55 Gallon Tank Build Ideas

So I’m going to be trying to redo my 55 gallon tank in a few months.
My tank mates that I’m almost sure about that I want are

KhulI loaches
Cherry barbs?

Those are all that I have dealt with/want to keep again. The tank will be heavily planted so I’m wondering what fish would you put. I absolutely loved my KhulI loaches in my 29 a long time ago. I had the 55 set up for African cichlids before but I’m not very interested in the scapes they use. Not being able to use plants was not very fun to me.
Will I have room for cories?
The substrate will be soft sand with dirt underneath.
No angels, discus, or pearl gourami.
I just don’t personally like pearl gourami, but I know they are a commonly used centerpiece fish.
Any idea or thought of what you would do in this situation is greatly appreciated.

 

How about a group of keyhole cichlids? They are very peaceful, and underrated IMO. You could stock 4-5 in a 55 gallon - they won't bother your plants.

 

How about a group of keyhole cichlids? They are very peaceful, and underrated IMO. You could stock 4-5 in a 55 gallon - they won't bother your plants.

I didn’t even think about them. I’ll keep them in mind for sure as they seem to be a very interesting fish to have.

 

I love keyhole cichlids! They're super cool!

 

I love keyhole cichlids! They're super cool!

I'm seriously considering 2x Keyholes for my 33 gal long tank (same footprint as a standard 55 gal, just not as tall).

 

I'm seriously considering 2x Keyholes for my 33 gal long tank (same footprint as a standard 55 gal, just not as tall).

I wish my 55 was shorter and just had more width. It’s not insanely tall like the 110s I’ve seen though just the normal height for them. It would mean even more bottom dwellers.

 

I'm seriously considering 2x Keyholes for my 33 gal long tank (same footprint as a standard 55 gal, just not as tall).

Do it. They're awesome. To be honest I'm dying to have some of of my own.

 

Do it. They're awesome. To be honest I'm dying to have some of of my own.

I’m waiting for nature to run its course with my last mbuna. I might have a year left with the poor buddy if that. Then I will be rescaping and everything. The dudes at least 10 years old. All of his friends died at age 9 but he just keeps on going. I’ve already taken most of the current gravel out and everything. I’m sad to be ending my African cichlid journey but I love plants and the communities you can make. It really seems like everyone is loving the keyholes so I’m thinking that they are probably going to be added onto the permanent stocking list I’m starting.

 

I'm sorry about your Mbunas. But definitely go for the keyholes, I've found that they're kind of underrated compared to other South American cichlids.

 

I'm sorry about your Mbunas. But definitely go for the keyholes, I've found that they're kind of underrated compared to other South American cichlids.

Thanks. A lot of people seem to like apistos and rainbows cichlids also. Or at least a few years ago that was a big thing. Cichlids in general seem to be great fish. I think keyholes will look good if I pull off the planted tank I have planned.

 

I agree completely, cichlids are super cool fish, both African and American. I'm also a big fan of Apistos, though I haven't looked into Rainbow cichlids... hmmmm

 

I agree completely, cichlids are super cool fish, both African and American. I'm also a big fan of Apistos, though I haven't looked into Rainbow cichlids... hmmmm

When I used to be on this forum years ago( I forgot username password and everything since then) it was rainbow cichlids people recommended if I remember correctly. I always liked to see what people were building. I never owned one, but I heard it was a great fish. I would ask someone who’s actually had them though. I love apistos but I’m not sure if they would bully everything else in what I want.

 

I've kept Apistogramma BorelliI of and on for several years now - love them! I currently have a laetacara dorsigera. I've considered a rainbow cichlid in the past, but haven't kept any yet. My last sizeable fish was a t-bar cichlid - he was quite a presence in the tank!

 

I've kept Apistogramma BorelliI of and on for several years now - love them! I currently have a laetacara dorsigera. I've considered a rainbow cichlid in the past, but haven't kept any yet. My last sizeable fish was a t-bar cichlid - he was quite a presence in the tank!

Do you think apistogramma would work in this tank setup I have been thinking about. I know they will fight keyholes from what I’ve researched on the two and what others have said. Would they be fine with cherry barbs and KhulI loaches though? If not would they be good in a 29. I’ve been reading 2 females 1 male is a good combo or would a pair be better? My phone had an autocorrect fest on the last sentence so I had to fix it. I couldn’t read what I typed.

Edit to add. I wouldn’t have keyholes if I kept apistos. I realize that. I meant will apistos be good with kuhlis and cherry barbs.

 

Hey! You stole part of my username!
Edit: Actually most of it.

 

Hey! You stole part of my username!

