55 gallon setup?

Question

55 gallon:

2 Pearl gouramis
1 Red tail black shark
2 Kuhli loaches
2 Rosy barbs
3 Cory catfish
4 Cherrry barbs
2 Zebra danios
5 Guppies
(1 Common pleco?)

Tank is a year old. I wanted to know if this would be a good setup for the tank.

Answer 1

okay, if you already have this and you have no problems, then great. However you may see some aggresion from the danios, barbs, and shark. If you are going to get this, then...

It's a good list to shoot for, But I would make some adjustments. The guppies will be picked on, and I would choose giant Danios over zebra simply becuase of the size. You have the room, so I would suggest at leat 6 of each type of barb and the danios. Giant Danios are also great becuase they occupy the very top of your tank, so you see action on all levels. Cory cats are also schooling and are adorable bumbling around the tank in larger numbers. I would forget the shark as they are territorail against other bottom feeders though. All the fish you mentioned will get along though, so choose either the loaches and the cory cats or the shark. Never house more than one shark per tank.

Common plecos get huge, but it won't be an issue if you research and find a place to send them when they get too big. There are a few vaireties such as the Rubber lip pleco that stay smaller that are just fine for your tank but won't outgrow it.

I would cycle the tank first. If you add a little fish food once a week and then perform 20% weekly water changes until your water quality holds stable at 0ppm ammonia, 0-20 ppm nitrate, and 0 ppm Nitrite for a whole week, then it will be easier. This is called establishing a nitrogen cycle and is easy. It takes 4-6 weeks. Every time you add new fish, you are adding waste to the water. Your tank will grow bacteria that eat the waste. If you add new fish to a brand new tank, the waste will kill them becuase there is no bacteria to break it down. This is also true if you add too many fish at one time. I wouldn't add anymore than 6 fish at a time to a 55 gallon. Go with a full school of one type of fish at a time to encourage schooling and reduce stress.

You'll be fine, just take your time and you'll be happy with the result.

Answer 2

Red tails get to be a foot long,Rosy Barbs almost that large.The common Pleco(there really isn't such a fish) but the brown ones sold under that name can also get a foot long. With those guys out of the picture you could add more Cory Cats(all one species), maybe a few more Cherry Barbs and some more Zebras too. These schooling fish will be much happier in large groups,and you get to watch the sort of activity that a person might observe in the wild.The Cherry Barbs will eventually get big enough to eat the guppies. Another pair of Pearl Gourami would be OK too.

Answer 3

These fish are not highly compatible from social behaviour to water parameters. Go buy yourself an Aquarium Atlas vol. 1 to learn about these factors for pretty much any fish kept in the hobby.

Also, the type of environment is not right. Neither is the number of each type of fish, why would you keep only 2 schooling fish together? They have to be at least 6.

Its not a good plan for the health and happiness of these fish.

Answer 4

This is an ok setup. Personally I'm not a fan of the black sharks as they can be a bit skittish and bash themselves into the tank sides.

I would get a couple more of each barb though.

Answer 5

You don't need a pleco if you have two loaches. The quantity of fish per gallon is about right (allow 2-3 gallons per fish). Of course, guppies are like rabbits. They will multiply like crazy. They have no idea about birth control! And with five of them, there's a real good chance you have at least one of each sex. So, before you know it, you could have twenty guppies! So, maybe no guppies?

Answer 6

looks okay, but the plecs might get too crampt with the fish in there, the shark also likes to be in larger groups so i don't know if that will work, i'd just get some more of the barbs since they are very active.. Ahh if I had that tank, I would fill it with some cichlids...i can't wait another year grrr good luck.

Answer 7

Gouramis and guppies together is definitely a no no.
My Gouramis EAT feeder guppies as a treat.

Answer 8

Pllease add details. Do you mean will these fish be ok in a 55gallon set uo or something else. I would answer your question if I knew what it was. Sorry I couldn't help.

Answer 9

tank should sit with every thing in it for 2 days before you put any thing in it and test the water get a kit from the pet shop

Answer 10

sounds good!
nice choices