Psychlist1972

Here's a thread with photos of my 55g tropical tank, set up a few weeks ago. Photos at the top and better lit ones 2/3 down
Tropical tank - just finished planting

I made sure to have tons of caves/hiding places in this tank, so I'd like to take advantage of that a bit. I also have a nice shady corner with plants draped over the top (top left of tank). I've also kept a narrow but long fish runway towards the front so fish can get the full 4' in, and the top is pretty clear all the way back.

Current stocking is 12 zebra danios (most are glofish) and 2 balloon mollies. In addition, I have three apple snails (one of which is a monster) and some MTS buried in the substrate. Substrate is eco-complete which is smooth/rounded. There will be a few open areas in the substrate (primarily towards the back), but the vast majority will be planted.

Temp is kept around 76/77, but all August it has been 80. I do weekly water changes.

I'm looking for a few stand-out fish in the tank. I'm considering some combination of a subset of the following, and would like recommendations.

• Kuhlii Loach (probably 6, I understand for stocking purposes many people count these as 1" of fish each)

• 1 Rainbow shark (solitary, max at 6")

• 6 Congo tetra (a schooling fish, max at 3")

• 1 Pearl Gourami (solo, max at 4". I had one a week ago, but he lasted just over a week despite excellent water params )

• 1 Electric blue ram

• I'd LOVE a school of 6 rainbow fish, but they are $15 each at the LFS. ugh

I'm open to other recommendations as well. Suggestions?

(as an aside, I'd slowly introduce new fish. Not planning on going to the store and coming back with 15 fish <g>)

Pete

alicem

Sometimes you can find M. praecox (dwarf neon rainbow) for around $5 each. They are very beautiful, but not long lived.

I have 4 of these with my rainbows and they are nice. If my tank wasn't so overstocked, I'd have 6!

Or scrap the rainbow and congo idea and get a school 8 diamond tetra.
Then another school of 12 cherry barbs.
Adding ghost shrimp would make it interesting.

Often large schools of fish make more of a statement than several small groups of different types.
On that note, maybe you should just add to the numbers of danio you have,
especially since you like the way they look under you LED lighting.

Good attitude

That's a pretty broad swing and a little too cool for blue rams. You might be able to get away with Bolivian rams.
An option might be a pair of Bolivian rams with 6 corydoras. (Panda or albino would show up nicely on your dark substrate)

Or you could get 6 of just the Bolivian rams. With all the hiding places you've made they should get along fine.

Or because of the temp swing, to be safe, nix the rams and go with 6 Panda or albino corydoras...

There's a million ways you could go...sounds like a good problem to have. It's nice you are
taking time to think it though.

alicem

alicem

Oops, I forgot to mention, your tank is gorgeous!

Psychlist1972

Thanks Alicem

I take it the rams wouldn't do well with a swing? I haven't had the larger tanks over the winter yet, so I'm not sure what the temp will be. I'll keep an eye on it.

I'll definitely check out the other suggestions, thanks The bolivian rams look especially interesting, especially since they will inhabit the space below the danios (which are all over, but mostly at the top 1/3)

Oh, and thanks for the kind words on my tank.

Pete