Species Tank

[StarOrbs]

It never really dawned on me that I didn't have to do a community tank in my tank. So I'm wondering what are some good fish that I good do a species tank with in my 55 gallon planted tank. Enertaining fish would be ideal but any ideas would be appreciated.. One of these days I'll find something I like and I'll stop posting so much heh.

 

[Sorrell]

Any of the African cichlids would be good, you could go species or mix a few and you can overstock that type of tank, so it will be full, colorful and active

 

[sylvia]

Discus
Angelfish
Cardinal tetras, harlequin rasboras, rummynoses or tiger barbs...
You could do like 20 tiger barbs, an RTBS and a bristlenose plec - I did that a while back in a planted tank - it was incredibly entertaining.
Or 40 cardinals or rummynoses Or 40 harlequins. Or 40 tetras/rasboras/barbs of your choice (depending on their size of course
Pearl gouramies (I've done that one too) - wonderful but you'll want a plec or two to fill out the bottom layers. Or cory cats.
Croakers or sparklers. They look great in a planted tank.
Or you can beat me to the badis badis species tank I have planned.
Then there's all sorts of cichlids - pulcher/kribs, rams (german blue/gold or bolivian), keyholes, apistos, all sorts of dwarf cichlids. Anything realy that won't tare up your plants .
You could also get a trio of fancy guppies and see how quickly they fill up the tank - that's something I am DETERMINED to someday do... Or substitute guppies for platies, mollies or swordtails.
Something else I want to do - get 25 zebra danios. When was the last time someone got some of these because they are such beautiful and active fish with great characters? I mean everyone seems to use them for cycling or maturing tanks so I think they deserve this more than many other species do.
Another species I've considered (well not realy a species tank) would be lots of algae eaters like flying foxes, siamese, false siamese and otos. They all look pretty similar, have similar requirements and would enjoy a heavily planted 55 gallon...
Or maybe get a single chinese algae eater (yes I'm gonna do this one too ) and see how big you can get it to grow...
Oh, something else I've tried (and had great success with), is a female betta community. If you want color (and activity) - that's deffinately the way to go. You could get 25 bettas (females obviously) in there - imagine that...
You could also go for different cories and get pygmy/dwarf cories to fill out the middle layers. The rest would be pretty much bottom-dwelling though. But think how many you could put in there... You could have a shoal of 10 bronze, 10 blackfin and 15 dwarf/pygmy - those are just my favourites - you could obviously choose the species
The possibilities are Endless... Oh, what about Endler's?
Then there's more unusual fish... Things like headstanders or anostomus would be fun.
Pencil fish
Rainbowfish would be incredible...
Don't know what else to suggest.

 

[sylvia]

Africans would destroy your plants (up-root them).

Was thinking about other gouramies (in the 30 seconds between posts )... You could try your hand at chocolates, or frail, or maybe licorice...
And there's all sorts of ctenopomas and paradise fish you could try too!

 

[StarOrbs]

So many choices.. Just so I know are there any non-dwarf chiclids that would work that wouldn't destroy all the plants or do they all eat them?

 

[sylvia]

Not eat them - just destroy Keyholes and pulcher aren't realy dwarf cichlids (kribs/pulcher are African actualy - but not rift lake). Neither are angelfish or discus for that matter (though no one seems to think of them as cichlids )
Firemouths would work - didn't think of them before Very nice fish for a planted species tank actualy Get to 6" and are interesting as well as attractive so would be ideal I suppose.

 

[StarOrbs]

Wow, I like those Firemouths.. Would it be possible to have firemouths and maybe some type of bottom dweller.. Assumming I can find the firemouths.

 

[sylvia]

Well they are kind of aggressive so something like a bristlenose plec or two would work but not something like cories.

 

[StarOrbs]

Alright.. hopefully I can find them which probally means I found what I wanted. How many firemouths should I have in the tank? Male to female ration? How many are suggested? Should they be in pairs, groups, etc?? Also is there anything else I could put into the tank, besides a bristlenose plec?? Just so I know. I know Clown Loaches get big but they take a while until they get big and by then I will probally have a bigger tank. If not I know a few people would be happy to accomodate them. Would they work with chiclids?

 

[Sorrell]

Whoops, I didn't see you have a planted tank )

 

[sylvia]

I think you could try the clown loaches... I'm not sure of how well they'd work but it should be reasonably ok.

The number of firemouths is kind of tricky... They are monogamous so you will find they will pair up (like convicts or angels for example) so you may want to start off with about 8 juveniles and narrow it down to 4 once they have paired up (keep 2 pairs, return 4 fish). You may be able to keep 6 (return 2) even after they are mature but they ARE aggressive when breeding so keep this in mind. It may help to aquascape with rockwork or wood to devide the tank into 3 or 4 parts so that they can use these as territories and reduce conflict.
You could always just start off with 2 males and 2 females - they will eventualy pair up. But this won't leave you with much chance of increasing the number as an established pair, with an established territory, is unlikely to accept new firemouths into their tank without aggression.

 

[fufanu360]

well if u dont want the fm's to breed i would get all males, they have nicer color, i love how firemouths flare at eachother when in groups

 

[StarOrbs]

Alright I'll have to try that. Hopefully I can find some firemouths that could be a problem too. Are there any other fish I could substitute them with? Hopefully I can find them and I won't have any problems.

 

[gwlee7]

A big shoal of Congo tetras would be stunning.

 

[yossie_ika]

100 neon tetras would look cool in a 55 ey??? lotsa sparkling movements
or one big Cichlid