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Restocking my 55: Want ideas

2K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  Clubber 
#1 ·
Hello all.

First of all, I have had my 55 gallon set up for almost 2 years now. It was an angelfish tank. I had a pair that bred for months until the female died then the male died months later. Now I want to begin a whole new set up and I'd like some ideas.

I have added plants to it. Only wisteria and java fern so far as I read they do well in sand and low light both of which I have. Now I want to add new fish. Currently I have 2 dojo's whom I brought over from one of my other tanks and 1 honey sunset gourami. I am interested in adding a few more gouramis and have them as my showfish and a few schools of fish. For schools I was thinking tetras, rasboras or even white cloud minnows. I'd like them to be colorful and smallish but not small enough where my dojo's, which are around 6" each and get to 8", can eat them. I haven't read anything that would make me think dojo's would be likely eat smaller fish, but I have read many times that any fish will eat any other fish that is able to fit in it's mouth.

I had in mind something like this:

1 blue or gold gourami
1 pearl gourami
1 dwarf gourami
1 honey sunset gourami
6-12 schooling fish
2 dojo's
few kuhli's (maybe)
few oto's (later...maybe)

I read gouramis can be housed peaceably together if in larger numbers.

What would you add or take away from this list.
 
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#2 ·
I think for your schooling fish Harlequin Rasboras would look great and would fit in well with gouramis and loaches. I have a school of six in with my angel and they are very peaceful and add color. Here's a pic of some of mine taken 1-1/2 years ago when I first got them. They are much larger now and have great color.
 

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#4 ·
i agree with the suggestions of rasboras for your tank, the white cloud minnow is a coldwater fish and sholdnt be kept in a heated aquarium........I do think your gonna have a problem with all the gouramis in a tank that size........At maturity, they get very territorial and aggressive towards each other and it could result in some very stressed fish, or worse.......A colorful alternate to gouramis would be some kind of rainbowfish......You could also look into some giant danios, if your interested in a fast moving type minnow fish......THe otos, if you have your heart set on them, should be added last after the tank has matured and you have a stable tank with no parameter swings.........They will need alot of algae to sustain a constant food supply for them.......Most otto deaths, in an established tank, are from starvation because of the lack of food for them....Good Luck with your tank!
 
#5 ·
........I do think your gonna have a problem with all the gouramis in a tank that size........At maturity, they get very territorial and aggressive towards each other and it could result in some very stressed fish, or worse......
I believe I must disagree here, in fact Clubber has the right idea by keeping them in larger groups. With the acceptation of the Blue and Gold Gourami, the ones he has listed are fairly peaceful and keeping groups of 3 or more Gourami will usually spread up any aggression. In a 55 gallon with plants, hiding spots, ext I don't see a big issue.
Though, with this said, pay close attention when purchasing the Gourami, watch the tank for a good while and pick out a peaceful one. Be sure to arrange things to provide a few different caves, hiding spots, and territories for them. I'd stay away from the Blues, they are the kind that get really aggressive. I'm not sure about the Golds, though I'd imagine they could get just as aggressive.
Good luck with your tank, love to see pictures :-D
 
#6 ·
With 20 years of fish keeping experience, and 10 tanks in my house as of now, i have seen the results of keeping gouramis together....It works for awhile for alot of people till their fish reach maturity, and then the battles begin...Usually the most timid fish, will be hiding and stressed from such behaviour resulting in illness from it.....That is how i ended up with the 2 i have as of right now........I rescued them from local people who wanted to get rid of them because of the aggression with each other...........I have both of them in a heavily planted 90 gallon tank and still have an aggression issue, which will be taken care of very soon..........Having more than one gourami, isnt a good idea most of the time............
 
#7 ·
I think it depends on the Gourami really, both species and the fish itself as an individual. Always in my experience its been that either just one Gourami or three or more work out just fine.
But perhaps I've just been lucky then, I don't have 20 years of experience under my belt of course, I'm just relaying my experience and what I know :p
 
#8 ·
I am most likely going with a large school of harlequin rasboras. I see them in fish stores all the time so they're readily available here.

I have some turquoise rainbows in my 29 gallon tank. If I were to get them for my 55 I would have to go with bosemani (sp?) rainbows which I cannot find at any fish store near me and I really don't want to order from online. I haven't done that yet mainly because of the shipping costs...

I did have my heart set on a lot of gouramis as my showfish but I certainly do not want battles to break out or worse...casaulties. I do have alot of time on my hands to observe them not to mention I have extra tanks in case I'd have to seperate some of them but still, it could end bad. I'll have to think about this hard.

I've added a kuhli loach to my bioload. I would like a couple more.

And DragonFish, I'll definately post pics when the tank is all finished up. I added a few current ones to my log but I don't think my set-up is anything to brag about...yet. :lol:
 
#10 ·
Hey Clubber,

Where are you located? The fish store that I go to in MA always has Bosemani rainbows.

I have two males in my tank and they're great.
I am in FL. I mainly look for fishstores in Volusia County where I live.

I am interested in these bosemani guys. I would buy 6 of them instead of gouramis if I could find a good store that carries them.
 
#11 ·
My two males are getting pretty big. Since I have a hex. tank they might outgrow it. We don't have room for any more tanks so I'm not able to upgrade to a bigger one. Sadly, I might have to give them up one of these days.

They are really awesome fish. You won't have a dull moment in a tank with these guys. If you do get them, post some pics. pleeze.

Good luck.
 
#12 ·
Well no rainbows available. But I did come across some lemon tetras which I got instead of the rasboras. I have 6 of them, I plan to add a couple more later and perhap up to 10 and I'm going to add 2 juvenile angels in a couple weeks after I buy them and quarantine them.

I really like these lemons, they are very active and fun to watch.
 
#14 ·
Just an update. All but 1 of my lemons are dead. The PH was a little high for them, everything else on the test strip read fine. Well, I lowered the PH to duplicate the ideal level but I've taken the remaining lemon out and moved him to my 29. In exchange, I moved the rainbows I had in that tank to the 55 and they look good in there. I am getting 2 more. Finally I have something swimming around between the mid-top level of the tank. Still want 2 juvenile angels too. The angels can be the centerpiece, rainbows the shoal and I have a very tight clean up crew already.

I am going to be completely emptying out my 29 soon. I'll be getting a very big tank end of this year which I'm going to use as a planted discus tank and I want to turn my 29 into a barebottom discus grow-out tank. I have 5 small fish and a clown plec remaining in it. By years end, I'll find new homes for them.

On a good note though, I bought some new cories which are surviving.

I did add new shots of my tank since it's gotten those new inhabitants too if anyones interested at all...
 
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