55 Gallon

[JonasN515]

Hey guys! This will be my first tank but my family got me a 55 gallon fish tank for an early x-mas gift! Along with a gift card for $250 to petco! What kind of filter would be good for the 55 gallon. My water hardness is 154 ppm. I was thinking some gourami's and a school of neon tetras and some zebra danios! How many of each could I fit in my tank? Thank you for your time guys!

 

[PewPewChris]

I'd personally go with a canister filter for a 55 gallon.

 

[plebian]

There's nothing wrong with a canister filter. You need to make sure it's rated at a minimum of 1000-1500 liters/hour for that size aquarium. I personally believe two canisters rated at the low end of that range would be best. The single most important aspect of any filter is the amount of media it can hold. Two filters would provide more media volume and also provide backup should on of the filters fails.

For a 55 gallon tank I'd go with an undergravel filter and a powerhead. You couldn't use sand as a substrate, but gravel is preferable anyway, except for very specific use cases. If you keep your stocking levels low you could get by with nothing more than an air pump. The only maintenance required would be weekly gravel vacuuming while doing your water change.

I'd also mention that danios aren't the best choice for gouramis and neons. Danios are extremely active fish. I personally would go with cardinal tetras rather than neons. They're hardier and more colorful. I'd also add a small group of corydoras. I think a pair of dwarf gouramis, 3 or 4 of the smaller corydoras species, and maybe half a dozen cardinals would make for a nice community. Some people may tell you to add more fish, but I'm a firm believer in maintaining light stocking levels.

 

[JonasN515]

I do love gourami's, they are so adorable. Would 3 or 4 work instead of a half dozen cardinals? Corydoras are at the fish store I would be going to (Local store - no chain) and so are dwarf Gourami's. Not those tetras. I could go to petco tomorrow and look to see what they have! Thank you again for the advice guys. I will also be looking at undergravel filters. What brand would you recommend?

 

[Naughts]

Undergravel filters are rarely used now as they are harder to clean. If you intend cories you will need a sand substrate and, as pointed out by plebian, sand isn't compatible with UGfs.
What is the hardness (GH) of your water? This will dictate which you could have.

 

[plebian]

Undergravel filters are rarely used now as they are harder to clean.

Undergravel filters never need to be cleaned so long as you aren't overstocking. The bacteria in the substrate and in the small amount of mulm that collects below the filter will constantly break down organic matter into DOM, which is processed in turn and eventually becomes ammonia, nitrite and then nitrate. Exactly the same process that works in all filters including canister filters. The only reason you clean a canister filter is to clear clogged pores in the filter media. There are no pores to clog in a UG. All the pores are in the substrate, which needs to be lightly vacuumed every now and then.

If you intend cories you will need a sand substrate

This is a persistent myth. Corydoras absolutely do not need a sand substrate. Fine, or even medium grade gravel is perfectly fine, though the latter is a little more difficult to keep clean.

 

[plebian]

I do love gourami's, they are so adorable. Would 3 or 4 work instead of a half dozen cardinals? Corydoras are at the fish store I would be going to (Local store - no chain) and so are dwarf Gourami's. Not those tetras. I could go to petco tomorrow and look to see what they have! Thank you again for the advice guys. I will also be looking at undergravel filters. What brand would you recommend?

You might be able to keep more than a pair, but fighting has been known to break out among gouramis competing for a mate or a spawning area. The truth of the matter is fish do have personalities. You can never be certain how they are going to behave. Your tank is large enough you might be able to keep two pairs with their own territories with proper decorating.

Penn-Plax is the classic UGF, but any UGF that has a similar design will be just fine.

 

[jaylach]

There's nothing wrong with a canister filter. You need to make sure it's rated at a minimum of 1000-1500 liters/hour for that size aquarium. I personally believe two canisters rated at the low end of that range would be best. The single most important aspect of any filter is the amount of media it can hold. Two filters would provide more media volume and also provide backup should on of the filters fails.

For a 55 gallon tank I'd go with an undergravel filter and a powerhead. You couldn't use sand as a substrate, but gravel is preferable anyway, except for very specific use cases. If you keep your stocking levels low you could get by with nothing more than an air pump. The only maintenance required would be weekly gravel vacuuming while doing your water change.

I'd also mention that danios aren't the best choice for gouramis and neons. Danios are extremely active fish. I personally would go with cardinal tetras rather than neons. They're hardier and more colorful. I'd also add a small group of corydoras. I think a pair of dwarf gouramis, 3 or 4 of the smaller corydoras species, and maybe half a dozen cardinals would make for a nice community. Some people may tell you to add more fish, but I'm a firm believer in maintaining light stocking levels.

