55 gal stocking ideas

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Lilysfish

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Hello I have a 55 gal with an albino rainbow shark, 5 serpae tetra, and 5 albino cories. Iā€™m looking for some other fish to add in. I really like white and red fish. I really like long finned and long bodied fish especially eel shaped fish. The tank is planted and cycled and the substrate is black sand.
 
one suggestion is to add another 5 serpae tetra....they are available in regualr and long finned versions...they like to be in large groups...then maybe add 5 black skirt tettas..they have long flowing fins. They are available in a long finned type or regular type. They are silver and black.

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First, can you give us the water parameters? This refers to the GH (general or total hardness) and pH especially, and for the source (tap) water. Different fish have differing needs and knowing the parameters will enable us to suggest suitable fish.

Aside from that, a caution on the Serpae Tetras (Hyphessobrycon eques, also commonly seen as Red Minor Tetra). This tetra is notorious for fin nipping its own species and other species if enticed. A larger group, say 10-12, might curtail this within the group. But it is also a major factor in finding other tankmates. No slow, sedate fish, or fish with long fins, will work here; that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

The Rainbow Shark may be trouble or not; this species is less a problem than its close relative the Red Tailed Shark, but can still sometimes go after other fish. Keep an eye on the cories, they might get targeted at some point. And they should be in a larger group too, you have space for 10-12 of them which would make them much happier.
 
The ph is 7.2 in my other tanks and water is moderately hard according to my water treatment report. I have the api master test kit but it doesnā€™t have a water hardness test I donā€™t think?
 
The ph is 7.2 in my other tanks and water is moderately hard according to my water treatment report. I have the api master test kit but it doesnā€™t have a water hardness test I donā€™t think?

No, the API Master Test Kit is ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. These are all you generally need, and there is no reason to spend money for a GH test you will only likely use the once. For the GH (and KH or Alkalinity while we're on it), you should be able to get this from your municipal water authority. Check their website, as water data may be posted. Or you can call them. We need the number and their unit of measure which can vary (mg/l, ppm, degrees, etc). Terms like "moiderately hard" can mean different things, I recall another member who had "moderately hard" and when we got the number it turned out to be very soft, which is quite a difference for fish.
 
Ah okay it says 3 gpg Iā€™m not sure what that measurement is, they state it as slightly hard on the website?
 
Ah okay it says 3 gpg Iā€™m not sure what that measurement is, they state it as slightly hard on the website?

The two units most often seen in the hobby are ppm (parts per million) and dGH or dH (degrees German or degrees hardness). We like to use these on this forum because they are the hobby standard units, and converting is simple. And for the record, ppm is identical to mg/l (milligrams per liter) which water authorities often use, though not all of them.

To your 3 gpg (grains per gallon). One gpg is 17.1 ppm so 3 gpg is 51.3 ppm.

Converting ppm to dGH and in reverse uses 17.9 and you multiply dGH by 17.9 to get the equivalent ppm, and divide ppm by 17.9 to get the equivalent dGH. I mention this because again you come across both scales, and some of us like smaller numbers or larger numbers, so I always like to give both.

So 51.3 ppm divided by 17.9 is 2.8 dGH. Usually we round up/down as it is not that critical so this is 3 dGH. This is very soft water. So you see why I insisted on the number...terms can be very misleading depending who is using them.

Where all this brings you/us is...you want soft water fish species. Those already mentioned are soft water species. Avoid any harder water species such as all the livebearers, some of the rainbowfish, rift lake cichlids. There may be a few odds and ends, but it is quite easy to stay with soft water fish because these include most of the species from South America (tetras, catfish, etc) and SE Asia (barbs, danios, rasboras, loaches).
 
Ah thatā€™s good! Iā€™m not too fond of cichlids and livebearers anyhow. Iā€™m not the beat at math related things so I really appreciate you being able to figure out those numbers, thank you.
 
I agree on the serpaes. I tried these and they were really obnoxious to the rest of the fish. After a week or so I took them back, told the shop they were attacking my other fish and could they please swap them for something more peaceful. They did swap them for glowlight tetras which I have had ever since.

I mention this because 55G is a good size tank and you can have a great display and it would be a shame to limit your choices because of a single species. I happen to prefer big groups of fish rather than a big variety so I only have 4 species in this tank + a bristlenose - around 75 fish in total.
 
I have 6 serpaes and 3 black skirt testras. My experience has been that the serpaes swim loosely together but don't seem to nip at each other very much. The black skirts do seem to occasionally chase each other briefly but leave the serpaes alone.
 

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