50 Gallon Stocking Ideas

It would be a good idea to set it higher anyway while you're cycling.
The bacteria's metabolism will be increased and they will spread more quickly.
 
If your going for the high heat GBR tank why not centre it all around them?
 
Make sure you source wild or F1 Rams though - then as people are saying high temperatures - at last 28c and a low ph of 6.8 (which yours is so perfect!!) or less. The "classic" tank mates in this situation are Rummy Nose Tetras and Sterbai Cories.
 
If you want plecs in this situation looking around a few places suggest any plec from the Xingu river will work as it is naturally quite warm. L333 and L134 are also quite popular in warm water tanks as well.
 
If you did this route you could do something like
 
4 Wild Blue Rams
20 Rummy Nose Tetras
15 Sterbai Cories
4 L134
 
(or swap the Rummy and Sterbai numbers round which ever you prefer)
I think that less species in higher numbers is always a fantastic mix and creates a real spectacle
 
 
But your Endlers would not work in there as they are a more cool water neutral ph kind of fish.
 
Just to throw a curve ball - that you may be interested in... what about a micro fish tank but on a large scale. So pick out fish that have mini, micro and pygmy in the name :) So if you go with the Endlers which would fit in the micro fish setting nicely but with the lower temperature range so maybe doing something like
 
6 Pygmy/ Sparkling Gourami
5 Endlers (though obviously the population can and will grow over time)
25 Galaxy Rasboras
25 Pygmy Corydoras
5 Dwarf Hara Catfish
3 Red Lizard Whiptails
 
Its a lot of fish but apart from the Red Lizards most of those fish wont reach over 1 inch most staying at around half an inch so the cluster of fish in the tank will be really impressive - especially in a well scaped planted tank. The Red Lizards are whiptail catfish and while they are a long fish they are also really slender and most of their size is more for balance and camouflage rather than a digestive tract producing waste. This tank will have a lot of activity in all levels as well
 
Wills
 
well i like the idea of activity and who cant like pygmy cories, maybe adjust the number of rasboras and cories to not overstock, also what are some good ideas for live plants?
 
All i will say if you have tank. the tank must have corys and coolie loach as they are adorable 
 
Well if you're planning on gbr, why not some discus.

X2 or 4 German blue ram
X4 discus (possibly 5-6, if your tank is 48" that'd be better)
X20 cardinal tetra
X10-12 sterbai corydoras.

Basically what I'm doing.
 
Let me push forward rummynose tetras instead of cardinals. I migrated to rummynoses from cardinals and couldn't be happier. They may seem more blandly coloured, but they school much more tightly than cardinals and are visually spectacular.
 
yeah ill have to agree with that they do look great
Tank
? cories
rummy nose tetras
5 endlers
what else?
 
Well... if you're going for a mid-south american theme, one would say some cichlids. If you're having endlers you can't have german blue rams as they'd be temperature incompatible, but there are loads of dwarf cichlids out there.
 
Bolivian rams
Apistogrammas (over 100 species)
Keyholes (nice and quiet for a cichlid)
 
... just to name a few. They would keep the number of endler fry down.
 
In my opinion, hatchet fish are generally underrated in fishkeeping. They make great additions to any south American community and add activity to the surface of the tank.
If you were to add some of them and then perhaps a dwarf cichlid like Zante said then you would have all levels of the tank covered.
Surface: Hatchets
Upper: Endlers
Midwater: Rummy Noses
Lower: Dwarf Cichlid
Bottom: Cories
 
I guess regarding hatchets it depends on the actual tank. I considered them for mine, but there is a thick wood border on the top, and I'd never see them, and it's an open aquarium, so high risk of carpet surfing.
 

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