Please help me design our 55gallon tank from scratch :)

mdrew

FIRST OF ALL THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ALL THE AMAZING HELP!!!

I bought the 55gal tank for my live-in boyfriend less than a week ago and since we have visited the stores 3 times (hahaha) and each time he has marvelled at the angelfishs' responsiveness. he loved running his fingers along the tanks and seeing them intently follow but if this behaviour is left at the store than it will surely dissapoint him. Perhaps all you geniuses (not sarcastic though it sounds that way lol) could help us design a tank around your recomendations and his wishlist? He would like...

1. minimum 2-3 larger fish and a buch of smaller varieties
2. responsiveness to outside stimuli / friendly / not scardey cats
3. a variety of bright colouration.
4. some nice true green plants

A demanding list i know but i'm sure that asking you guys will do me much better than another 50 hrs reading conflicting articles on the web lol

THANK YOU!!!!

amazon21

Not really understanding the second restriction.....

amazon21

never mind i think i get it now. First of all, your going to need to have the correct supplies and understand how cycling workes, then were going to need to know the pH and hardness of your water. After that we can get to the fun stuff :)

jroush21

well fish wise cichlids are very responsive to movement outside the tank and they come in all kinds of color i love mine when ever i come up to the tank and always look hungry and some can get big also but you need to be careful with these fish because if one of your fish dont like the otheres they will get killed happened to me sadly a few times i would go with cichlids but that just me

ElectricBlueJackDempsey

Are you doing live plants? Before you start thinking about fish, get your filter, heater, and a good substrate. Cycle the tank slowly and test your water daily.

Are you trying to create a biotope aquarium? If you want to go for a Amazonian biotope, you should probably get Ultra-Sun Trichromatic Fluorescent Bulbs | Fluorescent Bulbs & Lamps | Bulbs & Lamps | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com and some cover plants.
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If you want to do Angel Fish, you should get 5-8 because they prefer to be in a shoal.Depending on your water quality, you could do Rummy-nose Tetras, Skirt Tetras, Serpae Tetras, ect. for middle water fishes. And hatchetfish for the top level of the tank. Bristle-nose plecos are a good choice to keep the tank clean are pretty hardy too.

catdawg426

The type of fish you get is pretty dependent on your pH and hardness. I agree, cichlids are the best when it comes to color and responsiveness. I have had some Electric Yellows for only 2 weeks or so and they totally know who I am! By the way, Angelfish are a type of cichlid. My water has a high pH, so I decided to go with African Cichlids. But if you have a lower pH with softer water, a South American cichlid tank would work well.

If you don't want to buy a test kit quite yet, bring a water sample 2 your lfs and ask for the pH and hardness.

Dinosaurs

African ciclids are very colorful fish. My mom loves angelfish as well (she also collects angels so that may be why). We had a few, but they didn't survive, not sure why. We have now one south am. ciclid, he had a friend, but he killed him off. So aggressiveness is one bad thing when it comes to these types of fish, but as for angelfish, they are semiaggressive. Some species get fairly large. We once had I think they were called Marble Angelfish that got to be I'd say around as large as 3 or so inches wide. What about Discus fish as a possibility? Ive never kept them, but they are cool looking.

ghostgirl

The problem with Discus is that they need to be in groups of 5 or more and they need a very large tank and they are very particular with their parameters. I do love them though.