Got A 55 Gallon - Suggestions On How To Arrange My Fish?

[smmetz]

I will be setting up my new 55 gallon tank soon. As my sig says, I have a 10 and a 29 gallon tank already. Some of the fish should really be in a larger tank, and will get their upgrades before I buy any new fish. Also, some of my fish would probably appreciate more same species company.

So, how would you re-arrange / add to my fish?

Oh, the pleco's are both common ones. I know they will eventually outgrow the 29 and 55 gallon tanks, but I'll do my best with them for now, and getting the 55 gallon was a good start IMO. If they really do get very large, I'll be on the lookout for a used 125+ gallon tank.

Here is a rough idea of what my current plans are, any new fish are in bold.

10 gallon
4 platys (but 2 are male, 2 are female, so not sure how to arrange them)
a few small shrimp, like amano or ghost shrimp?

29 gallon
1 common pleco (4" long now)
4 zebra danio
3 more zebra danio
3 whiteskirt tetra

55 gallon
1 spotted raphael catfish (5" adult size)
2 more spotted raphael catfish
1 rainbow madagascar (grow to 5" adult size)
5 more rainbow madagascar, if I can find them
9 neons
1 common pleco (4" long now)
2 bamboo shrimp

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would move the other common plec into the 55gal as well, you really need 2-3females per male with platys so i would get another 3females. This would make the 10gal quite crampt though, so i would then move the platys in the 29gal. You really need another 3 white skirt tetras as well as they do best in groups of at least 6+, so the more the better .
Have you considered getting corys or khuli loaches before? I think they would make good additions to any on of your tanks(although maybe not the khuli loaches in the 10gal), they do best in groups of 4+ and prefer sand or fine rounded gravel substrate .

 

[smmetz]

Thanks for the reply, I was afraid I would not get any advice when the thread was a few hours old with no posts!

I'll take your advice and get some more whiteskirt tetras as well.

Could I split up the platys - 2 male in 1 tank, 2 female in another tank - or do they like more of their own kind to be happy? If so, I'll just get the few extra females like you suggested.

For the short term at least - I'll probably keep 1 pleco per tank, to help keep algea down on the surfaces. But, when my lfs gets some smaller breeds of plecos, perhaps I can buy a few and then put both common plecos in my 55. I have time to think about it.

 

[Iron Man]

I just got 5 rainbows and 13 neons for my 55 gallon, along with 4 honey gouramis and 8 cories (probably too many cories).

So far the rainbows are working out great with the neons so you probably won't have a problem. You might wanna put more neons in there, though. I think my number is perfect.

The raphael sounds really kewl....like those a lot.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the reply, I was afraid I would not get any advice when the thread was a few hours old with no posts!

I'll take your advice and get some more whiteskirt tetras as well.

Could I split up the platys - 2 male in 1 tank, 2 female in another tank - or do they like more of their own kind to be happy? If so, I'll just get the few extra females like you suggested.

For the short term at least - I'll probably keep 1 pleco per tank, to help keep algea down on the surfaces. But, when my lfs gets some smaller breeds of plecos, perhaps I can buy a few and then put both common plecos in my 55. I have time to think about it.

The platys really prefer to be in groups wether all-male or mixed gender , if you split them up i would add another 3males to the male platy group to cut down on an agression and another 1 female to the female platy group- you could then keep the female platys in a group of 3 in the 10gal and the males in the 29gal if you like .
Most smaller plecs out there don't make very good algae eaters, most are either omnivorous or insectivores and don't pay a huge amount of attention to the job of algae eating. If you need a small algae eater, i would really recommend a group of oto's, these are excellent peaceful little algae eating fish that only grow to 2inches, but they do need to be kept in groups preferably of 5+ as they are very sociable and they can be difficult to successfully aclimatise to new tanks as they are quite sensitive to water quality. If you decide to opt for oto's, the best way to go about selecting them is to choose the fattest ones, as many are quite starved when they arrive in lfs's, asking your lfs to hold them for 5days+ when they get them in stock as well before you get them helps too as they'll be more settled and secure when you buy them .

 

[Iron Man]

My rubberlip pleco has devoured every type of algae growing in my tank, and I think every freshwater kind actually has. The plant leaves, rocks, glass....all spic and span.

Bristlenose plecos, another smaller version, also have the reputation as being some of the best algae eating plecos there are.....and these smaller types are even safe with fish that common plecos would normally attack due to having a thick slime coating.