Good Community Fish For 55 Gallon Tank - Yet Another Stocking Question

[Canadian Fish]

Hi, I currently have a 20 Gallon tank that houses twin barred platies and julii corys. I am a novice in the hobby.

We just set up a 55 gallon tank that is currently cycling.

I had originally wanted a Red Tail Shark, possible with tiger barbs, but speaking to people with experience with RTS's, once they mature some of them seem unable to tolerate ANY tankmates.

I really like the way the platies interact in my small tank, and the corys are very active as well. My current tank sits about 12 feet from my couch and we watch it on and off all day, very entertaining.

Basically I would like to build a friendly community of fish, but fish larger than our current species. Our 55 gallon tank is about twice as far from the couch, but it'd be nice if we could still see the fish.

Ideally, I'd like a group of 7 or so fish like the Rosy Barb, that get to about 6" fully grown, and interact well together. Unfortunately, the Rosy Barb needs a cooler temperature than many other tropical fish, and may limit what I can add down the road.

So basically, I'm looking for ideas to stock a peaceful community tank with bottom, middle and top swimmers that cohabit the tank well and are active and entertaining to watch. I would prefer the largest group, probably the middle swimmers, be around 6" mature.

I've check out many fish compatibility tools online and either they disagree or contradict themselves, or the fish I find are either too aggressive, need different temperatures then others, or are nocturnal (in which case I will barely ever see them).

It's a standard 48" 55 Gallon tank with an Aquaclear 70 filter.

Ideally the fish would be good, hardy fish suitable for a relative amateur to fishkeeping.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I am certainly open to any ideas.

Thanks!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

You could do a nice temperate setup in a tank that size, that in many homes would not need a heater to keep it at 18C during the winter months and raising to no more than 24C in mid summer...

8-10 Leopard/Zebra Danios
6 Rosy Barbs
6 Redline Torpedo Barbs
8-10 Peppered Corydoras

I'm unfamilar with the specs of Aquaclear 70 filters, but through filtration and powerheads the above mix would need ~400-500gph of water turnover, most of which would be at the water surface to saturate the water with oxygen.