The Red Apricot

Hi! I'm new to the forum, and fairly new to fish-keeping.

Anyway, I will soon be in possession of a 55 gallon fish tank-- if all goes well, I will be picking it up tomorrow morning. I have decided that I definitely want to get pearl gouramis for my tank, pretty much exclusively. I might want a smaller catfish type fish, or some mystery snails as well, but I don't really have my heart set on those.

So! My main question here is, how many pearl gouramis would it be best to keep in a 55 gallon tank?

I have heard of the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule, but that seems like it would be a lot of fish (between 13 and 14, actually). In this case, would that rule hold? And, if I were to get a plecostomus type fish (hopefully with an adult size of five or six inches) how many of the gouramis should I get?

Also, I won't be getting the fish tomorrow, and I won't be adding them all at once.

Thanks! =D

Edit as of 9/15:

Here's what I'm thinking I'd ultimately like in the tank:

5 Pearl Gouramis
2 Bristlenose Plecos
_ Glowlight Tetras

Question: How many glowlight tetras would work in with the other fish? Would the glowlights work with the other fish at all?

rifter098

i also have some pearls they are gorgeous fish!
as gouramis can be aggressive to each other (although pearls are considered a calm gourami) u def dont want to keep many in your tank...here is a stocking suggestion that i would go with...
4 pearls
6 dwarf neon rainbowfish -OR- 2 dwarf gouramis
3 loaches (angelicus or yo-yo would be nice) -OR- 5 cory catfish
1 pleco (bristlenoses and clowns are fairly easy to find and inexpensive, but there are other really nice ones that are more expensive but stay around 5-6 inches) i can get u a list of these if u would like...

hope u like it! please ask any questions u have about the fish and ill be glad to help with any other questions u may have

The Red Apricot

I'd honestly rather just have the four pearl gouramis, if that's all that would be happy in there. I'd like the keep the number of species to a minimum, if that makes any sense. I love tanks that just have one type of fish in them.

If you don't mind, I do have another question; what ratio of males to females should I have? One to one? Or should there be more females?

rifter098

there should be more females, but i find sexing to be nearly impossible other than my dominant male...u can try getting a large group of juvies, and then weed out the ones that start trouble...what kind of decor/plants will u be putting in the tank? u might be able to do 6 (2m, 4f) if there was plenty of places to hide, and if u got them as juvies there is a decent chance u will be able to keep them all

but i really think u will enjoy a small group of cories and 1 pleco...and they both do wonders with keeping the substrate clean...the pearls wont bother them, and they def wont bother the pearls

The Red Apricot

I'll have a ton of live plants-- I love them. I mean, the entire back half of the tank will be filled, at least. The tank also already has one rock cave and a piece of wood, but I will for sure be adding at least two more rock formations.

I'll probably pass on the cories (at least for the first few months), but I think I'll eventually get a pleco.

I honestly wouldn't mind only having 4-6 fish in the tank, at least for a while. That way, I'd have a lot of room left to play with. =)

Hypothetically, if I were interested in having the dwarf gouramis instead of pearls, what would you recommend then? (I've gone back and forth between the two in my head for some time now).

Christian Patti

I don't see why you couldn't put like 8-10 dwarfs. Say you figure 6 gallons per fish and 8 fish. You get about 48 gallons for 24 inches of fish. Which seems very reasonable to me. I may be wrong and someone correct me if i am.

The Red Apricot

Cool to know, thanks. =D

clinton1621

The dwarfs are MUCH more aggressive than the pearls, I would say one male only with either group but definitely with the dwarfs or the dominant male will constantly chase and eventually probably cause the other males to get stressed and die

The Red Apricot

That's good to know, too, thanks.

It's pretty much for sure that I'm going to be going with the pearls at this point. =)

clinton1621

If you dont want corys I would get a group (maybe 6) of either otos or SAEs for the live plants to keep algae down... plecos dont eat a lot of algae and they love to uproot / tear up live plants.

rifter098

i wouldnt do all dwarfs...they are very aggressive for their size, and i can rarely find females...in a 55gal u will have enough room for 2 male pearls...esp if there are plenty of plants/rockwork/driftwood

my clown pleco doesnt eat/uproot any of my plants...he just eats wood and the bottom feeder pellets i put in there

keeping extra room is a good choice, just in case u r at the store one day and decide u have to have that special fish for the tank lol

The Red Apricot

clinton1621, forgive my lack of knowledge on the matter, but what are otos and SAEs? I sort of want a pleco because of the way they look, not because I'm hoping they'll solve all problems algae for me. =P And I'm not too terribly worried about the plants. I can buy more and replant them, and whatnot.

rifter098; =) Thanks so much. I got the tank, but there's still a heck of a lot of stuff left to do before I even add water, much less fish, ha. I'm going to go with the pearls, because, like you pointed out, I'd have to order the female dwarfs anyway, because my LFSs do not stock them. Besides, I think I like the more subdued look of the pearls a little better at this point.

Thanks again. =D

Barbrella

If you mean common plecos, I agree you wouldn't want a foot+ long fish ripping up a planted tank.

However, Bristlenose plecos stay under 6", and are the best algae eaters around - so much so that all algae soon disappears and they must be fed every day. They're also hardy and totally peaceful to other species, and in a 55 gal tank, you could have two.