I agree with under gravel filtration but I'm old school. If I were to, again, setup under gravel in a 55 gallon I'd do the same as I've done before. Use two filter plates with two air risers on each. Use air and a stone on one riser for each plate and a power head on the other riser on each plate.

Yes, sand cannot be used with this filtration as it will just sift down through the filter plates but there is gravel available that is fine enough for corries and plecos yet large enough to not go through the filter plates. Not saying that is is always easy to find but it is out there.

Most people consider under gravel filtration obsolete and I guess it probably is but people here put up with me as I'm an old guy that is stuck in his ways. They just put up with my quirks.

Yes, if there is a LOT of over feeding and such and the under parts of a filter plate gets a bunch of garbage it can be a pain to clean out but there is an old cheat that allows doing this fairly simply.

1) Get two plates that are sized to leave a space between.

2) The plates will have a bunch of pin type supports to support the substrate. Snip off some of these 'pins' to make channels. Some filter plates will have open sides and others solid sides. If solid sides plates for a 55 gallon will probably be tall enough to cut openings that would fit a 3/8 inch air line. Cut 4 slots to fit the 3/8 inch line on the side that will align with the channels made by snipping the support pins.

3) So now we have filter plates with side access for a 3/8 inch air line with channels made to allow access for that same 3/8 inch line. To clean under the plates you just feed the air line through and siphon just like you would for vacuuming the substrate from above.

I have actually done this in the past and it works to clean under the plates without breaking down the tank. To be honest, unless very much over feeding, and not doing normal maintenance, the most I've really drawn out from under the plates is some slightly brown water with just a small amount of sediment if done twice a year.

So why am I an advocate for under gravel filtration in the first place? While we will never actually achieve, we are trying to duplicate nature. Whether the fish we allow to control our lives are naturally living in lakes or rivers a LOT of the water in their environment goes through the river or lake beds. In my humble opinion under gravel filtration does the best to imitate this as the water is drawn through the substrate imitating the flow through the river/lake bed. I personally consider this important if fish are being kept that would naturally live in a river. If lake fish this is probably much less of a factor.

 

[JonasN515]

Wow Jaylach! Thank you for taking the time to write all that. That sounds like a lot of work, but as a beginner, I think I would like to just have a 'normal' filter such as a aqueon QuietFlow 50. I thank you again for writing all of that and giving me plenty ideas about the future!

I believe I have decided on 2 Gouramis, 10 Cherry Shrimp, and 6 Corydoras. Is that a good place to start? Can I put more in there later if I decide to? I'm going to start cycling the tank as of Jan 1st. I will def. be making a journal! I can't wait to start this fish expedition with ya'll. Thank you again everyone for commenting and taking the time to read my posts!

I may be getting my hands on a 10 gallon tank for practically free also and would love to make a planted betta tank for that! Going to journal that too!

 

[jaylach]

Wow Jaylach! Thank you for taking the time to write all that. That sounds like a lot of work, but as a beginner, I think I would like to just have a 'normal' filter such as a aqueon QuietFlow 50. I thank you again for writing all of that and giving me plenty ideas about the future!

I believe I have decided on 2 Gouramis, 10 Cherry Shrimp, and 6 Corydoras. Is that a good place to start? Can I put more in there later if I decide to? I'm going to start cycling the tank as of Jan 1st. I will def. be making a journal! I can't wait to start this fish expedition with ya'll. Thank you again everyone for commenting and taking the time to read my posts!

I may be getting my hands on a 10 gallon tank for practically free also and would love to make a planted betta tank for that! Going to journal that too!

No worries. Under gravel filtration is second nature to me and it was no problem making the post. Actually setting up, especially if you modify the filter plates for easy cleaning, sounds convoluted but is really pretty simple if you ever want to experiment in the future. Shoot, a pair of nail clippers is all that is needed to channel the plates support pins.

I don't know much of anything about Gourami or cherry shrimp but a quick search indicates that they are not a good match as the shrimp will be eaten. Just for one article example you may want to read the following.

Can Dwarf Gourami Live With Cherry Shrimp? | ShrimpTips

Are you expanding your aquarium's population? Do you want to get Dwarf Gourami and Cherry Shrimp? But are you confused about whether this is a…

shrimptips.com

 

[JonasN515]

Well dang. Frustrating any ideas I come up with that my pet store has, just keep getting booted out! Oh well, at least I'm doing research and not finding this out the hard way! Proud of myself for that because in high school... Research? What's that?! Haha. Dwarf Gouramis, 6 corydoras and 6 Zebra Danios with lots of plants then? Any comments on that?

