Setting up 55 gallon tank...suggestion?

Question

I have had a 10 gallon tank for about 4 months now...I have 5 adult guppies and 7 fry. I also have a little algae eating catfish...I plan on putting an extra filter in my 10 gallon to seed the filter and put that little filter cartridge in my big 55 gallon's filter to seed it and get the bacteria established. Any other suggestion (will have live plants) I want a tropical community tank...and am looking for stocking schemes that will work well with I think some neons, zebra danios, guppies and a betta...any other fish suggestions (no plecos please)

Interestingly enough, my 10 gallon was fully cycles in 3.5 weeks...and I only lost 1 fish...who was a walmart genetically altered fish and prolly sick anyways.

Answer 1

platies are NICE fish :) I love there colors. Be sure to cycle for at least a month. My tanks never can get fish to live unually until after 2 months of being set up :o I always learn the hard way. Waiting IS HARD!

Answer 2

Guppies and bettas don't do well together - the bright colours of the male guppy tails are close enough to male betta colours that the betta feels threatened.

Here are a few stocking schemes for a 55 g tank:
a - 5 platies, 8 danios, 6 lemon tetras, 6 serpae tetras, 6 cory cats
b - 5 swordtails, 8 cory cats, 4 angelfish
c - 10 white cloud mountain minnows, 8 gold barbs, 15 rasboras, 4 dwarf gouramis
d - 10 black neon tetras, 10 glowlight tetras, 10 bloodfin tetras, 10 serpae tetras
e - 10 spotted danios, 10 Botia sidhtmunki (a loach), 12 dwarf pencilfish, 7 pygmy corydoras, 10 pristella tetras, 4 dwarf gouramis (all these fish are very small, the gouramis would be the "centerpiece" fish)

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Answer 3

i have two fresh water and 4 salt water i have two big filters on each tank . watch the guppies and the Betta together both or these fish are very hostel with there space. don't put the tank near a window this will make green stuff grow on the inside faster. live plants are a good idea glad you are putting them in the tank the two filters will help them live and grow nice and green. watch how many fish you put in the tank the rule is one fish for every 5 gallons but you are using small fish so ask the pet store about that to many fish in the tank will kill the plants and mess up the homeostasis of the tank. the light is a very important thing for the tank sense you are having real plants in the tank u will need a regular light and a black light the black light is for the plants if you tank has the fixture for it. i think that is all the pointers i can give you but if i think of any thing i will message you . Hope it goes well .

Answer 4

Depends on what kind of fish you like, and how many plants you're going to put in.

If you're going to put a lot of plants in, you can get away with a larger variety of fish.

Here's some of the fish that I have kept in my community tank...

Blue ram cichlid, Kribensis (both small and sometimes aggressive, but I've kept and bred them in the community tank.)
Angel fish will usually be ok in a planted tank with the smaller fish.
Glo fish, if you can find them( the little bright pink danios). Some of the dwarf gouramis.
Any of the cory catfish, pictus catfish.
Banjo catfish are interesting fish, but they don't do much alot of the time and like a sand substrate, and the chocolate doradid(Striped Raphael Catfish) is another interesting one.
As for algae control, if you look, you can find some interesting plecos that won't get too big, like the gold nugget pleco, or the rubber lipped pleco. Otherwise, the Oto catfish(Otocinclus Catfish) are good. I would recommend staying away from the algae eaters....they get aggressive as they get older.

Over all, it just depends on what fish you see that you like. If you see one you like, do a little research on it.

Answer 5

Despite statements above, you cant house Male Bettas with fish that bear vibrant coloured fins, the Betta will react similar to the way it would react to another male Betta, nor are guppies the fastest fish in the tank. Just take note of this..

Assuming your tank is the 4 foot long variety, you have a serious amount of options to diversify your hobby now. Personally, I would leave the fish you have in their tank, perhaps move some to the new one after its cycled completely, and diversify your selection. You seem to have grasped onto fish keeping easily by your description above, which is more than I can say for a lot of others.

Tanks that are 4 feet long could house a variety of cichlids, that come in a myriad of colours, patterns, shapes, and sizes.

Take for instance the Heros Severus, or the "Severum". Very, very beautiful display fish in their adulthood while well fed.

Angelfish, again in adulthood, and even through their youth are wonderful on display, though these are more sensitive than your average fish.

Knife fish - Ghostknives and Clownknives are my favorites.

Mbuna cichlids of any type can build a rainbow in your tank.

Seriously you came onto a big tank, you can facilitate much more asthetically pleasing fish now. I'd never be able to stock a tank that big with tetras and guppies, It would break my heart and I would die.

Answer 6

In a 55 gallon tank I would put:

6 female bettas
10 neons
10 guppies
10 cories

If you wanted a male betta then:
1 male betta
20 neons
10 guppies
10 cories

I did not add danios because they will most likely nip at the fins of the betta. Danios are not aggressive, they are just energetic and curious, and will nip at things that they like. Long fins such as bettas fins are something they will nip.

Answer 7

There are some issues. The bala sharks would desire to bypass, they like communities of five or extra and choose a hundred+ gallons! And the cories, they choose communities of five or extra. So: x7 guppies (you're able to get all male in case you dont choose fry) x4 platties (you're able to get all male in case you do no longer choose fry) x8 glowlight tetras x8 neon tetra x5 or extra cory cats

Answer 8

Put in lots of fake plants(it is extremely hard to keep live).
Put on 6 discus
And a 20 neon's

Answer 9

Get a Dojo Catfish/loach, my favorite fish out there. Look like eels, but very friendly.

Answer 10

You could get a bigger filter. loss will be less.
Bigger fish?
[carp, koi?]