New 55G setup: colorful, active stocking?

bjacksonwi

Also, just found a city water quality report. The tap water PH is around 8.5.

Angel079

I'd strongly recommend buying yourself a liquid test kit. Not only does it help you to accurately determine right now what your water is, but also to monitor it in the tank over time (it will deviate from the source water) its also a very important tool while cycling your tank to detect Ammonia and Nitrate and Nitrite (all at a given rate toxic to fish).

Given the pH by your water company, this let's assume you have harder water, which would be great to set up for Cichlids. This pH however kicks quite some Tetra off the list; so I'd suggest to go the Cichlid route.

For water exchanges its recommended (dep on exact stock) to do anywhere from 30-40% weekly every week. Your filter will sort out depbris to some extrent, but your filter will not remove what the fish leave behind daily if you know what I mean A good dechlorinater mixed in your tap water to remove chlorine and metals will be just fine.

If you still plan on adding plants to the tank, I'd then suggest plants with heavy root systems to be added to a cichlid tank (Hygrophilia, Swords Anubias etc).

bjacksonwi

Thanks Angel --
I am starting to really like the Yellow Lab/Acei/Saulosi setup and it sounds like it will work well. There is a petsmart two blocks away which I intend on taking my water in for frequent tests. I think given the pH and the stocking I'm going with, I'll also just add plenty of rocks and a few fake plants.

I think it is prudent to stock one species at a time? I'll probably pick up the Synodontis Multipunctatus and the yellow labs this afternoon. Then maybe at the weekend I'll get the Acei.

LisaC144

Your tank needs to cycle, which is why it is imperative to have a liquid test kit as a staple in this hobby (Most use API Master Test Kit). If you plan to cycle with fish, you can only get a few hardy fish for the first MINIMUM 4-5 weeks. The test kit will allow you to see where you are in your Nitrogen Cycle and also allow you to test the water weekly once you are finshed cycling your new tank. I strongly recommend you reading up onthe Nitrogen Cycle by Googling or searching this forum. Adding too many fish at once will only cause harm to your new tank(ie, adding some now and more this weekend)..

iamntbatman

The three species you mentioned are all cichlids, but if your pH is already at 8.5 (which means you probably have hard water as well, but you should get this tested as well) then you probably don't need any special substrates.

That said, I think either a nice white or black sand would look a lot better than standard blue gravel when it comes to the fish you have in mind.

Angel079

+1; I'd find it very important you read this and truly rap your head around it BEFORE getting fish http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/f...ium-cycle-252/

You CAN cycle with a FEW fish yes, but there's 2 major things to keep in mind doing that: You may loose the fish during cycle. Two you may wind up having to do large water exchanges every day until its cycled to at least try not loosing your fish.

That all said all my tanks you seen are cycled fish less with fish flake foods only, I find this the best approach cause I won't wind up compromising fish along the way; yea it may take 1-2 weeks but so what if that means I have healthy happy fish in the end?