Will This Starter Aquarium Work?

randomriter

First off, this is my first post as well as my first aquarium. So if I say something incredibly stupid, that is probably why.

I have a 55 gallon tank, and am planning on doing a community freshwater tank. Population would be:

6 Celestial Pearl Danios
1 Dwarf Gourami
1 Marble Veil Angelfish
5 Gold Barbs
3 Eastern Rainbows
4 Nanus Cory Cats
1 Clown Loach

Introduced in that order, with the danios and the gourami cycling it. Of course I have the usual newbie questions about whether or not they work with each other in general and such, but specifically I was wondering:

Did I overstock?
Will the gourami or the barbs beat up the angelfish?
Would it be possible for these fish to be fed every other day?

I ask that last only because the tank belongs to my school and I want it to last after I've left (and over the summer when permanent on-campus staff would probably only come in every other day).

Ogre44

Angels need to be in larger groups, unless you have a mated pair.
Clown loaches need to be in groups of 6, and have a minimum tank length of 6 foot.

thekoimaiden

Welcome to the forum and the hobby. A 55 gal tank is a great starter community. However, there are some problems with your stocking plan. I'll go over them.

6 Celestial Pearl Danios - these are a very small shoaling fish and would likely be eaten by the angelfish and rainbowfish. I think you should replace these with a different shoaling species that won't be seen as food by larger fish.
1 Dwarf Gourami - These are not recommended with angels as both are territorial. They also commonly carry disease due to a lot of commercial-scale inbreeding. I think another gourami like the thick-lip or honey would be a better choice if you want a gourami.
1 Marble Veil Angelfish - Angelfish are shoaling and need at least 5 in a group. They can be aggressive with other fish if there are not enough angelfish around. And again, they don't work well with gourami.
5 Golden Barbs - Beautiful, but they like cooler water than most other tropical fishes. Unless the tank will stay below 75F, then these might need to be replaced with another fish.
3 Eastern Rainbowfish - These guys are pretty large and active and would bother both the angelfish and gourami. They also need shoals of 6 or more to feel comfortable.
4 Nanus Cory Cats - This could work, but when keeping cories it's always best to have more than 5 of them; they are more active and bold in larger numbers. In your tank you could easily do 10 of them.
1 Clown Loach - Clown loaches get too large for a 55 gallon and are a shoaling fish. They can become very nippy when kept alone. Best just to leave this guy out.

The largest problem I see are the angelfish, gourami, and rainbowfish. They all conflict with each other, and having that many larger fish in the tank will make it a little overcrowded. I think you'll need to chose which one you like best.

As to your feeding question, it's fine if fish don't get fed every day. Their metabolisms don't work exactly like ours, so they don't need to spend as much energy on heating their bodies. Plus, fish are pretty good at finding food when they really want it.

randomriter

Thank you so much for the depth of your reply, it is massively helpful.

And do you know if multiple species of angelfish can be kept together, or would they all have to be marble veiled?

loveguppies

Have you considered a fishless cycle? I am just finishing up two done with cocktail shrimp and they've went very well.

randomriter

Yeah, I thought about the fishless cycle, but it looked like it takes too long (my professor wants pretty fish for her classroom sooner rather than later).
Admittedly though, I feel like I haven't really looked into it a fair amount. For instance, I didn't really know that you used anything other than bacteria and careful testing kits. So thanks for the reminder, I'll look into that a bit more.

redchigh

Ideally, tell us your water parameters and we'll help you find fish that like the parameters. (For example, Angels like soft water with a ph from 6.0-6.8, while celestial pearl danios prefer a ph of 7.0-7.5)

Also, if you were to go with a planted tank, (all you need is a decent flourescent light and a source of nutrients- soil substrates or just a liquid fertiliser like flourish comprehensive) and you add enough plants and stock slowly, a "cycle" is uneccesary. The plants will take up the nitrogen.

What are your water parameters?

thekoimaiden

You're very welcome!

Marbled veiled is just the breed of angelfish like Koi angels and black angels. They are all of the species Scalare Angelfish, but just color variations. The angels will still recognize each other as the same species even if they are different colors. So you can get as many colors as you like.

loveguppies

No it really didnt take very long and is an extremely easy way to cycle a tank, plus pretty fish arent so pretty when they're all dead because the ammonia burned the crap out of the gills. I wrote a short paper for one of my classes on the process, if you'd like to read it I'd be more than happy to send it to you, just let me know. The heavily planted tank from the start is another good option that I did not know about till I joined this forum, I may try this someday.

randomriter

For water parameters I was thinking 75-79° F, KH 5, pH 6.5-7.0. I know the temperature is a little warm for the danios, but I've heard they're very hardy fish that don't mind a few degrees of water temp one way or the other.

As for the planting idea, I'd just be nervous that they'll outgrow the tank or make cleaning too difficult. Do you know any specific plant species for which that wouldn't be a problem? (And the tank comes with a bunch of fake plants that I was going to use to give my fish cover, so it's not like they'd be stranded in the open).


And after reading all of your helpful comments I've adjusted to:

8 Nanus Cory Cats
1 Black Angelfish
2 Smokey Leopard Veil Angelfish
2 Marble Veil Angelfish
5 Zebra Longfin Danios