I Want A Community Of Exotic Tropical Fish

[Plantlet]

I used to be an avid fishkeeper, but have not had a tank running in a little over a year. It was just a lot of work and eventually after the fish I had died, I just drained the tank and never got new ones. I have a 10 gallon, 29 gallon and 55 gallon tank and want a community of cool looking, exotic tropical fish. I want things that are fun to watch and see how they interact with each other. For example, lobsters, crayfish, crabs, shrimp, snails, plecostomus/otocinclus, dinosaur bichir, albino corydoras, eels, knifefish, loaches, sharks, and other cool looking, interesting fish. I want to have a lot that can get together peacefully, not where one day I will notice 5 of them have gone missing and see empty snail shells or something. I would like to have plants like duckweed, marimo moss balls, java fern and other plants that do well in low light if acceptable, but if the fish will uproot/destroy them then I won't plant it.
 
What tank size do you recommend, and what fish?

 

[Baccus]

Wow the possibilities are almost endless, expect with regards to the current tank sizes. Tank sizes and the eventual adult size of the fish are going to be limiting factors, that and water. From my understanding most bichir and knifefish get pretty big and will eat most tank companions small enough to fit in their mouths.
You could make a very interesting blackwater extract bio-type concentrating on either South American fish such as cichlids and catfish and maybe hatchet fish or Asian such as gourami and loaches like khuli loaches and maybe glass catfish.
You could go with rift valley cichlids if you have particularly hard water or can easily make your water suit their requirements.
I am very biased towards Australian native fish such as spotted blue eyes, pacific blue eyes and honey blue eyes. With my spotted blue eyes I also have small species of native shrimp such as Chameleon (Caradina spWA4) and Blacmore River Shrimp as well as Darwin Red Nosed shrimp. Both the shrimp and the blue eyes are breeding successfully so in my books that makes them compatible. Most times tho adding shrimp (unless they are large Amano/ Macrobachium or other large species) with fish spells disaster for the shrimp. That said I have a healthy expanding population of cherry shrimp in with my Pakastani and khuli loaches.
If you can provide us with some other information about your tanks such as inside a house with heater/ airconditioning this will impact if your tank will get too hot or cold without adding a heater or chiller.
Also if you know the gH of your local water.
And finally the actual dimesions of your tanks, e.g. I could have a tall skinny tank that holds 100L but it would be no good for corydoras catfish because they will find it hard to reach the surface, where as a long low tank still holding 100L would be fine for them. Also certian fish like e.g. Discus and Angels because of their compressed body need a high tank, while super active fish like danios need a long tank with plenty of room to dash about.

 

[Plantlet]

Wow the possibilities are almost endless, expect with regards to the current tank sizes. Tank sizes and the eventual adult size of the fish are going to be limiting factors, that and water. From my understanding most bichir and knifefish get pretty big and will eat most tank companions small enough to fit in their mouths.
You could make a very interesting blackwater extract bio-type concentrating on either South American fish such as cichlids and catfish and maybe hatchet fish or Asian such as gourami and loaches like khuli loaches and maybe glass catfish.
You could go with rift valley cichlids if you have particularly hard water or can easily make your water suit their requirements.
I am very biased towards Australian native fish such as spotted blue eyes, pacific blue eyes and honey blue eyes. With my spotted blue eyes I also have small species of native shrimp such as Chameleon (Caradina spWA4) and Blacmore River Shrimp as well as Darwin Red Nosed shrimp. Both the shrimp and the blue eyes are breeding successfully so in my books that makes them compatible. Most times tho adding shrimp (unless they are large Amano/ Macrobachium or other large species) with fish spells disaster for the shrimp. That said I have a healthy expanding population of cherry shrimp in with my Pakastani and khuli loaches.
If you can provide us with some other information about your tanks such as inside a house with heater/ airconditioning this will impact if your tank will get too hot or cold without adding a heater or chiller.
Also if you know the gH of your local water.
And finally the actual dimesions of your tanks, e.g. I could have a tall skinny tank that holds 100L but it would be no good for corydoras catfish because they will find it hard to reach the surface, where as a long low tank still holding 100L would be fine for them. Also certian fish like e.g. Discus and Angels because of their compressed body need a high tank, while super active fish like danios need a long tank with plenty of room to dash about.

