Noob with 50 gallon tank, need help!!!!

hI i'm new,

me and my sister have inherited a 50 gallon tank from our grandparents, I was looking on the web for a place to get answers to my many questions. the tank has all necessary equipment except a heater (which we will get very soon)

the main problem we had was picking out what fish to get for the tank.

we thought we would get the following list but it is entirely open to change depending on fish compatibility or overcrowding. the only fish we are intent on keeping is the corydora catfish as this will hopefully keep the tank cleaner. any other suggestions for fish would be appreciated

- corydora catfish
- 6 zebra danio's
- dwarf blue gaurami
- 3 chincilads
- 3 guppies
- 6 leopard danio's

the main problems I thought might develop are:

- the gaurami turning territorial and harrassing the other fish
- the catfish growing too large for the tank
- the 2 different types of danio's in general (will they form into separate schools? will they fight eachother?)

all help is greatly appreciated

 

I think you mean cichlids.  Your list actually is very compatible.  I would suggest a group of 4-6 corydoras and look for the ones who stay relatively small, such as the Panda cory.  (8-12 inches of fish.)  A school of 6 danios (12 inches), 1 Dwarf Gourami (2 inches), 4 male guppies (8 inches), 6 leopard danios (12-14 inches), and a pair of German Blue Ram Cichlids (4 inches).  All of these fish fit in the inch to gallon rule of fish.  They are all compatible with each other.  You have to be very careful with some ciclids. They may have community cichlids as a label and are considered peaceful but that is in comparison a lot of times to other cichilds.  An Oscar can grow to around 18 inches but you would not put him in a 18 gallon tank.  The inch rule does not apply to him as he needs a tank 3 sizes his adult length.

 

that's real useful to know!

yes I did mean cichlids, just got real confuzed over the spelling, i'm still a little worried over the 2 schools of danio's...are they going to make 1 school or 2? will the schools fight each other?

another more important question, my sister wants to get goldfish because she has a goldfish book and knows lots about them. are the tropical fish that harder to look after? (given all the appropriate equipment) will they be more likely to die? can anyone post a picture of a nice tank with similar fish so I can show how nice it looks?

 

Before we talk about the fish that you'll get and whether they're compatible, I want to ask you: Are you familiar with the Nitrogen Cycle? You cannot get any fish until your tank is fully cycled.

 

USE TWO HEATERS....ONE ON EACH SIDE OF THE BACKGROUND...EACH HEATER BEING HALF THE AMOUNT OF THE FULL 1 HEATER... EXAMPLE... USE TWO 25 GALLON HEATERS UNSTEAD OF ONE 50 GALLON HEATER...ITS HEATS THE TANK MORE EVENLY...

 

Good point Beckers, AND in case one heater breaks, there is still the other one working. This also gives you some time to buy a new heater in place of the broken one. This is usually a good idea for larger tanks.

 

One thing you should be aware of, it is not a good idea or practice to put a goldfish in with tropical fish as they are different, warm vs. cold water fish. Make sure you are not combining "brackish" fish or fish that need a llittle salt with freshwater fish. 2 Schools of danios will be fine, just very, very busy! If you are unwilling to wait for the cycling process, look for a product called "Bio-Spira". It comes packed in ice and is bacteria needed to cycle the tank. I have had to use it twice for quick rescue set up and it worked marvelously!!!! NO fish loss!