My 55 Gallon Community Plans

[The-Raven]

First of all, I'm not a noob to this hobby, but because of recent financial events, I was forced to sell off my saltwater tank, and now that things are looking better, I've settled on restarting a freshwater (since it's phenomenally cheaper and easier to care for.)

So, first of all, the clean up crew/bottom feeders... For the leader of the pack, I was looking into a Rio Jari Zebra Pleco (L316), it only grows to about 3-4 inches, which along with it's coloration, was its main appeal. Since it's been said that he isn't a algae eating machine, I was planning on supplying him with a team of 4 or 5 Oto's to help get into the smaller places... and time with the hobby has taught me that otos are to algae what soap is to dirt. Since I have the algae pretty much under control with that, I was going to get 3 or 4 cories to help with the bigger stuff - mostly because they're probably the most active and fun fish to watch. I was thinking about a panda or two, and some spotteds, haven't really decided on individual species.

And for the heck of it, on top of that, I was looking at one or two cherry shrimp... and maybe a few golden or black mystery snails.


So that takes care of the cleaners, now the main group. I definitely decided on a major shoal of small tetras. Cardinals, Emperors, Silver Tip, Green Fire... all the ones that look pretty much alike except for color - totalling in no more than 20 (so 4 or 5 of each). Next to that? A small group (six max) of Black Phantom and Serpae Tetras. Experience has shown me that the phantoms and serpaes aren't really active fish and tend to just hang around the plants.


That takes care of most of my stocking decisions. The only other variable is that I was thinking about a group of Tiger barbs or an Red-tail Black Shark... I know they're moderately aggressive guys, introducing them last and in the case of the barbs, keeping them in groups would lessen their pestering of my other fish.



While I'm sure I'm going to be yelled at for overstocking, keep in mind that I'm not tossing all of this in at the same time, and I'm over-filtering with my fluval 304...



My tank has a historical greek/roman scene with buildings and a good number of plants. I have some driftwood from a previous tank (I keep all my old stuff, right down to the neon blue acrilic gravel, what was i thinking with that...) that I was thinking about putting in there for the pleco's sake.

I'll provide pictures when I have settled on a design.... the tank is currently cycling (in week 3 now) with 6 ghost shrimp and the plants all in place... Fish won't be for a while.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sounds like it will be a nice-looking tank. The Jari zebra sounds great. Are they loners, like many plecs, or do they prefer company like the ordinary zebras?

I would get all corys the same species, remembering that they are definitely schooling fish and prefer to school with their own kind.

Could you keep the cherry shrimp uneaten in a tank that includes tiger barbs and RTBS? They seem such tiny little things. Never kept the cherrys, but judging from other shrimps you'd probably want to get a big group if you are to see them at all.

I would also be inclined to just get one or two unmixed school of tetras- they'll look better and school better. Not sure I'd mix the black phantoms with tiger barbs, though people may have found this works.

Does your pleco need wood for his digestion? If so, might be worth getting him a new piece.

Anyway- don't forget to send us the pics!

 

[The-Raven]

from what i've read driftwood isn't required but wouldn't be rejected either

 

[moray]

cherry shrimps don't mix with rts or tiger barbs, even your ghost shrimps will be at risk.

The bottom dwelling fish you've chosen sound nice - I found with cories they like their own kind and the more of their own kind around them the more fun they are to watch.

 

[The-Raven]

well i wasn't exactly planning on getting one of every cory type, probably 2 or 3 pandas and 2 or 3 spotted

and the ghost shrimp are pretty much only there for cycling and are expendable in my book, as horrible as that may sound.

 

[sylvia]

I wouldn't put an RTBS in with small tetras and so many bottom-dwelling fish. You'll have trouble.

I also agree with sticking with one or two schools of tetras - as opposed to mixing several species and sacrificing group size. Might I suggest, also, that you consider some of the rasbora species instead? Things like harlequins and clown rasboras are beautiful. IME, harlequisn are the best schooling fish out there - in the sense that they stay together in a closely-packed group.

I have to say, the second I started reading your stocking list, I could tell you were into saltwater Cories, plecs and otos cannot be viewed as a 'clean-up' crew. Cories and plecs will need feeding in their own right and you shouldn't have leftovers lying around anyway (as you shouldn't be over-feeding). Otos can be quite fragile and realy need to have fresh algae and greens available or they easily starve and die. If you want something just for algae and don't care much for otos as a fish, stick with an algae scraper or get yourself some snails and/or amano shrimp. For a hardier alternative that'll also replace the RTBS (don't mix with RTBS BTW), try a small group of siamese algae eaters (but make shure you identify them correctly).

I'd also go against the tiger barb idea. If you want a colorful, active schooling fish, try something like checker barbs, black ruby barbs or maybe stick with a few danios which will also help fill out the top of the tank.

Danios to consider might be danio kerri: http/ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Photos/Thumbnails...ry.php?ID=12066
or maybe danio roseus: http/badmanstropicalfish.com/mb_pictures...anio_roseus.jpg
or realy pretty mcuh any of the number of danio species ut there: http/www.thegoldfishbowl.co.uk/dashingdanios.html
The other great thing is that some of them come in a number of color morphs - all of which will school together happily so that you can mix and match them. Obviously, the well-known zebra danio is one of them and I know most people steer clear of them after they've become 'experienced' but I think they are fantastic fish and have a place in anyone's tank.

You could also get yourself some dwarf enon/blue rainbowfish. But because these grow a tad larger than some of the other fish mentioned, you'll need to sacrifice group size or maybe re-think your other stocking plans.

To replace the RTBS (which I suppose would be like a 'centerpiece' fish), you mayw ant to look into a pair of cichlids - eg: bolivian rams or german blue/gold rams. Alternatviely, a single three-spot gourami (eg: the opaline color morph) male would look nice or you could go for a trio of banded grouramies (colisa fasciata).

edit: also, perhaps consider loaches instead of cories if you want something a little different - dwarf chained loaches would be ideal.

 

[The-Raven]

There's my current set up, as I said, not finished moving things around to just how i like it

 

[avirex]

sylvia u said colorful? my barbs r very colorful ,,,, albinos , green , platinum green and regular, its beautiful and they schoool together...

he could get the setup i got of barbs probly even more...
but i doubt ur gunna find platinum green tiger barbs =)



i would move that outlet by the tank god forbid water drips there u never know wat could happen...

 

[sylvia]

avirex - no doubt tiger barbs are colorful fish! - that's not what I meant. What I meant was that, tiger barbs, being the nippy little things that they are, would not make ideal tankmates for some of the fish that The-Raven is planning to keep (mainly the tetras). I then went on to list a few alternative colorful fish - amongst them some other barb species (ie: not tiger barbs).

 

[avirex]

o i misunderstood u lol ... no hard feelings..

co-sign wat u said