Haha

 

Do you think apistogramma would work in this tank setup I have been thinking about. I know they will fight keyholes from what I’ve researched on the two and what others have said. Would they be fine with cherry barbs and KhulI loaches though? If not would they be good in a 29. I’ve been reading 2 females 1 male is a good combo or would a pair be better? My phone had an autocorrect fest on the last sentence so I had to fix it. I couldn’t read what I typed.

Edit to add. I wouldn’t have keyholes if I kept apistos. I realize that. I meant will apistos be good with kuhlis and cherry barbs.

You could certainly do a male / female / female apisto trio in your 55 gal. In a 29 gal, might be better off with a pair. I've kept apistos with kuhlis - they never paid them any attention - cherry barbs would also be fine with them. What's your water like? pH? Hard / soft?

 

You could certainly do a male / female / female apisto trio in your 55 gal. In a 29 gal, might be better off with a pair. I've kept apistos with kuhlis - they never paid them any attention - cherry barbs would also be fine with them. What's your water like? pH? Hard / soft?

My ph is usually 7.1. I can add stuff to make it higher or lower. My water is very soft. Once again I can add stuff to make harder.
Like maybe get a thing to do Reverse Osmosis for better quality water?

 

If you havre soft water and a pH around 7.1, I wouldn't bother messing with it - you could probably keep any of the normally - available apistos. I'm jealous - my pH is 8.1 with hard water! I can do cacatuoides and borellii, but any others may not do as well...

 

If you havre soft water and a pH around 7.1, I wouldn't bother messing with it - you could probably keep any of the normally - available apistos. I'm jealous - my pH is 8.1 with hard water! I can do cacatuoides and borellii, but any others may not do as well...

To make matters better I have a local fish store who will carry them. I have really good water where I live in general. You can drink out of the sink and it will taste like bottled water.
I’m pretty happy I’ll probably just keep the common types of apistos though

 

Are you partial to a specific coloring, or subspecies? Just curious

 

Check out the various apistos here and see what you like! Apistogramma and Dwarf Cichlids - Keeping, Breeding & Buying

 

Ph is probably a little lower but I just guess at 7.1. this is the color it gives

Extremely low. So I put lower 7s late 6s

Are you partial to a specific coloring, or subspecies? Just curious

Not really I like all apistos. Even the ones that are clear and look kind of bland. I just think it’s a cool fish.

 

I feel the same way, they're a fun, easy to keep fish that's enjoyable for everyone. I think it's especially cool you can breed them in a 20 gallon!

 

I feel the same way, they're a fun, easy to keep fish that's enjoyable for everyone. I think it's especially cool you can breed them in a 20 gallon!

Maybe my 29 will be a tank for fry. I will pretty much take any apisto my lfs offers or if I really want something I might order.

 

That'd be a good idea, since I'm fairly sure apistos get fairly large numbers of fry (don't quote me on that though)

 

Would people say they are harder or easier to keep than electric blue rams.

 

Hm, I would imagine that their care level is pretty similar. Though I have heard, I don't know if this accurate, that apistos are not aggressive as rams. Again, don't quote me on that.

 

Would people say they are harder or easier to keep than electric blue rams.

There are soooooo many different species of apisto, that I think they run the entire care-level spectrum.

 

There are soooooo many different species of apisto, that I think they run the entire care-level spectrum.

Ok I just remember taking care of ebrs were one of the hardest fish I’ve ever cared for. Too bad I got them from petco and they ended up getting sick and dying anyways. I don’t buy fish from petco anymore. I got a cherry barb from there that had a tumor. Before that I didn’t even know fish could have tumors
They were probably very hard to care for because from the day I got them. I was treating them. Before I even put them in the tank I noticed problems but I kept them anyways just in a tank by themselves until finally I thought one had got over it’s sickness. Then I put it in my 29 and it got bad again because turns out it wasn’t over it and gave it to my dwarf gourami who also died a few days after the ebr passed.

Reasons I don’t buy from petco anymore.

 

Ok I just remember taking care of ebrs were one of the hardest fish I’ve ever cared for. Too bad I got them from petco and they ended up getting sick and dying anyways. I don’t buy fish from petco anymore. I got a cherry barb from there that had a tumor. Before that I didn’t even know fish could have tumors
They were probably very hard to care for because from the day I got them. I was treating them. Before I even put them in the tank I noticed problems but I kept them anyways just in a tank by themselves until finally I thought one had got over it’s sickness. Then I put it in my 29 and it got bad again because turns out it wasn’t over it and gave it to my dwarf gourami who also died a few days after the ebr passed.

Reasons I don’t buy from petco anymore.

