55 Gallon stocking advice

[mom67]

So I have used sand in my aquarium and I love it!
What would be good fish to put? I like live bearers. But I would also like color. Also, how many fish can go in a 55 gallon?

[ScottishFish]

Number of fish depends on species. If you had a severum then your tank would be fully stocked. Where as you could keep 10 mollies, 10 guppies, 10 sword tails no problem as long as your filtration was adequate.

Remember livebearers can reproduce like crazy so if you don't want fry then don't mix sexes

[ryann]

There are so many different kind of fish you could put in there. Can you help narrow down what you would be interested in. Maybe a species tank with dwarf cichlids. You could have a peaceful community tank as well. It depends what your interested in. You could keep some mollys or guppies as you said you like livebearers. I don't know what tankmates would be suitable for them.

Any other info you could give on what you like would help a lot.

[mom67]

Yes, I think I would like a peaceful tank :) can someone tell me what goes well with mollies and guppies? And how about algae eaters?

[ScottishFish]

For the bottom of your tank a bristlenose pleco would be nice(would eat algae too), you could also look at a school of 8+ corydoras or maybe 10-15 khuli loaches

[madagascariensis]

...although I would put in ONLY 1 species of bottom dweller...

[mom67]

Should I use aquarium salt?

[ScottishFish]

Aquarium salt . . . .? Are you curing a disease or something . . .

[Lady Hobbs]

Cycling the tank first. Save you a lot of work in the long run.
Links in my signature.

[mom67]

Aquarium salt . . . .? Are you curing a disease or something . . .

No, I don't have any fish in yet. I was just wondering if I should use salt...