cabinetman

I've had a smaller aquarium for quite some time now, and recently purchased a 55 gallon tank and stand. It came with lights/filters/heaters/and all accessories.

I would like to stock it with a couple of medium sized fish, and a couple schools of very small fish. I was just wondering if anyone had suggestions as far as what fish would be the most entertaining as well as compatible.
Any additional information on plants would be greatly appreciated (Im a novice).

It will be a freshwater tank, and I was considering an angelfish as one of the 2 larger fish. I currently have 2 chinese algae eaters in it and 1 Pleco.
Thanks for the help

krismoore888

CAEs can get huge - potentially up to 11 inches (more like 6 in a home aquarium) as can Plecos depending on what type, so those fish alone could already take up over half your stocking level. Also the CAE can get aggressive as adults, so smaller fish and even the angel would not be safe long term. I would suggest returning the CAEs to your LFS in axchange for smaller algae eaters, i.e otos, around 6 of them. then you have a much better choice of fish to go in the tank. Hope this helps

agabr123

hi and welcome to fishlore

i'm with krismoore888, i'd definitely return the CAEs, they can be extremely aggressive and have been known to latch on to the sides of other fish

if you have a common pleco i'd definitely return him as well, with just that pleco in the tank you are already fully stocked!

angelfish would be a great addition, i would either go with just one angel OR if you want two then you have a couple of options because just putting two angels into a tank doesn't mean that they will become a pair. you can either buy a proven breeding pair (which can get very expensive) or you can buy six juveniles of approximately the same size/shape/type etc and wait for a pair to emerge naturally, and then return/sell the others.

with the angelfish, if you want smaller schooling fish such as tetras or rasboras then you're going to want to add the smaller schooling fish first, and also make sure that you get juvenile angels. that way they will be less likely to look at your smaller fish as a snack!

for the bottom, i'd either go with six otos, six corycats, or a bristlenose pleco instead of a common pleco (the BNs only get up to around six inches)

something else you might want to look into instead of a "small" schooling fish would be dwarf neon rainbow fish, they are larger than a neon tetra for example and the angelfish will have a much harder time fitting one of these guys into their mouths!
http://www.peteducation.com/article....+1951&aid=2525

MaddieLynn

Corydoras would make a really neat school. If you want smaller, you could go with dwarf corys. Or if you want something really unusual, get Kuhli loaches. They only get to 5 inches max, but the average size is 3 inches. They look like little eels, that's how thin they are. They also have a very small bio-load.

cabinetman

Thanks for the info on the cea's, didn't know that. A freind moved and I took her aquarium, they were already in it.
What about an oscar? what would be suitable tankmates?

krismoore888

the oscar would have to be alone in a tank that size due to its size when fully grown. agabr123 has the best idea with either a BN or 6 otos for the bottom and a few shoals of ssmaller mid dwelling fish, say shoals of 6.