Suggestions for my 55g Community Tank

[ryadmath]

I am wanting to add a centerpiece fish to my 55g tank. Do you have any suggestions of what could go well in my community? I am interested in an angel, gourami or a ram or two. What issues could I run into adding any of these? Currently, I have the stocking shown below and they all seem to be happy and healthy...

6x Guppies
3x Black Skirt Tetras
3x White Skirt Tetras
2x Bronze Corys
4x Albino Corys
1x Rubberlip Pleco
1x Oto
3x Ghost Shrimp

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I am still learning this hobby...

[BluewaterBoof]

The tetras, cories, and oto are all social fish that do best in large groups. I usually suggest getting around 7-10 of each tetra, and 6-12 of the cories.

7+ is good for otos, which need soft acidic water and an established aquarium in order to avoid high mortality rates.

Ghost shrimp have a very small bio load and help clean up uneaten food. They're also dirt cheap. You could get a dozen or more of them and won't have any issues.

Guppies are live bearers and can quickly multiply in a tank. Not sure how mixing them with a bunch of tetras will work out. The tetras may help keep the guppy babies from becoming too numerous but I'm not sure and would defer to others who have more experience keeping breeding guppies in a community tank.

[angelcraze2]

0 Not allowed!
Welcome to the AC :) These are some things I've noticed about the fish you are considering.

Angelfish and rams like the temperature higher than skirt tetras, that genus of cory and rubberlip pleco, but could be kept at 79°F to accommodate everyone. If you go with rams, they'll do better at 80°F, this will be the highest range temp four the other fish.

Also be aware that skirt tetras can be nippy and pick at the slower moving fishes' fins like angelfish and rams.

Guppies like the water harder than the other fish (not sure about gouramis since I've never kept them) and they are too innocent to get out of the cichlid's way I've noticed.

[angelcraze2]

Have you given any new thought to keeping an angelfish, ram or gourami? I'm not sure what I was thinking by "guppies are too innocent to get out of the cichlid's way", I don't think they'd get so much in the way of two rams if they decide to breed, and there wouldn't be very much aggression with just angel. I just heard the skirt tetras are nippy, so if you get an angel, just watch that they don't nip the fins. Increasing the skirt tetra schools may help if they do nip. Although the same tetra, black morphs may not necessarily shoal with white morphs. This is because they use markers to identify eachother and orient themselves, so they wouldn't identify with a different color.

"O not allowed" was a typo

I don't have any feedback about gouramis, but other members have kept them.

Sorry that came off like that!

[Nautilus291]

Have you given any new thought to keeping an angelfish, ram or gourami? I'm not sure what I was thinking by "guppies are too innocent to get out of the cichlid's way", I don't think they'd get so much in the way of two rams if they decide to breed, and there wouldn't be very much aggression with just angel. I just heard the skirt tetras are nippy, so if you get an angel, just watch that they don't nip the fins. Increasing the skirt tetra schools may help if they do nip. Although the same tetra, black morphs may not necessarily shoal with white morphs. This is because they use markers to identify eachother and orient themselves, so they wouldn't identify with a different color.

"O not allowed" was a typo

I don't have any feedback about gouramis, but other members have kept them.

Sorry that came off like that!

Ha! I was wonder what that meant. I thought maybe an inside joke or something lol.

[ryadmath]

I've decided on added a pair of rams. I didn't want to take any chances so I'm going to wait till I complete my QT tank setup.

Although the same tetra, black morphs may not necessarily shoal with white morphs. This is because they use markers to identify each other and orient themselves, so they wouldn't identify with a different color.

Unfortunately I have noticed this. I added (3) of each morph thinking they would group together, but they stay separated. The small groupings also leads to the tetras hiding most of the time. Is adding additional fish the only way to get them to be more active and come out in the open?

[Slaphppy7]

Is adding additional fish the only way to get them to be more active and come out in the open?

More than likely, yes

[angelcraze2]

I've decided on added a pair of rams. I didn't want to take any chances so I'm going to wait till I complete my QT tank setup.



Unfortunately I have noticed this. I added (3) of each morph thinking they would group together, but they stay separated. The small groupings also leads to the tetras hiding most of the time. Is adding additional fish the only way to get them to be more active and come out in the open?

Good on you! I always QT new fish and highly recommend it.

How much cover do the tetras have? Like is there lots of open swimming space, or lots of decor to create territory? If you feel comfortable, I bet getting 3 more white and 3 more black skirts would make a considerable difference in behavior.

The rams will appreciate some flat rocks somewhere in the tank. My ram pairs have always chosen flat rocks to spawn on. I know you're not looking to breed them, but it tends to keep everything more peaceful if they have what they want in the tank. I like to create mazes and territory on the bottom of the tank for rams to alleviate aggression between spawns. The break in line of sight helps break the chasing male rams are notorious for. Also keep in mind when placing decor (especially on the bottom) to allow for easy siphoning and cleaning. I make sure I can get my siphon in between decor, or I at least swish the mulm into the siphon tube in crannies there the siphon doesn't fit.

[The Cichlid Keeper]

Go right ahead and add the German Blue Rams, but I would be worried with the ghost shrimp. They might be eaten, unlikely as Dwarf Cichlids are peaceful. If your aquarium has been established for a while then try gouramis. I would like to suggest a look at Pearl gouramis. Not sure how large a bunch of those Anabantids grow. I love the idea of Angel fish. There are some species that grow to over 6 inches long and 8 inches tall. They can be bullies, so I would go with the smaller ones. If you get more than three Angels, they might breed because it is difficult to sex them. Never heard of Skirt Tetras or Otos. Angelfish are semi-aggressive. Gouramis are peaceful. It depends how long all the fish are; if the number of inches of fish is greater than gallons, your tank is over populated. Try to make the water soft as most (if not all) of these fish are from South America, where the water is soft. Plants make a great addition to this aquarium, in particular South American Sword Plants and Anubias. Hope this isn't too much to read.

[Slaphppy7]

Old thread, now closed pending notification from OP to reopen.