Agree that dwarf gouramis are much more aggressive than the shy and beautiful Pearls!

Cody

im just double checking but i think you do, do you understand the whole idea of cycling yoru tank and what not, but it sounds like you have researched. i would also go with pearls if you want more than one

rifter098

haha i completely understand...it does take a long time for the tank to cycle and get everything ready for the first additions...good choice with the pearls...u will love them

otos= otocinclus catfish (good algae eaters, but sensitive to water conditions and easily stressed)
SAE= siamese algae eater (idk much about these guys, but im sure u can find some good info if u google them)

as for plecos...those common plecos can grow to around 20" so i doubt u want something that large lol...a good alternative and a really good algae eater is the bristlenose pleco...they are easy to find and inexpensive...and as barbrella mentioned, u could have 2 in your tank

The Red Apricot

Barbrella; Ooh, I love the bristlenoses! I'll definitely think about getting a pair of them sometime in the not-so-distant future. And, yes, I agree about the pearls. =)

Cody; yes, I understand the idea, I think, although I've never worked with such a large tank before. I'm going to be cycling (with my new filter) for at least a week with just plants (and probably a few snails, but those aren't intentional-- they tend to come with the plants, though). I appreciate the checking on your part though. =D

rifter098; I definitely do not want a 20" fish at this point (or in this tank!), haha. I'm really digging the idea of the bristlenoses, so I'll have to look into them after I've gotten the tank up off the ground, so to speak.

=)

Chief_waterchanger

Larger tanks are actually easier to keep stable, chemically speaking.

The larger the body of water the longer it takes a change to occur or the same speed of change requires a stronger catalyst than a smaller tank would.

Bristlenose plecos are awesome fun and beautiful. If you can find albino longfin brinstlenose, those are the truely, most beautiful, in my opinion.

Barbrella

I was quite revolted the first time I saw a Bristlenose, but now I just love my two!

They're so googly-eyed, funny and cute and certainly earn their keep on algae duty.

Yes, a long finned albino would be lovely!

sasm3

5ish

The Red Apricot

Chief_waterchanger; I've heard that before, about the larger tanks, but I'm still sort of intimidated by such a large tank. I looked up the longfin albino bristlenose, and I'm sold. They're way too cute.

Barbrella; I'm so there.

sasm3; thanks!

rifter098

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
i would try to do a fishless cycle, there are many ways to do it including putting food in the tank and letting the bacteria grow and eat it...but with snails in your tank, u wont want to do that...the snails will eat the food and easily overpopulate your tank in a matter of weeks lol...not fun
...see if your LFS has any pieces of filter media that they would let u borrow to get your cycle going quicker...then add 100% pure ammonia once a day until the tank has cycled (it should only take about 2 weeks this way)

Blub

BN's are great fish, if it where me I'd be getting 2 of those, 4 pearls and perhaps something small like a school of Panda corys.

Rifter's said what I'd say on the cycle - apart from one thing. Make sure you go and buy yourself a few jars of patience before you start the fishless cycle!

rifter098

aw man...i forgot the patience lol
yea it is very hard to wait...but it is worth it in the end...your fish will be less stressed and as long as u keep up with the water changes, they will prob live long healthy lives!

The Red Apricot

Would adding some of the water from my other, established, tank, and adding plants with some liquid fertilizer, over the course of two or three weeks, cycle the tank? I mean, I'll be doing readings and stuff with my handy-dandy test kit, but it'd be nice to have an idea going in, you know?

(And may I just say that you are all so knowledgeable and helpful and nice? Thanks again.)

Blub

Water carries almost no beneficial bacteria. The plants would help, as they act as secondary filters. I wouldn't be using liquid ferts if I where you - long story short almost all of them don't contain all the nutrients plants need, and I acctualy had an algae outbreak because of that once. In a low light tank, you probably won't need ferts anyway.

What would speed up the cycle is if you put some gravel from the established tank into the cycling tank. Gravel is the second best bacteria carrier after filter media.

The Red Apricot

Ah, sweet, thank you. I didn't know that about the liquid fertilizers, either. I'll figure out a way to add gravel to the tank without adding it-- my established tank has gravel, but the new one has sand. =P

rifter098

filter media bags or pantyhose work well for adding stuff and making it easy to remove...i use flourish in my low-light tank and have very little algae (and no algae eating fish) as long as u stick to the directions, there shouldnt be any problems...but if u add BNs, the algae will be good for their health...personally i think small amounts of algae make the tank look more natural

Blub

You will need to get MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails) snails for sand. They dig in the substrate, stirring up the sand and stopping it compacting and bubbles of toxic gas developing. Or, you can stir the sand around regularly. MTS snails also do algae eating though - and are pretty interesting if you watch them up close (cute little face!) as well.

What kind of Flourish where you using Rifter? Excel is a CO2 supplement (Not a macro/micro fert), and adding that is a pretty good idea as it does help with algae.

rifter098

i just used the regular flourish...but ive been looking for some excel around here...just cant find any yet...but im going to a new lfs today, and they are supposed to have a really nice selection of freshwater supplies and fish o, and they have hand-selected bettas!!! lol

The Red Apricot

rifter098; The pantyhose is a great suggestion, thanks. I'll do that. =)

HatchetHaven; I didn't know about having to stir the sand up, thank you so much. I'll definitely do that. And I'll look into the snails.