O C

Hello all,
Starting a new tank, a 55 gal FW acrylic. We had a 20 gal tall tank previously. I have some questions about stocking.
The tank seems to be cycled, and we currently have 6 neon tetras that are happy and growing. City water, so its fairly soft and neutral pH.
I'd like a lightly planted tank, so planning on just a plain gravel substrate, with some anubias and java ferns on driftwood (already have some anubias on driftwood, not really planning plants in the substrate, unless maybe some potted plants). I have one 36" strip light w/30watt tube. Should this lighting be adequate for these plants? Any recommended supplements?
For stocking, I'd like to add some more neons, for a total of 12. And 4 peppered corys or something similar.
After that, I'm not sure what or how many i can add. We like platies. Maybe other smallish tetras, or rasboras, or golden minnows. We don't want or need to add all of those, I'd prefer to stay on the low side of stocking, those are just some of the fish we've admired at the LFS.
So any suggestions to add to the 12 neons and 4 corys?
Thanks! great forum and looking forward to reading through all these posts!

ATKINSON

I personally love scissortail rasbora.

Beth1965

What are your water readings? You know for sure your tank is cycled?
The stocking list you have sounds feasible but don't add them all at once.
I have the same plants you listed with low lighting & they are thriving.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore and congrats on a new big tank!!

Id deffinately make sure you are cycled before going any further tho as beth suggested...otherwise, you could have disaster...do you have a test kit yet?

once you find out for sure, you can add your neons..then give it a week to catch up the bacteria ...usually 2 weeks is best but neons in a 55 gal isnt going to throw you off that much....add your cories last as they do not care for newly cycled tanks....

your plants are low lights and should be ok with that wattage..

share some pics when you can

Flyfrod

Have you given any thought to a school of Longfin leopard danios or maybe rummynose rasboras or even harliquins?

O C

Hi All,
Thanks for the responses, sorry to take so long to get back, what a weekend!
First thing I may not be as cycled as I thought, a friend brought over his chemical text kit and I have ammonia and nitrite between 0.25-0.5 PPM (no nitrate test). His recommendations were:

1) no more fish until its all zero
2) reduce feeding and feed very carefully (no waste)
3) consider adding some safe start (I'm ordering some along with a test kit of my own, here this week)
4) monitor the levels and do some water changes (he left his kit till I get mine).
The six neon tetras all still seem happy and healthy, at least for now.
Does this seem like a good course of action? I realize now those measures should be zero, but is there a ppm at which I should be very concerned about the fish surviving?

In the meantime my daughters and I will just visit the fish stores and think about what we want. We won't add any for now, and later only 4-6(?) at a time. Until then can someone fill in some possible numbers for the final stocking (keeping in mind I don't really want to max the tank). I've listed some definites that my kids have specified, followed by the options:
12 Neon Tetras
4-6 platies (can we mix mickeys and sunsets etc.?)
4 peppered cories (we'll add these last)
If we can still add more after that, here are some of the fish we've admired, feel free to suggest some numbers, we don't need all of them, but we'd pretty much like to choose from this list:
Kulli Loach
Guppies (always thought of them as the "poor mans" fish, but really there
are some beautiful guppies!)
Harlequin Rasboras (or scissor tail, those were nice too)
More varieties of Platies
Other smallish tetras
Longfin blue Danios

Thanks again!

O C

Received my test kit, SafeStart and Amquel yesterday. With water changes and careful feeding over the past week, yesterday my ammonia and nitrites were both around 0.25 to 0.5. They never went above this since I added the Neons. Dosed the tank with SafeStart around 4 pm.
This morning my ammonia is zero, nitrites between 0 and 0.25.
Neons still seem happy and healthy.
I also recieved some Amquel +, but have not used it yet. Is this something you typically use with each water change, or only on an as needed basis? i usually just use tetra aquasafe and easybalance with my water changes.
Also any comments on the final stocking numbers below? Still planning a slow introduction of new fish, we are in no hurry....
Neon Tetras = 12
peppered cories= 4
Guppies = 5 (probably all male)
Platies = 4-6
kuhli Loach = 2

Thanks, and I'll update my profile with the tank setup.

Shawnie

leave the tank for 7-10 days and the safestart in it..do not add anything and dont do any water changes....once the week is up, test to see where you stand...you should be at 0 ammonia 0 nitrites, and under 20 nitrates...you dont want all 0's ...unless you have live plants, a tank should have some nitrates......once the week is up, you need to give it 2 more weeks of being cycled to be safe before adding more fish....then add 4-6 inches of fish then wait 2 more weeks and so on.....you can just use the amquel+ and thats all you need for a condtioner...no need for all the others as amquel+ will do all you need

aquarist48

Welcome to Fish Lore!
Best of luck for a speedy cycle!

O C

Thanks! we'll wait to add any new fish. So the final stocking looks ok? Is it low, high, or about right?
Also will try to get a pic posted. Its a pretty simple tank, have to admit my favorite part is the Tiki Hut from Petsmart that my kids got me for Fathers day

gmen4life

cycleing is like waiting for xmas morning when you were a child