jsalemi

Ok, my 56g tall is setup and cycling, so I'm starting to plan the population. I went to another sort-of LFS (its further away than the ones I've been too), and found they have a tremendous stock of freshwater fish. So I can get pretty much everything I want locally.

Anyway, I've been playing around with possible populations, and here's what I've come up with so far:

2 or 4 angel fish
6-8 corys, 2 different types (pandas and some other type -- the SLFS has at least 5 different kinds)
3-4 otos

Those are the givens; the rest is up to suggestion. My thoughts so far have been some combination of the following:

6-8 cherry barbs
6-8 harlequin rasboras
6-8 tetras (lemon, glowlight or head&taillight)
2 or 3 yoyo loaches (the local Petsmart just started carrying them)
Some kind of FW shrimp

Others? Thoughts?

Neville

go either for angels or for schooling fish, don't mix angels and barbs. i'll suggest schools of barbs, tetras and danios with some otos. but if u want to keep angels, then platies and mollies will be good tankmates for them.(i have past experience of keeping angels in a 75 g, they like tall tanks)

jsalemi

I thought I read that cherry barbs are pretty tame as barbs go, and don't bother other fish.

Definitely want angels, so the tetras and rasboras sound like a good mix. I've been thinking about platies too, so maybe I'll get them instead of the cherry barbs.

Schmidty

I'm a livebearer geek. I love 'em. I just started up a 55-gallon tank and already have 5 platies and 4 swordtails. They are pretty active fish, but very peaceful with tankmates. They might add some movement to your tank, since the angels will be slower moving and the clean-up crew you have will most likely be slower, bottom dwellers.
I'd definitely point you toward platies (2 inches each), swordtails (5 inches each), Mollies (2-4 inches each) or guppies (2 inches each). They are lovely additions to any community tank and add quite a bit of color as well. Just make sure to read up on male/female requirements. You only want one male and at least 2 females of the same species. They are very easy to distinguish as well!
Have fun with your new tank!!!

COBettaCouple

livebearers are funny little fish and getting one gender only reduces or eliminates the chances of fry.

jsalemi

Well, I may be off shopping in a little bit -- my tank is pretty much cycled right now. I guess the addition of a filter pad from my 10g, plus sitting with no filtration for a week with the driftwood and gravel (and artificial plants) got the cycle going on its own. When I took the first readings yesterday, it was at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 5 nitrates. Today its at .1 ammonia (barely reading), 0 nitrites, and 10 nitrates. I'd say its ready for its first occupants.

Kevin

maybe some angelicus botia? i have one, and he is def. one of my alltime favorites...a group of 3-4 of these would look awesome with some angels...oh, they also like to play w/ corys
my petsmart always has a couple of these in stock

jsalemi

Yea, I saw those at petsmart; that's a possibility.

Well, I got the first residents: 6 serpae tetras, 4 panda corys, and 2 red algae shrimps (just because ). I'll let this gang settle in for a week or two, and monitor the water daily. Probably add more residents after Thanksgiving.

The SLFS I went to to get them had Sterbi corys, but they were like $14 each, so I figured it wasn't a good idea to get them as the first residents -- let the tank settle in first. They have some really nice angels too, so when I'm sure the tank is stable, I'll probably get some there.

BoSox Fan7

Get the Cherry Barbs they're a great fish. Cherry Barbs are very peaceful.

jsalemi

That's what I thought -- maybe a school of 6-8 will be the next inhabitants of the tank.

The Serpae settled in nicely, with only a little squabbling for dominance -- they stayed in a tight bunch for a while, then spread out to explore their new home, and then schooled together again.

The panda corys took to their new home right away -- we had cory follies all evening, and they chased each other up and down the glass, or swam together up and down, and then just all stopped in a pile on the gravel. Then off again. The tank is in our family room, and already we started watching the fish during commercials, and then back to the TV for the show. They especially loved it when I started one of the air stones going along the side glass -- swimming into the bubbles and riding them up. They also discovered that they could go into the bottom of the 'hollow tree stump' decoration and swim out the top, and kept doing that for a while.

The two shrimp pop up every so often, but they've most hid this evening.

BoSox Fan7

Tell me how the cherry barbs go if you get them.

jsalemi

Will do. I'm probably going to hold off adding any new fish until after the Thanksgiving break, so I have time to ponder my choices.

BoSox Fan7

Did you make a decision yet?

jsalemi

Yea, so far the current residents are 6 panda corys, 6 platys, 6 serpae tetras, and 2 yoyo loaches. I had 1 small black angel in there, but I haven't seen him in a couple of days and I fear he didn't survive. I'll probably wait and get some bigger angels after the holidays, maybe.

I'll probably get some otos next -- I have an algae problem, which lead to a massive snail population explosion, which is why I got the yoyos to control them. Maybe 3 or 4 of a different type of cory too, or a couple more serpaes. Haven't really decided that part yet.

ETA: There's pictures of my tank over in the Members Tanks forum.

COBettaCouple

how long ago did you get the angel? you might want to see if you can find his remains, although if he's dead by now I would wonder if the nitrites have gone up any.

jsalemi

I got the both last Wednesday, if memory serves. One died due to getting slammed around in the turbulence of the filter outlet, as I mentioned in my other thread. The other was hiding in the Amazon Swords most of the time after that. But I haven't physically seen him since Friday. I even stirred up the swords on Saturday when I did my water change, but he didn't swim out.

They were about the size of a quarter, so they were REALLY young. If he did die, it would be hard to find his body in the back of the tank where the plants are heavy, and he was so small the nitrite spike would be hardly noticeable in 50+g of water, especially with two filters running.

capekate

Hi Joe
it all sounds great! Good luck with the tank. Tetras can be fin nippers as well, guess it depends on what kind of tetra you plan on putting in with the Angelfish. I found that the rosy barbs are one of the most peaceful barbs, and when I had them in the tank, alas for such a short time ( ) they were so very peaceful.

~ kate

jsalemi

I have serpae tetras in there now. They did some fin nipping when it was just them and the corys, but since I've added 6 platys, they're not the 'big fish in the tank' anymore and mostly keep to themselves. They squabble among themselves mostly now.

In fact it's funny -- there's usually one that seems to be on the 'outs' from the school, and it's not always the same one. But I'm not surprised these days when I look in the tank and see 5 of them schooling together, and the 6th hiding in the plants or the tree stump decoration. Kinda like they gave him their own 'time out' for a while.