New 55g Tank

[TeebD]

I just bought my first tank today. Just started setting up and will begin a fishless cycle soon. it is a 55 gallon tank along with a Magnum 350 Canister filter, 200 Watt Marineland Visi-Therm heater and some fake plants / driftwood. I plan on doing a weekly water change (is this a good schedule?) Now it is time to figure out what fish I want! I am completely new to the aquarium game so I have no idea how many fish I should be getting. From some of the fish I have been looking at I'm pretty sure I want some Angle Fish as a center piece (Do I have room for more than one? Do angle fish get along together?) A school of Tetras and Cories (again I am not sure how many I should be getting.) Some other fish I was looking at were the Zebra Danios some Dwarf Gouramis possibly some Platies and then some Rainbows. I am for the most part looking for bright and active fish to show off! Thanks for the help.

//Steve

[rich311k]

Yes you could have more than one angel, the trick is finding ones that get a long. You could keep a dozen or more tetras depending on which kind you like and kind find. Corys are a great choice and a school of 8 - 10 would have a great time in your tank.

Rainbows would work as would danios or gouramis. It depends on which species you want. You cant get them all. Rainbows get larger and are active a group of 3-5 depending on type would be quite nice, but I would drop the angels then.

Danios are like tetras you could use them as dithers with any of the fish on your list.

[TeebD]

Are cichlids a good choice?

[Lab_Rat]

There are a ton of options with a 55g, certainly many of the fish in your first post would work. Many cichlids would also work, it just depends on what you want. 55g is a great size for an african mbuna tank, or you could do a tanganyikan tank, or vics. You could also do some of the smaller CA/SA cichlids. It really depends on what you like.

[TeebD]

So if I did something like:

10 Neon Tetras
9 Cories
Acei Cichlid (How many could I get?)
Pearl Gouramis (How many / Is there still enough room?)
Bristlenose pleco

Could that work?

[rich311k]

The aceis are african lake cichlids and would not mix with the rest of those fish. The rest would work, you could do a trio of pearls 1m/2f. You could do 20+ neons if you wished.

[Lab_Rat]

The aceis are african lake cichlids and would not mix with the rest of those fish. The rest would work, you could do a trio of pearls 1m/2f. You could do 20+ neons if you wished.

:+1:

Once your tank is well established and has been quite stable you could add a couple of bolivian rams or apistos if you're interested in cichlids. They would fit nicely in to the lower part of the tank. But the african mbuna are out unless you do a tank solely for them (and they're not good beginner fish due to their aggression issues).

[TeebD]

Ok, so then I have:

3 Pearl Gouramis
10 Neon Tetras
9 Cories
1 Bristlenose Pleco

Room for anything else? It is too stocked at that point for an angle isn't it? Maybe I could throw in some Danios.

[Lab_Rat]

Ok, so then I have:

3 Pearl Gouramis
10 Neon Tetras
9 Cories
1 Bristlenose Pleco

Room for anything else? It is too stocked at that point for an angle isn't it? Maybe I could throw in some Danios.

You could do a school of danios in there. Easily you could do 8-12 zebra danios (or any of their variants), probably more. They would be great fish to add first as they are very hardy. If you're talking giant danios, you could do about 6. You could do an angel instead, I'm not an angelfish person but I think there would not be a problem with the pearls. Rich can answer that better though since he keeps angels.

[TeebD]

I really like the Bolivian Rams, thanks for that suggestion.
I am thinking that I'm going to do:

10 Neon Tetras
9 Cories
5 Zebra Danios
3 Pearl Gouramis
2 Bolivian Ram
1 Bristlenose Pleco

This looks good to me but is it too much?

[Lab_Rat]

I think it's fine, I'd actually do more zebra danios (10 total) as they are a schooling fish and with more they'll not harass the other fish. That stocking plan has nice distribution at all levels of the tank and the bioload shouldn't be bad. What sort of filtration are you planning?

[TeebD]

I have a Magnum 350 Canister filter and in the future I want to get a HOB to keep the water a little more clear.

[rich311k]

That is a nice stocking plan.

Angels and pearls will get along fine, I have had them together.

[TeebD]

Ok, well thanks for the help guys!