Stocking My 50 Gal.

rockdon · Jan 10, 2011

hi everyone, i just got a 50 gallon tank for free from a friend. the tank ran as if there were fish in it for months after the fish died but water was left in it and the filters stayed running the day they wwere bringing it to my house they discovered a live pleco among the rocks. :hyper:

any way the plec was removed and the tank was given to me i tested the water every thing looks normal i tested it today and the stats are

h 7.2-7.6
alkalinity 120-180 hardness 50-120 nitrite 0 nitrate 0-10.

ive got no live plants as of yet and stream pebbles for substrate, ive always wanted to keep corydas so will probably do that but im totaly open to ideas for stocking.

THANK YOU :thanks:

Ashers · Jan 10, 2011

Lucky for the pleco that the filters stayed on!

rockdon · Jan 10, 2011

that was one luck pleco indeed and with no food or anything for months!

rockdon · Jan 12, 2011

no one has any ideas?

MHunt · Jan 12, 2011

Loads of ideas, what kind of fish are you interested in?

For a tank that size I'd be temped by Oscars and Plecs along with other large Cichlids. Or a peaceful large community like lace or pearl gouramis, angels, cory's, couple of plecs, and a good group of tetras or danios.

rockdon · Jan 12, 2011

fish im interested in are corys, and im looking for a comunity to semi agressive setup were i could get some medium sized fish (i was thinking rams) and maybe some shoaling fish.

MHunt · Jan 13, 2011

IMO rams are relatively small peaceful fish, and would really benefit from a smaller more peaceful setup. Are you planting your tank? a well planted tank with a large shoal of medium tetras or pencilfish would be great. And a good group of Cory's too. Seeing it's a larger tank you'd perhaps be better with Kribs, have a good amount of caves and visual breaks like plants and bogwood to split up the territories and give the other fish places to hide.

rockdon · Jan 13, 2011

sounds good but i think i might not be able to keep cories :-(

heres what my two problems are: i dont have sand (could change that) i have smooth pebbles and #2 my tank is 20 in. (50cm)tall the water level from top to substrate is 18in (46cm)is this too deep ?

MHunt · Jan 14, 2011

I don't think that's too deep about the same as my tank come to think of it, but see what other people think. You also don't have to have sand with cory's but they do seem to prefer it.