Would these tank mates work?

**islandfish** · 10-04-2011, 10:58 PM

I'm waiting for my tank to cycle and in the meantime I'm wondering about what type and how many fish to put in it.

In a 55 gallon tank would this work:

1 pearl gourami
2 angel fish
5 red tailed tin foil barbs
5 rosy barbs
1 sm pleco

Or would that be a bit crowded when they're all adults? Any suggestions?

**genocidex** · 10-04-2011, 11:13 PM

barbs and angels and gourami might fight with fin nipping....

**islandfish** · 10-05-2011, 01:03 AM

hmm, they have these types grouped together at the pet store as being compatible.

**Bigge3415** · 10-05-2011, 02:08 AM

From what I have learned from this sight. You never trust what the pet dtore says. Sometimes it is the exact opposite from what they say.

**skullduggery1** · 10-05-2011, 02:24 AM

It will be fine as rosey barbs are not fin nippers,but the tinfoils will get to large for that sized tank.A regular pleco gets large,but they grow slow.

**islandfish** · 10-05-2011, 03:25 AM

AhA! As I suspected! I thought from my research the tinfoils would get to big but the pet store people give me a blank stare when I asked if the tinfoily would get to big (Insert empty headed giggle and hair toss here). Okay, they didn't really, but I think they find me frustrating with all my questions.

**genocidex** · 10-05-2011, 03:32 AM

sorry but im always wary of barbs and nipping even if they arent known for it XD lol

**islandfish** · 10-05-2011, 04:05 AM

I'm wary about aggressive fish too, that's how my last tank fell apart. I bought a Jack Dempsey (Jack), a Green Terror(never did figure out a name for him), an Albino Oscar (Dusty) and two Tiger Oscars (P & H). I found out later that my tank is too small for all these guys and on top of that, they weren't a good mix.

We ended up losing the GT and eventually selling the Tiger Oscars, they stressed me out because they picked on the other fish so much. So now we had my two favorite little guys the JD (jack) and the AO (Dusty), but what a lonely tank.

After awhile we thought maybe we should add another AO to help balance things out. What a horrible mistake!

The pet store had a AO that had grown pretty big, we thought about the same size as our guys, so we took him home, the pet store thought he'd be better with fish his own size as he'd pick on smaller fish so they had him in his own tank. (

) Call me stupid for not catching on.

We got home, put the fish in the tank and went to make dinner, not knowing things in the tank were in total chaos. Within an hour the new AO had pecked out one of Dusty's eye (completely gone, he probably ate it) and Dusty had several bites over his body. We had to take Dusty and put him out of his misery. I was horrified. I caught the AO and took him back to the store asap.

Anyway, I ended up with one fish, that ended up dying shortly afterwards.

Long story short - I don't really trust 'fish that are not supposed to be aggressive either'.

That's why I'm seeking advice online; I'm hoping to make more informed decisions based on other people's experience and advice. I don't want to subject any more fish I might buy to a pained or tortured life.

**islandfish** · 10-05-2011, 04:23 AM

[QUOTE=islandfish]

In a 55 gallon tank would this work:

1 pearl gourami
2 angel fish
5 mollies (instead of the tinfoil barbs)?
5 rosy barbs
1 sm pleco [QUOTE]

Are two angels okay or do you think they might get aggressive towards each other or the pearl?

**j_profe** · 10-05-2011, 02:12 PM

In my 60 gal I have 9 gouramis, 6 angels and also mollies and more (bit crowded, I have to do 2 weekly water changes) and my gouramis fight a little among themselves but they have never attacked my angels...so far so good. And yes, local stores will say anything just to sell you stuff. My advice: keep researching!