curtiswallgood

have just purchased a used 55 gallon tank from my mother in law and in the process of setting it up. I have had a 10 gallon tank for quite some time and have 5 neons 3 small feeder fish and a 2 inch angel in the tank I have had them for about a year now and the tank is well established. my question is I want to start my new tank quickly and introduce my feeder fish since they are cheap and I have had them a while, some water, gravel and filter from my 10 gallon to get things going to start the cycle out on my new tank. is this a good Idea or not? what would be the idea temp to bring my tank to before adding the gravel and water feeder fish etc. from my small tank? any other thoughts to help speed this up would be helpfull thanks!

sirdarksol

The tank's temperature should be around 76-79 for most fish. What kind of feeders are they? If they're guppies, 76-79 is good. If they're goldfish, they'd do better in an unheated tank.
It is an excellent idea to use filter media from your old tank to jump start your new one. That's how I have cycled all of my tanks (after the first disaster). Just be sure not to strip all of the filter media from the old tank, or you'll kill the cycle in that one.
Gravel will help, too. Water doesn't do so much (the nitrifying bacteria grow best in colonies that are attached to objects). Another good addition would be frilly plants, either live or plastic, as the bacteria grow on them, as well.

curtiswallgood

Im not sure what kinda of feeder fish they are 5 for a dollar at wal mart lol small white/tan fish. my 10 gallon tank has 2 separate filters on it I'v had this in mind for some time now and thought ahead because one way or another I was going to purchase a large tank as luck would have it I got the one from my mother-in-law very nice tank with lots of extras (pumps, vac, lights, live plants, bio wheel, the works the list is very large as to what came with this bargan! including fish!) the fish I think are 5 Gouramis? they have what looks like long feelers for pec fins. if they are Gouramis Im not sure I want them they can be a little aggresive right? 2 small Plecostomus one large Pleco that I dont want he is huge maybe 12 inches or more not sure what to do with him maybe trade with someone or pet store for neons or something Im going to try to bring as much of the my new USED tank as I can to help speed things up filters water plants rocks. and plan to use my 10 gallon as a holding tank for any new fish that I might decide to add to this set up.

I cant say im a newbie but I am a novice at all of this, and have never owned a tank larger than 20 gallons.

I guess my next question would be how many fish can I put into a 55 gallon tank.

I want a school of 10 to 20 neons, 3 or 4 angels, small group 5 or 6 of fancy guppies.
any other good suggestions as to fish additions to a tank? oh I have bettas also a male and female in there own 2 gallon tanks thinking of adding them in there own little hanging baskets that i'v seen for large tanks?

when im a little more comfortable with things Im going to use it for Cichlids (Tiger Oscars maybe) or other fancy ones. and switch my community fish to a dif. tank in the future.

SereneReyn

4 angels would take up about 20g worth of your tank, if not more... and 20 neons about 40g... so that'd be overstocked right there - although most people here will tell you that once mature, an angel will eat neons. you probably haven't experienced this, because if your angel has been stuck in that 10g tank for a year, it's growth is probably stunted. i think that you should really research the fish you have, find out what their adult length will be, and then use the 1" of fish per gallon of water rule... i could be wrong, but it sounds like you're thinking you can have more fish than you really should. your 10g was REALLY overstocked, for example - and a fish such as the angel, really should've never gone in there in the first place.

bettas shouldn't go in a community tank, especially in the 'little hanging baskets', imo... a 2g tank is quite small, but better that than a tiny little box where he can hardly spread his fins. (and this coming from someone who doesn't really even like bettas)...

i apologize if i sound like i'm ragging on you a little, i really don't mean to come across that way. i do encourage you to stick around and learn from some of the really experienced people on here... i've learned so much. good luck, and keep posting!

curtiswallgood

ok so maybe I will change what I put into the tank. I know angels will get to be 6 inches or better fish. yes I have had my angel eat a couple of my neons but not for quite some time now that I changed his diet. the feeder fish are about 1 inch long only. neons the same so I used 8 gallons of my tank for these guys and a 2 maybe 3 inch angel for the remaining 2 gallons. could'nt pass it up friend gave it to me! as far as the bettas go its just a thought about the plexiglass hanging tanks I might go for a couple of 5 gallon tanks for them! they are a breading pair and have done so once with marginal success. gave the fry to a friend who raises them. same friend who gave me the angelfish.

I know the neons run mid-level in a tank the angels kinda establish a area and hang around there and the guppies move in a column pattern in a tank but tend to stay at the top more than anywhere else.

hence the choice of the three types of fish.

so to change the numbers a little:

55 gallon tank:

6 to no more than 10 neons= 15 gallons
4 or 5 fancy guppies= 6 gallons
2 angels=15 gallons
1 or 2 small 2 inches or less bottom feeding fish= 5 gallons
any suggestions to type of bottom feeders would be nice? I know that a pleco can get very large!

and still have a few gallons to spare for caution!

does this sound like a good choice of fish? I would like the tank to have a active community of fish from top to bottom but not overly populated! I know I run the chance of the angelfish eating my neons but they are cheap enough to replace or I could go with another schooling fish.

FL CommunityFans

Clown Pleco and Bushy/bristle nose pleco get 4-5" and are great algae eaters. You could also put in 3 smaller corys. Folks say 6+ on them, but my 3 kids stick together all over the tank always in trouble together - dinner time, play time, sleeping time. It's funny, they act like the sides of the tank are a race track. One of them goes up across down and back to the start and the next one follows. You'll have all 3 going nuts doing that. My yoyos are lazy! lol They sleep under their rock (during the day) and when the corys start doing that they poke their heads out to see whats up. Sometimes they join the fun, otherwise they are most active around bedtime. With most of the fish spending all their timer top/mid size, I don't see the harm in getting something like a smaller breed pleco. The overall biolode may increase, but that just means a little more maintenance on your part.

For an easier kept tank however, I would definitely get fewer fish. Just depends on you really


Either way enjoy!

((I really recommend yoyo loaches and julii corys!! -- if you changed your setup at all))

curtiswallgood

thanks for the recommend!

yoyo loache may be my choice but the corys sound entertaining my look into them!

angelfish220

The angels will eat most if not all the guppy fry, but other than that, it lookes good.