). They get to about 3" at their adult size. I'm not too familiar with other types of cichlids, but I'm interested in these because they are attractive fish and some of the more peaceful cichlids.

A friend of mine has a bunch of cichlids and he also recommended the Kribensis. They get a bit bigger than the GBR (about 4"), but they are also peaceful and have beautiful colors.

yes they seeem like coool fish. very nice colors.
i reallly like african Cichlids i am curious if i can even put a few in a 55 gal tank. anyone know if i can put a few in that tank??? if soo what kinds do u recomend

 

[lyotim88]

the problem with a few is you'll have aggression problems, atleast with lake malawi. You could put some lake tanganyikan cichlids in there, but somebody else will have to reccommend different species as i am not too up on them

 

[OldMan47]

Contrary to what many would have you believe, mollies do not need salt. They can tolerate any salt level from pure freshwater to pure saltwater concentrations but they don't need it. What they do need, and I won't try to keep mollies without it, is a hard water high pH tank. My tanks run at quite hard water with a pH around 7.8 and my mollies thrive in it. I never add salt to my tanks except as a medication. In a normal community situation, livebearers will not breed out of control. The control is all of the predators in a typical tank. Many of the tetras, barbs, and even livebearers in a community tank will severely limit the number of survivor fry that might otherwise cause a problem with livebearers. If you take the effort to isolate a female livebearer you can end up with something like this. The same female had given birth repeatedly in a community tank with no fry surviving. This picture was 5 weeks after she gave birth in isolation.

 

[lyomat21]

Contrary to what many would have you believe, mollies do not need salt. They can tolerate any salt level from pure freshwater to pure saltwater concentrations but they don't need it. What they do need, and I won't try to keep mollies without it, is a hard water high pH tank. My tanks run at quite hard water with a pH around 7.8 and my mollies thrive in it. I never add salt to my tanks except as a medication. In a normal community situation, livebearers will not breed out of control. The control is all of the predators in a typical tank. Many of the tetras, barbs, and even livebearers in a community tank will severely limit the number of survivor fry that might otherwise cause a problem with livebearers. If you take the effort to isolate a female livebearer you can end up with something like this. The same female had given birth repeatedly in a community tank with no fry surviving. This picture was 5 weeks after she gave birth in isolation.

thanks for the pointers oldman47.
now if i were to turn this into a molly tank. how many mollys and what other fish should i put in itt?

 

[Brunell4070]

malawi africans would do just fine in a 55 gallon. they rarely get larger than 4 inches, and are beautiful.

 

[lyotim88]

malawi africans would do just fine in a 55 gallon. they rarely get larger than 4 inches, and are beautiful.

it's not a regular 55 gallon, it's a corner tank. Malawi's need a tank with more length than that