Friendly fish for a 55gallon

**fishmommie** · 01-05-2013, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Lady Hobbs

My 55 is very peaceful. I have one angelfish, 23 black skirt tetra's, a few cherry barbs and some cory catfish.

Canister filter and an Aqua Clear. I do not like live-bearing fish of any kind.

I think this sounds like the perfect set up for the preschool. the angel will be gorgeous and flashy, the black skirts will be active and very pretty as well as the cherry barbs and the kids will love the little cory cats - make sure to get at least 6 of them, all the same sub species. My 4 year old grand daughter is wild about my angel and my cory cats and loves watching the snails. IF you had room, a geophagus would be another wonderful choice for the kids. they love watching them gather a mouthful of rocks then spit them out. lol Geos are very peaceful cichlids and there are some smaller varieties that could work.

Maybe you could also talk them into one more HOB - you can pick something up on Amazon for around $30 or less. Better for the fish and less worry about maintenance.

**Lady Hobbs** · 01-05-2013, 04:41 PM

I would not even attempt 2 angels in a 55 gallon. The only ones that can be together is a mated pair and then you'd have the struggle of constant spawning. But, I also would not keep neon's or cardinals with an angel. Neon's get nervous sharing a tank with a larger, more dominate fish.

Someone mentioned rasbora. That would be a good selection as well as a school of tetra's and even some cherry barbs would work nicely and forget the centerpiece fish. You could up the number of neon's to 30 easily. (Do not confuse cherry barbs with rosy barbs.)

Read up on cycling in my signature. Best to do that first.

**koaladarshana** · 01-06-2013, 02:16 AM

Why not do an all livebearer tank? They are colorful and hardy. I think they'd be awesome for a daycare.

**steeler1** · 01-06-2013, 06:35 AM

As many posters pointed out, large schools of tetras look good in that size tank.

I've kept alot of them but my favorites are cardinals, emperors, rummy noses and rosy's. Any of them would be great additions to your tank. There are several others to research and find what you might like.