Stocking Suggestions For A 55g

[mark7616]

I have a 55 usg tank not 4ft only 3.5ft and i wish to stock it with new world cichlids i like green terrors convicts sevrums most really and was wondering what would be good to stock the tank with.

 

[LisaLQ]

GTs and Sevs would be too big for your tank, convicts would work but they're very aggressive - you could keep a pair in there (with plenty of room) but you wouldn't be able to put anything else in there with them, so it would be wasted space. It would hold a pair of firemouths - just. But if you wanted other fish in there it might be worth going for one of the more peaceful kinds - rainbow cichlids, keyholes, something like that? That way you could have some medium/large tetras or something to keep the tank from looking half empty (as it inevitably does when you have aggressive cichlids IMO!).

 

[severum boy]

IMHO, a pair of green terrors would be fine in a tank of that size. That is if you did just want a tank with two fish in!
Personally, I woudent bother with aggressive species, instead go for a trio of Geophagus sp., a good sized plec and a shoal of larger tetras.

 

[RadaR]

IMHO, a pair of green terrors would be fine in a tank of that size. That is if you did just want a tank with two fish in!
Personally, I woudent bother with aggressive species, instead go for a trio of Geophagus sp., a good sized plec and a shoal of larger tetras.

I agree with that.

 

[LisaLQ]

A good sized plec, if you mean a common or gibby or that size, will need a minimum of 75g just to be able to move around as adults. A pair of green terrors will need about the same, I'd think, min. There's no way you could fit two 10" fish, a large plec, and a shoal of tetras in a 55g

This site says a single GT could be kept in a 55g short term but as an adult would need a 75g:
http/www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/f...reenterror.html

This one says if keeping with other fish, at least a 100g:
http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/greenter.htm

So I was fairly generous in my estimations

 

[severum boy]

When i said a good sized plec, I ment anything over 6 inches like a king tiger. Should have made that clearer, sorry.

There's no way you could fit two 10" fish, a large plec, and a shoal of tetras in a 55g

I diddent mean the GT's and the tetras and plec could go in that, they clearly could not, but Geos would be fine, especially Red humps.

 

[LisaLQ]

A king tiger would be goooorgeous (and I have a huge soft spot for geos, always wanted them - always ended up with something else!).

Sorry I didn't read your message properly - bit under the weather and doped up a bit lol

 

[t1tanrush]

You have many options available to you. For one I'd disagree that you can't keep convicts with other fish, you could, but they might get beat up, although, with that much room I doubt it will be too horrible if it has hides and everything.
You could do a pair of GT, pair of JD, a Serv with a plec, there are a lot of fish you could do in this tank..

 

[LisaLQ]

All three of those options would mean overstocking though...

 

[t1tanrush]

Not really...
I've had MANY MANY MANY cichlid hobbiests say that a pair of JD's are the BEST way to use a 55g tank. a 55 gallon tank is large, and can easily hold a serv, and GT are only an inch longer than GT. If the filter is good and water changes are kept up. No harm is done...

 

[LisaLQ]

Not in pet homes, not by a long shot. A 55g is 48" x 12" right? And that's a 55g long. A 3ft version might be wide enough but wouldn't have enough swimming length. It wouldn't even be suitable for the JDs. They'd kill each other - unless they were a proven breeding pair, and even then that would need a seriously experienced owner with a spare tank on hold. GTs can get to 12", so that's even less likely. Same with sevs.

The rule is length should be 4 times the adult length of the fish - so in that respect that 4ft would do for one JD or one GT. Width should be 1 and a half times, if not twice, the length of the fish. So at least 15"-20" wide for the 10" JD. At least 18" wide for a GT. That's for one fish.

And that rule is the bare minimum - it'd mean no tank mates, no plecs. 75g absolute minimum for those two species, if not 100g+. With more peaceful species you could get away with pushing the limits (not that you should, but you could), but not JDs and GTs, unless you're a. made of money and b. only after watching them kill each other.

 

[t1tanrush]

Not in pet homes, not by a long shot. A 55g is 48" x 12" right? And that's a 55g long. A 3ft version might be wide enough but wouldn't have enough swimming length. It wouldn't even be suitable for the JDs. They'd kill each other - unless they were a proven breeding pair, and even then that would need a seriously experienced owner with a spare tank on hold. GTs can get to 12", so that's even less likely. Same with sevs.

The rule is length should be 4 times the adult length of the fish - so in that respect that 4ft would do for one JD or one GT. Width should be 1 and a half times, if not twice, the length of the fish. So at least 15"-20" wide for the 10" JD. At least 18" wide for a GT. That's for one fish.

And that rule is the bare minimum - it'd mean no tank mates, no plecs. 75g absolute minimum for those two species, if not 100g+. With more peaceful species you could get away with pushing the limits (not that you should, but you could), but not JDs and GTs, unless you're a. made of money and b. only after watching them kill each other.

There is a lot of disagreement on exactly how cichlid stocking works.. Honsetly, yea a 3ft would be too small, a 4 foot 55g can hold a pair of these if they have paired up. This involves buying several from the store, letting them pair up, keeping the pair you want and rehoming the rest, they can do fine in a 55g. With GT, they are an inch longer than JD, honestly I think they would be fine as a pair in the tank, people say 4 RBP which are 12" in a 75g tank just based on the argument of swimming room these fish need a much larger tank, so... A serv = 12" 4 foot tank = OK. Pretty sure 55's are 18" wide but not sure.
Yes would these fish do better in a larger tank? Yes. Can they work in a 55g in some/a lot of cases?

 

[LisaLQ]

Hey well - you're obviously the expert (and I say that tongue in cheek after the two blood parrots in a 20g comment on another thread).

Cram 'em in and hope it works. When it doesn't - dont come crying to us lol.

 

[t1tanrush]

Hey well - you're obviously the expert (and I say that tongue in cheek after the two blood parrots in a 20g comment on another thread).

Cram 'em in and hope it works. When it doesn't - dont come crying to us lol.

I never once claimed I was an expert, I simply suggested what I would do and what I believe other cichlid keepers would also recommend. A lot of people (like you) want to provide over the top care for your fish. Some of us, without the same amount of money, want to simply provide them with their basic needs.

 

[severum boy]

Sorry I didn't read your message properly - bit under the weather and doped up a bit lol

No problem Lisa, obviously not ur fault lol.

A 3ft version might be wide enough but wouldn't have enough swimming length. It wouldn't even be suitable for the JDs. They'd kill each other - unless they were a proven breeding pair, and even then that would need a seriously experienced owner with a spare tank on hold.

I have a pair of JDs in a 25 gal along with tank mates, and they get on fine and breed occationally. The male lives in his pipe and the female goes evrywere else. The male only gets aggressive if he sees the female, but his lane of sight is restricted (this was unintentional, but by choosing the pipe he can only see 6" in front of him). Ive had them for three years and the male is 6-7" and the female 5".