New Member Stocking Question

36Bones

Hello everyone thank you for letting me be a part of the forum!
I have a 55g that I cycled in 2 weeks ago. I'd like to put together a peaceful community tank. This is what I was thinking about stocking. My tank has Penquin 400 and a Aquaclear 150 for filtration with small gravel substrate. Plastic plants and some clay pots and a driftwood piece.

If the combination below will work together, can you advise me to the numbers of each to put in?

Neon Tetras
Dalmation Lyre Tailed Mollies
Gourami's of some type, maybe pearl or blue.
Cory's
or suggestions welcome.

Thank you very much for the help. I look forward to learning from the experts! :D

Cody

Those fish are all compatible.

Now the numbers...

Neons - Since they are tetras, they need to be in a group of 6 or more, at the least. In a 55 you wont have any problem with that. Shoot for 8-10.

Mollies - More of a brackish fish than a freshwater. They produce a lot of babies in a short amount of time as well.

Gouramis should only have 1 male in a group with the rest being females. They are very territorial among males. They do well with others.

Cories are great. They need to to be in groups of 6 or more to have the best of them, and they should have a softer substarte to protect their bristles.

willow

welcome aboard.
i would go with the pearl gourami,i have a pair,and i think
along with the Neons they make a lovley addition to the tank.
they looked very dull in the fish shop and i was unsure at first,
however i bought them,and within an hour they had coloured up
the little female is rather shy,however she will join the male
in the morning to wait in the top corner of the tank fo food
and will feed from my fingers if i offer a frozen daphnia cube.
:)

36Bones

Thank you for the replies! Do mollies have to have brackish water? Just curious.

Bones
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Cody

No, brackish is not needed.

Falina

As long as they are sold/bred in FW then it's fine to keep them in fresh water. adding salt is not necessary and can be detrimental to the health of any other FW fish you keep with them who do not tolerate salt very well.

36Bones

Thanks very much for the information and advice. I think I'll do it this way.

10-12 Neons
1 male, 2 female Gourmais
6-8 Cories

Bones

willow

hi
sounds like a nice combo. :) glad you were able to decide.
any idea on what corys you would like ?

36Bones

My local LFS has Green Corie's for $5.99 each, and quite a few of them, so it will be green ones most likely. The Gourami's they have are Fire Red or Powder Blues, as they have them labeled for $6.99 each. The Fire Reds look great. The blues are a tad dull in color, but I'm sure they'd color right up after I get them home and settled.