fiveeyern

Hi,

This is my first post on the forum! I kept a 29 gallon about 3 years ago but had to give it up. Two and a half months ago I acquired a 55 Gallon and cycled it with Bio-Spira. It currently has 2 young Angelfish and 2 Pearl Cichlids (Geophagus brasiliensis). I bought the Pearls without knowing much about them, except that the guy that sold them told me they wouldn't get any larger than 6". I brought them home, did some research and found out they can get up to 10". So, I'll take them back probably before too long. (They are very pretty though, a male and female).

Anyway, my problem is that I like too many different kinds of fish. Of the fish list, can I get some advice on what you think will work best together, including the 2 angelfish I currently have. Keep in mind that I am going to buy these over time and not all at once and not all of them, since I know they aren't all completely compatible. I just need some advice on what will work best together.

3 Dwarf Gouramis
kribensis
Corydoras
Pleco (bristlenose or rubberlip)
Bolivian Rams
Firemouth Cichlid
Pearl Gourami
Honey Gourami
Curviceps Cichlid

Also, I have plastic plants and not live plants.

By the way, if this isn't in the right forum, please move it. I looked around and thought this would be a good place, but if not I'm sorry.

FoxyGrandpa

hi welcome to fishlore
firemouths might work and a pleco or two.

fiveeyern

As in a group of firemouths and one or two plecos? I know the problem with Firemouths is that they have individual personalities and some may do fine with angels and some may be aggressive.

agabr123

the corycats or a pleco (you could probably get away with two bristlenose or clown plecos) would be great on the bottom, with the other fish you're slightly limited by the angels. i'd say that you could probably also get away with a pair the rams on the bottom, but personally i'd stay away from gouramis in that tank. generally they can be hit or miss with angels. for the rest of your tank, i'd go with a slightly larger schooling fish such as praecox rainbows or something a bit more aggressive such as serpae tetras (have to double check on those) or something like that. small, non-aggressive tetras such as neons will probably get eaten by your angels.

kacie

I would go with couple of Bolivian Rams, BN plecos, and 6 Corycats. Or if you like the Pearl cichlids what about Threadfin Acaras, Gymnogeophagus Balzani, or CA Rainbow cichlids? I'm not sure how those would work with the angels, but they are pretty mid-sized cichlids.

MissMTS

Here's what I would do based on your list:

2 Angels: 12 inches
2 Bolivian Rams: 7 inches or 2 Kribs: 8 inches
2 Curviceps: 6 inches
6 Panda Cories: 12 inches
1 BN Pleco: 4 inches
Some sort of schooling fish to fill up the tank. I love dwarf praecox rainbows. You could add 7 of them for the remaining 14 inches of stocking

I would advise ditching the gouramis since they often don't mix well with angels. A firemouth may be too aggressive for you angels, and you may not be able to keep much else in the tank with it.

It looks like we have similar tastes in fish though I like the fish that you listed.

fiveeyern

You think 2 kribs would be okay with the curviceps and angels?

Also, I'm not really interested in schooling fish like tetras.

MissMTS

I think that the kribs would be fine with the other fish. The tank is 4 ft long and the angels generally stay in the mid to upper levels. The pairs of kribs and curviceps will likely claim on either side of the bottom of the tank. Just make sure that you provide lots of caves, etc. I am not a fan of tetras either, but I really like the way that the rainbowfish fill out my tanks. Take a look at this link:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile118.html

fiveeyern

If I were to get rid of the angels, would I then be able to have some gouramis in the tank?

fiveeyern

I'm going to assume that I can add gouramis since the problems would have been with the angels.

agabr123

yep, i'd say so. however with the gouramis you'll want to either only get one gourami, or get one male and at least 2-3 females

Nick G

Kribs are fine unless they breed, although in a 55gal you might be ok. When they spawn they get really aggressive!