Sounds familiar - I bought a GBR from Petco years ago - it was beautiful - and died just like that.
I can keep bronze / albino cories from Petco alive - that's about it. Okay, and nerite snails and amano shrimp.
I order everything else these days.

 

rubrolineata, steel blue, and uasapi(not sure if I spelled that right) are among some of my favorites. The last ones so rare that I doubt I’d ever find one and I don’t think I want an extremely rare one to be my first one keeping as they don’t know the ph from the sounds of it. A lot of them seem to need extremely low ph levels so I have ruled most of those out that had to have the crazy levels. I’ll have to research some more. I think there were a few more I liked I just forgot their names. Of course agassizi, and caucutoides are also some of my favorites, but like I said pretty much any apisto works for me as long as it’s ph isn’t like battery acid levels. If I can scoop some of the water out and get the same ph from it as a squeezed lemon then I’m not very interested. That’s a lot of work that I don’t want to worry about yet.
I don’t even know how you would lower the ph that much although I am going to have CO2 so my ph will probably drop to 6 in the tank if not lower. I’ll have to be careful about other inhabitants at this point.

 

HI Abby 974,

I am starting up a 55 Gallon as well and I am in a bit if the same situation. I decided to go with a small harem if Apistogramma Cacatuoides as my "showcase" fish. I had a pair of Orange Flash (REALLY DEEP ORANGE) Cacatuoides that I have been nurturing and popped them in with the Harem of Double Red Cacatuoides and the Orange (2x the size of the Double Reds) became TANK BULLIES, so I put them back in the 20 Long... So, now I have 1 Male/4 Female Double Red Cacatuoides and they are SUUUUUUUUPER PLAYFUL with LOADS of OPEN SPACE!!!

I had a very fully stocked 20G Long with Purple Pencil fish (6x), Blue Eyed Forktail Rainbow fish (4x) AND Gurtrudea Rainbow (4x), Dwarf Cory Cats (3x) and an Apistogramma Agassizii. They got along WONDERFULLY...

...and now I'm looking for more "friends" for my 55G and the Apistogramma Cacatuoides harem!!!


Also, what substrate are you planning on using for the 55G for your plants?

I have a small 12G with ADA Aquasoil that has slowly taken off for me, a small 8.7 with Eco-Complete that is doing pretty well, but I have 4 bags of FloraMax and I don't have any experience with it... so I was curious what you were going to use...


Mahalo!

 

HI Abby 974,

I am starting up a 55 Gallon as well and I am in a bit if the same situation. I decided to go with a small harem if Apistogramma Cacatuoides as my "showcase" fish. I had a pair of Orange Flash (REALLY DEEP ORANGE) Cacatuoides that I have been nurturing and popped them in with the Harem of Double Red Cacatuoides and the Orange (2x the size of the Double Reds) became TANK BULLIES, so I put them back in the 20 Long... So, now I have 1 Male/4 Female Double Red Cacatuoides and they are SUUUUUUUUPER PLAYFUL with LOADS of OPEN SPACE!!!

I had a very fully stocked 20G Long with Purple Pencil fish (6x), Blue Eyed Forktail Rainbow fish (4x) AND Gurtrudea Rainbow (4x), Dwarf Cory Cats (3x) and an Apistogramma Agassizii. They got along WONDERFULLY...

...and now I'm looking for more "friends" for my 55G and the Apistogramma Cacatuoides harem!!!


Also, what substrate are you planning on using for the 55G for your plants?

I have a small 12G with ADA Aquasoil that has slowly taken off for me, a small 8.7 with Eco-Complete that is doing pretty well, but I have 4 bags of FloraMax and I don't have any experience with it... so I was curious what you were going to use...


Mahalo!

I love pseudos they’re just so expensive.

HI Abby 974,

I am starting up a 55 Gallon as well and I am in a bit if the same situation. I decided to go with a small harem if Apistogramma Cacatuoides as my "showcase" fish. I had a pair of Orange Flash (REALLY DEEP ORANGE) Cacatuoides that I have been nurturing and popped them in with the Harem of Double Red Cacatuoides and the Orange (2x the size of the Double Reds) became TANK BULLIES, so I put them back in the 20 Long... So, now I have 1 Male/4 Female Double Red Cacatuoides and they are SUUUUUUUUPER PLAYFUL with LOADS of OPEN SPACE!!!

I had a very fully stocked 20G Long with Purple Pencil fish (6x), Blue Eyed Forktail Rainbow fish (4x) AND Gurtrudea Rainbow (4x), Dwarf Cory Cats (3x) and an Apistogramma Agassizii. They got along WONDERFULLY...

