Getting new to me aquarium set up tomorrow!!

Hello wonderful fish peeps,

I was on Craigslist doing my regular search for anything FISH and I came across a post for a complete set up, 55 gallon, stand and canopy! Fluval canister filter and a bunch more stuff I don’t know about yet. All for a steal of a price.
Here’s the catch, it’s still up and running and has fish it it.
she’s currently got 3 silver dollars and three bristle nose plecos.
I sadly have zero experience with either of those species. What am I to expect? Is this tank large enough for them? I’m more than willing to keep them if it’s humane.
Please let me know your thoughts.
you guys are awesome!

thanks!

 

Hello wonderful fish peeps,

I was on Craigslist doing my regular search for anything FISH and I came across a post for a complete set up, 55 gallon, stand and canopy! Fluval canister filter and a bunch more stuff I don’t know about yet. All for a steal of a price.
Here’s the catch, it’s still up and running and has fish it it.
she’s currently got 3 silver dollars and three bristle nose plecos.
I sadly have zero experience with either of those species. What am I to expect? Is this tank large enough for them? I’m more than willing to keep them if it’s humane.
Please let me know your thoughts.
you guys are awesome!

thanks!

The silver dollars should do just fine in a 55, though they will make your life hard if you want to put plants in it. It’s doable you just have to resign yourself to some of the plants being dinner. I have 2 in a community tank that is smaller than that and they are happy as clams. Pretty fish, and they are funny in their scaredy cat antics. I don’t keep plecos, but those are some of the smaller ones

 

The silver dollars should do just fine in a 55, though they will make your life hard if you want to put plants in it. It’s doable you just have to resign yourself to some of the plants being dinner. I have 2 in a community tank that is smaller than that and they are happy as clams. Pretty fish, and they are funny in their scaredy cat antics. I don’t keep plecos, but those are some of the smaller ones

this will be my one tank that I do not plant. I will have a few tall fake plants and driftwood. I plan on giving them subdued lighting as I have read they prefer a dark water setting
Thank you so much!

 

And here it is!

 

Nice !

 

Oh nice!

 

Very Nice, congrats

 

excellent looking setup, the stand is especially nice.

The BN Plecos will be fine in a 55g. Consider adding some pieces of driftwood in there for them.

The Silver Dollars will be fine, I probably would add any more of those though. 3 will be ok, but they can get large if given enough time to grow out.

Maybe consider adding live plants. An easy way to add plants is to plant them in some terra cotta pots that have a substrate like Seachem Flourite or CaribSea Eco Complete for example.

Having the plants in terra cotta pots makes it easier to move them around, and you wont need to change the current substrate out in the tank.

Also, by having he plants elevated off the tank bottom, it gets them closer to the surface and thus closer to the light. Even a 6" difference in depth in the tank can impact the PAR value of the light by a lot.

There is a member on the forum that sells plants (vishaquatics).

 

The silver dollars are already full grown. Lady claims they are about 6 years old. She was very much in love with her fish. After meeting her and talking she felt much more comfortable selling me everything once she realized I was a true fish person. Almost feels like I was taking her kids away from her.
Not mentioned in my original post was it also had 2 white and 2 black skirt tetras.
Should I leave those guys in there?

This morning they all seem to be fine. I’m alway so nervous for the first month a fish is moved. I hope so much they all settle in good
Thanks people!