 

[jaylach]

Well dang. Frustrating any ideas I come up with that my pet store has, just keep getting booted out! Oh well, at least I'm doing research and not finding this out the hard way! Proud of myself for that because in high school... Research? What's that?! Haha. Dwarf Gouramis, 6 corydoras and 6 Zebra Danios with lots of plants then? Any comments on that?

Again I know nothing about those fish other than some on the corys. Here is a suggestion. Decide on the one species of fish you MUST have and then research as to what other species are good tank mates.

For instance I have a rope fish, 4 smile dwarf cichlids and 4 panda garra. Even though I hesitated on the rope fish due to my tank only being a 20 gallon cube I got anyway as even though small the tank is OK for this fish even if borderline. So now I needed to research what other fish to add. Ropes are predators but passive about it. Any fish too large to fit in it mouth are safe. Also fast moving fish are pretty safe as ropes have poor eyesight and hunt mainly by smell and vibration. Enter the panda garras. They are like humming birds being always on the go flitting all o0ver the place. They are also totally cool and will clime all ovfer your hand if you stick it in the water. Pandas are also totally peaceful as long as there isn't just one so are no threat to the rope. Then, since I also like South American Cichlids, I needed the most colorful I could get while also being the least aggressive. I settled on smiling dwarf cichlids (Laetacara araguaiae).

So I end up with a rope that is large enough to be totally safe from the other fish and is no danger to the other fish. I have my cichlids that are no danger to others and are perfect in size for my tank only reaching a mature size of ~1.75 inches. Then I have my pandas that are not really predators so no danger to others yet are to quick and flighty to be in any danger from the cichlids and I can reach in the tank and play with the beasties. This combination was done through research after deciding to get the rope.

There are also other considerations such as the tanks water PH. Say that you want a fish that requires a PH of under 7 and your tap water is 8. Pick another fish! An aquarium is an ongoing science project. Do the research and be rewarded.

 

[plebian]

That sounds like a lot of work, but as a beginner, I think I would like to just have a 'normal' filter such as a aqueon QuietFlow 50.

IMO that's a very poor option. You will have to replace the media in that filter often, though you should not have to replace the biomedia, assuming it's foam. The floss will clog up quickly, and the carbon is absolutely useless unless you're trying to remove tannins from driftwood. If so, you will also have to replace the carbon frequently. The primary purpose of that filter is too make money for the seller. I don't know why you decided against canister filters or a UGF. Either one would be a much better option.

As for plants, since you are a beginner, I recommend staying away from plants. They will complicated things. Better to get some experience with fish-keeping and maintenance before jumping into plants.

 

[JonasN515]

The fish I would say I MUST have are some kind of Gourami's. They are such beautiful fish. In a 55 gallon, I have been reading, I don't necessarily have to have dwarfs so that made me excited. At my local pet store, they have dwarfs but none other kind. I am going to Petco tomorrow to look to see what they have but from numerous sources have been told to stay away from big box chains such as Petco due to diseases, amongst other things. Overbreeding, and just not well taken care of! Can I buy fish online and is that healthy for the fish? I live in Des Moines, Iowa so the weather right now is beyond freezing and don't want the fish sitting in a package on my front deck waiting for me to come home from work! I rather do the Petco option then that!

As for filter, I just really used that as an example. It is way more simple to assemble and use then the underground plates JayLach was talking about. I have not decided on a filter whatsoever but need to soon I know! Again, specific brands and types would be appreciated. I have checked the reviews section on this website really to no avail but would like opinions. Amazon has reviews of all sorts of filters but a lot of those are no where near as experienced as you guys, I know that!

Plants! I do agree as a beginner, I shouldn't have plants. In a 55 gallon though, there is so much room that I believe it will just like empty. I don't like fake plants. I know they sell plenty of decorations and such in stores but again, plants make it just look amazing. Gourami's, I've read up on, like places to hide sometimes. Without plants, what other options can I have for them to hide.in?

Thank you guys for all you opinions and help on this! More grateful then you will ever know! It relaxes me and my anxiety when I get overwhelmed thinking about my tank knowing I'm in good hands!

 

[jaylach]

Again I must say that I don't know gourami but here is a source that gives 20 possible tank mates. I have no idea as to the accuracy of this article. The neon tetras and angle fish surprised me a bit, especially the angels.

ᐉ Gourami Tank Mates: 20 Best Fish Compatible with Gourami

【Gourami Tank Mates】➦ ThePets ☝ 20 Best Gourami compatible Tank Mates ✔ Helpful articles for Pet Owners ➤➤ What fish can live with Gouramis?

thepets.net