Hello

[Danilo_Thann69]

Hi,
I used to have freshwater aquariums quite a bit when I was younger, it's probably been over 12 years since I have had one.
But I've gotten the itch again and am setting up a 55 gallon tank right now.

I've had angel's in the past, and think I'm going to go with some again, just trying to decide what else to put in with them once the tank is ready.

Thanks
Chuck

 

[FishGuest5123]

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

 

[Retired Viking]

Hello and welcome to the forum, 55 gallon tank is a good size, big enough to do a lot with but not so big as to take over a room. I had a mated pair of angelfish fish in my 55 gallon tank. They grew to 6 inches and just under 5 inches (body) You should have at least 5 if you do not have a mated pair which may be too crowded in a 55 gallon once they get big.

 

[Danilo_Thann69]

My last tank, a 45 gallon corner tank, I had 4 angels and other fish like Pictus cat's and some danio's. The angels didn't get much bigger than about 3-4 inches.
Trying to do some reading on some tank mates, looking at some barbs, dwarf grouramis, maybe tetra's. (Not all but some combination).

 

[Retired Viking]

I would stay away from neon, ember, cardinal and rummy nose tetras until your tank stabilizes which is generally 6 months or so. They are more sensitive to changes in water chemistry. Glow light and red eye tetras are more hardier. I have a 55 gallon tetra tank with neon, glow light, ember and red eyed tetras. They are all soft water fish. Do you know if you have soft or hard water and what the reads are? GH and PH

 

[Danilo_Thann69]

I need to test but I'm on a well here at the house. My intention is to set the tank, and give it at least 3 weeks to settle, let the filter run for a while, etc. I'm waiting on some of my new equipment to show up one of which is a real time Temp/PH monitor.

 

[Retired Viking]

You will have to cycle your tank which can take up to 6 weeks to complete depending on which method you plan on using.

 

[Retired Viking]

I use a PH-009 (I)A pen meter for PH and a TDS-3 pen meter for GH (hardness) both are very accurate.

 

[Danilo_Thann69]

Cool, I appreciate it I'll check out the TDS-3.

 

[Retired Viking]

You may want to read up on the nitrogen cycle and how to cycle your tank, I use the planted/silent method on all my tanks. To help jump start your cycle I would suggest buying a bottle of Tetra SafeStart Plus. It will cut down the cycle time if you use one of the other methods.

 

[Danilo_Thann69]

I'll have to look up, I've never heard of the planted/silent method. When I set my old tanks up, I did the whole put ammonia in, check nitrites/nitrates, etc.

 

[Retired Viking]

With the planted method you start out with live plants in the tank. You want to have fast growing floating plants that absorb the ammonia from the fish. Plants like anacharis, moneywort, hornwort, salvinia, and water sprite. They are able to absorb ammonia at a higher rate than ferns or sword plants. You can add the slower absorbing plants too but you need the fast growing ones for the method to work. After a week or two you should see some growth in the fast growing plants. That is when you start adding fish. I 1st did this with my 55 gallon tetra tank. I added a shoal of 5-6 small tetras and tested the water for ammonia before adding my next shoal several days to a week later. If you do it right you should have a 0 reading on ammonia You want to balance the number of fish out with what the plants can absorb. Here is a picture of my tetra tank the floating plants are anacharis.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Welcome!

 

[FishFinatic77]

Welcome to TFF!