The tanks are in a room in my basement. Here in Pennsylvania, it does get to be over 80 degrees pretty much every day through the summer, so the heater will not be necessary at all during these months. In the winter it might be 50 degrees down here on a cold day, so I would have to use a heater then. I'm not sure about the gH. It's a standard 55 gallon tank I bought at the PetCo dollar per gallon sale, It's 48" long, 21" tall and 12" wide.

 

[Baccus]

Ok the gH is general hardness of your water, either your local water supplier or you can purchase your own test kit will tell you what the gH number is.
I am not from America and have no idea what a "standard" tank from Petco would be like. Tanks can be very different depending on country, in Australia the standard tank is just glass with maybe a glass cross beam depending on the volume/ size of the tank, where as other tanks can be fully enclosed with hoods and set designed stands to go with the tank. By the sounds of it your tank is around 4ft long, which will open up quite a few possibilities, but I would still avoid both bichir and knifefish.

 

[NickAu]

 
I bought at the PetCo dollar per gallon sale

I wish Pet barn would have one of those.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Baccus is correct, a 4 foot tank isn't nearly big enough for a bichir or a knifefish for the full extent of their life.  
 
 

I want things that are fun to watch and see how they interact with each other. For example, lobsters, crayfish, crabs, shrimp, snails, plecostomus/otocinclus, dinosaur bichir, albino corydoras, eels, knifefish, loaches, sharks, and other cool looking, interesting fish. I want to have a lot that can get together peacefully, not where one day I will notice 5 of them have gone missing and see empty snail shells or something. I would like to have plants like duckweed, marimo moss balls, java fern and other plants that do well in low light if acceptable, but if the fish will uproot/destroy them then I won't plant it.

 
Since you are looking for 'peaceful', I'll suggest you eliminate the idea of the bichir, knifefish and sharks.  These are generally not 'peaceful' fish.
 
Being unaware of your hardness, it makes it a bit more difficult to identify which fish would do best, but assuming your water isn't liquid rock, there are a few fish that could really fit the cool looking, yet peaceful category.
 
 
Bristlenose pleco - male. - will 'dig' a cave for himself in your tank, but you can actually buy pleco caves and not have to worry about the digging as much
Khuli loach - a small group (6) - essentially look like little eels
Mexican CPO - crayfish (one of the very few that are ok with fish and won't go after them)
Cherry shrimp - bright red little guys that will readily breed in an aquarium
hatchetfish - these are jumpers, so having a good lid is a must, and must be kept in groups, will hang out at the very top of the tank
small group of neon tetras
small group of skirt tetras
pearl gourami
 
 
This would be a potential stocking list for you to consider.  
 
 
Low level plants - java fern, anubias spp, cryptocoryne wendtii, 
 
This should all be fairly easily sourced in PA.  The CPO you might need to order from the internet, the cherry shrimp as well, but the rest should be available almost anywhere.

 

[NickAu]

Assuming you water is ok.
 
Khuli loach,
Cool fish a bit shy at first, Mine are starting to come out at feeding time. My neighbour freaks out thinking they are small snakes.
 
Pearl Gourami,
I have a male and a female I love watching them, My male shakes hands with me, I put a finger in the tank and he comes up and touches it with his feelers.
 
GlowLight Rasbora.
Peacefull little fish nice coulor, I originally got 6 to keep my male Gourami company. Now they have sorta grown on me.
 
Cherry shrimp.
Great cleaners.

 

[Baccus]

A plant  I would avoid at all costs in a tank is duckweed, it can literally become a curse thats a living hell to completely remove, an alterantive would be Amazonian Frogbit. Some people find it easy, while others struggle with it, but if it does too well in your tank you can almost always find buyers for it, unlike duckweed.
There are a few types of java fern and I would strongly advise getting as many types as possible besides the common type, java fern like Windelov, trident and narrow leafed to name a few. Then there are different Anubis plants which are also low light, slow growing and can get some  varigated varieties to add another colour besides green.
Another nice aquarium plant is bolbotis which is also low light.
Marimo Moss balls (the true ones) are actually quite endangered in their native lakes, you could make your own true floating moss ball by getting moss like java moss to grow on a styrofoam ball tethered to a rock hidden in the substrate, styrofoam balls should be available from art and craft supply shops.

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Unfortunately most of the available freshwater 'eels' are too large even for your tanks. You could go for with a wide assortment of readily available eel-like loach species though