The Baron

Hello. First time poster here.

Will receive a new 55 gallon shortly. Will be stocking tetras, corys, and apistos and or German Blue Rams.

I have kept aquariums before.

This will be a heavily planted new tank. So I should be able to add a couple of fish immediatley as the plants will take care of the cycling of waste.

For the tetras, we are looking at Emperor, Congo, and Rummy Nose.

I would like opinions of numbers of fish as they do school. Which would you leave out or include all?

The apistos and or rams will be the focal point. I know the rams would be 1 pair, apistos, either one or two trios.

There will be coconut caves, slate, and driftwood for plenty of hiding as well as the plants.

The substrate will be play sand for the corys.

Could I keep a small school of 6 of each tetra?

There will be about 6 corys as well.

I know the rams need an established tank so they will come later.

Any recommendations for a succesful tank is appreciated.

Filtration will be a couple of large HOB's.

Thanks,

Dan

Time

I don't think you should add fish right away. You should be able to add them sooner. It sounds like it is going to be a great tank! Great choice on the Congo Tetra. The tank sounds but I don't know about stocking 55 gallon tanks. I hope someone can help you. Good Luck!

The Baron

Thanks Time.

My thinking is that add a couple of fish within a couple of days to help feed the plants. If need be, I can start the plants off with plant fert tabs. What I read online though is with a new planted tank, its ok to add a couple of fish to start the cycling process where the plants should absorb the waste.

Dan

bradisfun

i have a 55g FW and my stock list is
4 angles
5 rummy nosie tetras
5 neon tetras
1 male guppy
2 female guppys

oh and possibly some escapee live brine shrimp lol

my filtration is a AQUA NOVA NCF 1200(an externall caister fillter) witch has a 317gph flow this is more than a nuff fore a 55g evan if was really over stocked
in it i run cremic rings,carbon,a tuff fillter foam and fillter wool

it is also hevaly planted and there is drifted wood and i made like a Y cave by making a Y shape with PVC piping and used that as a gide line for the cave by covering it in rocks on the top half and then taking the pvc away
oh i glued the rock with aqurium safe silocon

The Baron

Thanks bradisfun.

Any recommendations on the apisto and ram combos, or the combo of tetras if
all listed above are OK.

ABCDemily

Don't add any fish to help the plants whilst you cycle. If you are deperate for an instant tank, use a bottle of TSS, it'll do a cycle within 7-10 days and will not harm plants or fish.

Overall, you can have a maximum of 55 inches of fish. I'd go for 6 Rummy noses, 6 Congos (24 inches) 6 corydoras, (18 inches) This leaves you with eight inches. I'd go for a single Bolivian Ram, as they are far more hardy than their German Blue cousins, and get larger. The reason I suggest one, is because they only get on if they are a proven breeding pair. This causes trouble within a community set-up as they get very terratorial. Not only that, they cost a lot as a proven breeding pair, and you'll have thousands of Dwarf Cichlid babies every month.

Good luck!

aquarist48

Good morning and Welcome to Fish Lore.

I have to agree on not adding any fish to your tank until it is cycled. Meanng you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 5-10 nitrates. Tetra Safe Start (TSS) is a good suggestion. It works for some but not for all so be prepared to do water changes in case it doesn't work. Below is a link to the nitrogen cycle which is crucial to fish keeping.
The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
Do you have a test kit? API (liquid) Master Test Kit is most widely recommended by members on this site. It contains all of the tests that you need.
Best of luck and keep us posted. Too, we love photos!
Ken

The Baron

Thanks for the replies.. Truly appreciated.

How about the apistos as part of the tank? I would like a trio of Borelli, or Agassizii as they would be the featured fish.

Ideally I was thinking of a trio of apisto's, a small school of corys, small school of congo or emperor and rummy noses.

I was hoping to get a mated pair of GBR;s and see how they interact with the apisto;s.

I will be getting the api liquid kit for testing.

Can someone comment on the theory of not having to cycle a tank with
amonia in heavily planted tank? I know I read online that you can introduce a smaller number of fish almost instantly.


Thanks again,

Dan

Time

There is a way to add fish right away. It involves detoxification. I don't think you should ever add fish otherwise. I did once but one died. I think German Blue Ram Cichlids are great! Small fish are always better; they make your tank look bigger.

peacemaker92

WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

I'd go with what ABCDemily suggested as your stocking list. The list looks nice and it does cover less than 55 inches of fish. Getting a pair of GBR can be tricky and might be a little overstocked to your tank unless you get an extra filter and keep up with extra water changes. Wish you best of luck and like Aquarist said, we LOVE photos!

ATKINSON

I also agree with ABCDemily's stocking plan.


Remember to post pictures!!!

aquarist48

Good morning. As far as cycling your tank is concerned, is there a way you can obtain an established filter with established filter media? If so then you could start adding fish right away, a few at a time. Do you have a friend that you could get this from possibly? Even some established gravel/substrate placed in "never seen soap" nylons and placed in the tank would be a big help to "seed" or jump start your cycle.

Another option is mentioned in post #6 using Tetra Safe Start (TSS)

I don't recommend adding fish right away simply because your tank is heavily planted. Adding fish to feed the plants is going to put the fishes life at risk for ammonia poisoning until your tank has completed the cycle.

Best of luck.
Ken

The Baron

Thanks for all the replies.

I will have an establised filter from a 10 gallon tank which houses a single fantail goldfish that I can use.

I will also use the tetra safestart as well.

How long would I have to wait after introducing the establised filter and safestart before slowly introducing fishes?

Last question,

If I scale back on the tetras, how would this sound?

1 or 2 trios of aspistos, plus one pair of GBR, and 6 or 8 corys?

I would really like to have the rams and apistos in the same tank. Again, the tank
will be heavily planted and plenty of hiding with coconut caves, and driftwood.


Thanks,


Dan

jdhef

With SafeStart you are supposed to add the fish at the same time you add the SafeStart. Also, you are supposed to be able to fully stock your tank right away, since if you add the proper amount of SafeStart for your tank size it will provide enough bacteria to support a fully stocked tank.

The Baron

jdhef, I just hope the safe start works as well as supposed to. I would hate to fill a tank to the max and the safestart not work.

I';m hoping the plants will absorb any amonia and other nasties that will occur.

jdhef

I don't have any live plants so I'm no expert, but I don't think that plants absorb ammonia or nitrites. I do know that they do absorb nitrates though. Hopefully someone with a little more knowledge than I have on the subject will chime in.

mathas

While I'm sure each species of plant is probably a little different, in general it would be a fair statement to say that plants do utilize both ammonia (especially ammonium) and nitrites.

Diana Walstad has an excellent book called Ecology of the Planted Aquarium that discusses this topic, an excerpt of which can be found at AquaBotanic. The entire excerpt (and book, for that matter) is worth reading for those who are interested, but some of the pertinent quotes are: