Beth191987

I am switching back to freshwater so i have started to think about what fish I want. So i have to different options. one would be for big fish and the other would be for smaller fish. It is a 55 gallon. I want opinions on what fish i should get if i went either way. oh one of the fish my man wants if a bala shark so i guess factor that in.

susitna-flower

I LOVE balas, but unfortunately they aren't suited to a 55 gallon tank. You have to keep them in groups, 3 is perfect but they grow upwards of 13" and have to have a tank with at least 72" of length, as they are very active and have to have that swimmming room.

My suggestion for a 55 would be 3 corys for cleanup, 2 bristlenose plecoes, 6 cardinal tetras, then 4 or 5 congo tetras, OR several bosemani rainbows. You could get away with 4 congos and 2 bosemani. This would have all the components of a lovely community tank. None of these fish get much over 4", which is a big fish in a 55 gallon tank.

To have truly big fish you should look at a 125-180 gallon tank, that would make a good home for balas....

I am really glad you are doing the research first, it will save lots of heart ache later. Good Luck

bbfeckawitts

I agree, I wouldn't do Balas. Corys definitely, its really hard to say what fish you should do without knowing what you like. You should take a look at some species profiles on the FishLore main website. Then figure out what you can/cannot live without, and go from there. Pick out some you like and I'm sure we can help you make the final decision. Are you going to do live plants? Some fish, like Silver Dollars, just love to eat plants so they may not be a good choice for a planted tank. Others like Cichlids, like to dig up plants. I have 2 silver dollars, and I love them, I definitely recommend them. But believe me, they don't get "silver dollar" size, some can get almost the size of dinner plates! Mine are smaller, only 4", but you have to be careful to get the right kind, as petstores will sell you ANYTHING to make $1. A large school of tetras (20), would be cool too, with corys for cleanup and possibly some ghost shrimp? They are so cool (the ghost shrimp), as long as your fish are not large enough to eat them.
Brianna
Brianna

Beth191987

Ok heres what i was thinking about, 6-8 cherry barbs, 6-8 harlquin rasboras, a pleco.

bbfeckawitts

That sounds good, Eight Rasboras, Eight barbs, 32" of fish, 4 Corys, 44" of fish, one pleco (i would get a bristlenose or rubber lip pleco, both get to about 6" and wont crowd your tank) 6"= 50" of fish, leaving you a little extra room for something else.
Brianna

MissMTS

I love watching schools of fish like the barbs and rasboras. That will be a very cool tank. Cories and BN plecos are two of my personal favs. I would look for a long finned bristle nose pleco if you can cause they are especially beautiful. I like panda cories, sterbai cories, and three lined cories. For a centerpiece fish you could add an angel or a gourami. I also love rainbowfish, but they need to be in schools, so you would have to do just rainbows. Good luck with your new tank!

Blub

I love all 3 fish you want. Make sure you get a Bristlenose, Clown or Rubber-lip pleco these all get less than 6", as a Common pleco gets HUGE! (I think around 25"!) A bit to big for a 55gal, don't you think?

If you got 8 of the 2 Cyprinids, you'd have 36" of fish in there. According to the inch per gallon rule of thumb/guideline, you have space for 19" more. So, I reccomend: Silver or Marbled hatchets (Get 8. That would take up about 16"), A trio of gouramis (1 Male, 2 Female. A trio of Dwarf gouramis would take up 7.5", A trio of Pearls would take 15", A trio of Opalines 21"), Or if you didn't get Gouramis maybe FW angelfish (A pair would take up 12"), or 6 small corys (Choose from sterbai, Panda, Leopard, Julii, Adolfo's and Schwart'z. They would take up 15"), a pair of Boesman's rainbowfish (8.5") or a school of 6 Congo tetras (18").

Good luck - I hope your community works out well!

COBettaCouple

That sounds good if you get 2 or 3 smaller plecos like a clown or bristlenose. A common pleco can fit in a 55g, but it'll be cramped as he gets bigger and water chemistry will be harder & harder to maintain.