...and now I'm looking for more "friends" for my 55G and the Apistogramma Cacatuoides harem!!!


Also, what substrate are you planning on using for the 55G for your plants?

I have a small 12G with ADA Aquasoil that has slowly taken off for me, a small 8.7 with Eco-Complete that is doing pretty well, but I have 4 bags of FloraMax and I don't have any experience with it... so I was curious what you were going to use...


Mahalo!

I love pseudos they’re just so expensive.
I Will some type of soil underneath a bed of sand probably. I’ve never used soil always just used sand or gravel, but I can’t stand gravels as which is what my 55 gallon was. I’ll start really looking at the soils and everything in a week or two. I’m just trying to come up with a plan.

I’m only keeping one apisto species. I’m just not sure which one I want.

Also just hearing about your 20 gallon long makes me want to change the cherry barbs to pencil fish and pseudos. I’m just going to have to make sure I have plenty of plants as which is what I’m going for anyways and start getting live brine shrimp.

The sand will be black. That’s all that I know so far

 

Ok so far I have this for what I need/want/have for the 55

3 apistos 2 female 1 male
Either 12 cherry barbs or 12 pseudos
12-15 KuhlI loaches
I’m not sure if I should stock more of something or get a different type of fish.

Plants
Amazon sword
Argentine sword
Anubis nana
3 other assorted Anubis
I’m still looking and collecting plants

Substrate
Fluval stratum
Bdbs on top

Filters
Fluval 306
Aqua clear (forgot which one it’s called rated for 50 or so gallons on my 29 right now will move to 55 when I set it up and then will move back to 29 when I have fry)
Sponge filter of some sort

Filter media
BioMax
Fine and course sponges
Matrix

Ferts
Thrive
Osmocote plus
??

Light fixture
Finnexx 24/7 is what a lot of people use right?

Heaters
2 200 watt Aqueon pro heaters since my aquarium will have to stay fairly toasty.

Other miscellaneous objects
Driftwood
Seiryu stone

Ammonia non foaming with no chemicals
Prime
Tss

Anything I should add or change?
I looked through a few different posts about some things last night to try to get a better idea.

 

Just food for thought... I stocked kuhlI loaches in my 20 gal long tank, mainly to get some experience with them and try them out as many people seem to enjoy them. If I could do it over again, I'd stick with cories, as I hardly ever see my kuhlis. I have loads of hiding places for them, and they use them all! When the lights are on, my kuhlis take cover. With a deeper tank like a 55 gal, maybe it's different as the light may not be as bright at the bottom of the tank, but in my 20 gal long, it's just so shallow that it's real bright at the bottom - they don't like that.

 

Just food for thought... I stocked kuhlI loaches in my 20 gal long tank, mainly to get some experience with them and try them out as many people seem to enjoy them. If I could do it over again, I'd stick with cories, as I hardly ever see my kuhlis. I have loads of hiding places for them, and they use them all! When the lights are on, my kuhlis take cover. With a deeper tank like a 55 gal, maybe it's different as the light may not be as bright at the bottom of the tank, but in my 20 gal long, it's just so shallow that it's real bright at the bottom - they don't like that.

I had kuhlis in my 29 a few years ago. They were really what I liked. I’m kinda torn between choosing cories or kuhlis because I loved my kuhlis but everyone seems to love and recommend cories. Not to mention there’s so many different cories that can be good with warm water. Kuhlis always seemed active to me. My tank was never extremely bright.

Thanks I’ll have to keep that in thought.

I’ll look up some warmer types of cories and think about it.

 

I had kuhlis in my 29 a few years ago. They were really what I liked. I’m kinda torn between choosing cories or kuhlis because I loved my kuhlis but everyone seems to love and recommend cories. Not to mention there’s so many different cories that can be good with warm water. Kuhlis always seemed active to me. My tank was never extremely bright.

Thanks I’ll have to keep that in thought.

I’ll look up some warmer types of cories and think about it.

If you like kuhlis and had success with them in the past, then go for it!
As far as warm-water cories, sterbaI come to mind, and aeneus (bronze / albino) would probably work too (and I'm sure there are many others)

 

If you like kuhlis and had success with them in the past, then go for it!
As far as warm-water cories, sterbaI come to mind, and aeneus (bronze / albino) would probably work too (and I'm sure there are many others)

I looked at the water parameters for cories and it said a ph of 7-7.8. I don’t think they will like the water in my tank. It’s possibly going to get to 5.8 or 5.6.
Nvm somewhere else is saying 7.6-6.2

 

Most of the common cories are fine in a wide range of pH values, but... wow... that's really acidic!