New To Tropical

[zukimoo]

I've had a coldwater tank for about 2 years now and other than when my son poured all the food in the tank and turned it into a swamp I've enjoyed the fish. For xmas my GF bought me a 55 gallon tank that I just finished installing into the wall between the living room and the master bedroom. I can see it from both sides and will add doors to the bedroom side shortly to make for some privacy when needed.

I'm going to go tropical and want a community tank. Right now in the cold water tank I've got a Pleco, goldfish and a frog. I kinda like the frog and would like to move him to the big tank or maybe get another one. Next thing is that I was at the fish store today looking at fish and kinda liked the way the little cray fish looked. Will they cause trouble for me and limit my choice of fish?

My tank has been filled for about 4 days now and I've added the chemicals to cycle it. I've been told to leave it for at least two weeks. I'm in the process of moving the cold water fish to another tank in my little girls room and use the old tank for my hospital tank. I've got time to make the choice of fish but I'm not sure what to put in it.

 

[modaz]

it depands how big your tank is to how long you will need it to cycle, give it 4 weeks then put in some hardy fish such as black phantoms or black neons to help it finish its cycle for about another 3 weeks then you should be ready to go for more sensitive fish.
as for for cray fish im sorry but i dont know

 

[Triggerobsessed]

Crayfish pose a threat to most fish. while fish sleep on the bottom they are at risk of being eaten. Crayfish are also territorial and will defend their territory from other crayfish. In my experience, my crayfish made craters in the gravel and sat in them waving their claws at passing fish and crayfish lol. I would awake some mornings to find my crayfish on the floor after he had climbed out. Luckily i was able to save him multiple times, so keeping them in the tank is a challenge, just make sure there is nothing for them to use to climb out. Ive seen tanks consisting only of crayfish and are pretty fun to watch as the crayfish are constantly moving and fighting

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

I'd go with some Cichlids. Maybe look into Severums, Green Terrors, Jack Dempseys, Convicts (not all of them course)....and a school of Tiger Barbs. Then maybe some Pictus cats or loaches for the bottom. Just my humble opinion. Sounds like an awesome setup though, I'm jealous!

If you can get your hands on some used filter media from a friend or local fish store then it would speed up the cycling process alot. You could even add a fish or two right away, then slowly add more week by week. Do you have a water testing kit?

 

[zukimoo]

when I go out today I'm going to check on getting a kit to test the water. I've found that the local fish stores don't have good info. I've asked the same question to more than one staff just to find some major differences in the answers.

 

[Breeze7050]

The cray will most likely chomp on a few of your fish! If I were you, I would go with a nice school of some sort of tetras -- whatever you prefer, a nice centerpiece fish -- possibly a gourami of some sort, and of course a nice school of cory's or loaches for the bottom area. This way the top, middle and bottom of the tank have "life". If you like the frog, you could get an african dwarf frog -- not clawed! But, he may have a hard time getting food in a tank with aggressive eaters! if that's the case then of course you set up a smaller tank and put a betta and a dwarf frog in---- and this my friend, is how we all end up with so many tanks!!!
welcome to the forum!! 8)

 

[fishyfeet]

Id go for some of the larger fish, frogs will eat small fish and cray fish are opportunist feeders and will only feed on small fish that just happen to come around, larger fish would be safer and the setup would look great. di

 

[smmetz]

That sounds like it will be a really nice setup. I thought of installing a fish tank inside of a wall, but there were problems I would not figure out how to solve. The first is where to put filtration air tubes, and heater wires in to the tank without ruining the view. The only way I could think of was pre-drilling the bottom of the tank, installing a wet/dry filter out of sight below the tank, and putting the heater in that.

Anyway, good luck picking fish for your tank.

I don't mean to spam this place with links to my database, but it might help you find some good candidates for fish for your tank. Here are the search results for fish that should be OK in a 55 gallon tank. It found 86 fish.

http/www.aquariumdatabase.com/fishdb_lis...mp;SearchFor=55

You can sort by any column by clicking on the column title. Click on it again to change from ascending to descending order. Suggestions might be sorting by average adult size or temperament.

Good luck setting up that tank. Post some pics of it if you have em!

 

[zukimoo]

I've had the frog for about a year now and there is only the goldfish that is the original. The pleco is about 2 months old. They'll tell you anything at the pet store and sell you anything. I've lost about 15 fish and had only found the bodys of two. I'm guessing that the frog has been eating them, they were small too. The frog is about 4" long.

This tank thing is crazy....I'm setting up the 55 right now and am already shopping for the next. I'll be picking up a tank for my little girl for her b-day and putting the fish that I have in the old tank. The old tank will become a hospital/quarantine tank.

I went to the fish store today and bought a water tester...now I've got to wait for the girlfriend to get here because I'm color blind and this water testing thing is not something I can do. I took the time to look at some fish and I'm starting to see what I want. They all looked the same before. This is getting fun.