55 gallon oddball

[PetRanch6892]

well i got a 55 gallon from a neighbor and i think i know what i want to get, finally. A clown knife, bristel nose cat, peacock eel, african butterfly, a few red pacus, and thats all as of now. i dont know how many i should put i thought mabye 1 or 2 more small fish. im going to get a penguin 350 bio wheel filter. will the tank be to crowded or will it be okay with those fish?

[Drumachine09]

Too much/many.

Pacus get well over 36" by them selves.

Clown knives also get almost 3 feet long.

[cocoa_pleco]

clown knifes get huge, and the pacu get as big as a motorcycle, the rest are fine though. with that stock you would need a 1000g for the knife and pacu

[PetRanch6892]

my bad i meant silver dollar, not pacu, they look alike. can i get any knife at all?

[Ty]

you might want to get another filter allong with the 350 like I ill be running in a few days.

right now I have a 55 gal with a penguin 350 and a 170, and I have another 350 sitting at home right now waiting to go on the tank.

as the general rule of thumb (as I have learned from this wounderfull site) is that you should cut the rating of any filter in half, so the 350 is only good for about 37.5 gallons.

[cocoa_pleco]

i would get a smaller knife, maybe a african knife?

i would get more filtration too, like a aquaclear 110 or another 350

[Lady Hobbs]

You need more filtration for sure. I have a 350 Penquin on my 29 gallon.

[cocoa_pleco]

lol, i have a 350 on my 20g

[PetRanch6892]

ok, ill look into an african, and 2 350s, or an aquaclear 110, i have an aquaclear 50 on my 20L and it works real nice but i read that bio wheels are better.

[cocoa_pleco]

just be warned that the biowheels splash alot

[Ty]

yes they do, but the newer ones splash much less as they have a full shroud, where the older ones had partially exposed bio wheels

I like my penguins very much, but I dont know If I would like them as much if they were in my beedroom or somewhere where I had to listen to them for long periods of time.

[cocoa_pleco]

i think because im around my tanks alot the splashing was a pain, when my 55g was planted i had the 350 on it and a aquatech HOB on the other side and the side with the biowheel had so much water flying allover that half of my hood had 1" of algae growth on it. lol

[Ty]

how far is the water from the top of the tank, the splash guard on my 350 sits below my glass hood, and the water is touching the bottom of the spilway, so its not that bad.

[PetRanch6892]

i have an aquaclear 50 in my other bedroom at my dads house and it makes some splashing noise. i like it, its peaceful. it reminds me of the beach