55 Gallon Setup?

[sharkalark]

Hey, I'm getting a 55 gallon tank soon, and I've got a general idea of what I want. I'm not 100% sure if they'll be good tankmates, so that's why I'm here!

1 red tail shark (this is the only one that must stay. kinda building around him)
1 bristlenose plecto
2 angel fish
3 swordtails

I kind of want a clown loach, but i've seen they can be difficult to care for properly. Would all of those fish be compatible, and could I, or should I add the clown loach?

Thanks

 

[anwhyte]

you could probably have just 1 RTB shark but more than that would fight i think. I'm pretty sure clown loaches get really big (1 foot?) and difficult temperentally so maybe not a good idea. If your tank is tall enough then angels are fine, i'm sure others know more about them tho.

 

[sharkalark]

Yeah, just saw the clown loach grows up to a foot and is best off in schools of around 4 or more, so that wouldn't work out.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the shark's are quite territorial so you need to very carefully select any other bottom dwelling fish to go with them. not sure if the plec will get picked on - not my specialist area but it's definitely worth a good bit of research about any other bottom dwellers.

have you read up about how to prepare a tank and filter before you add fish yet? we call this a fishless cycle and you'll see a link in my signature which explains how to do this. also check out the beginners resource area which had lots of helpful topics for you when you are first starting out.

in general terms to stock a new tank the rule to use is 1" of fish per US gallon of water, so in total you are looking for 55" of fish. you work this out on the adult size of the fish. it's not a hard and fast rule and can be bent a bit when you have a bit more experience but it's as good a place as any to start with when working out your stocking plan.

 

[sharkalark]

Yeah, I'm aware of cycling the tank, I've been reading up before I go into this. In another forum I was told the red tails get along with another pleco fairly well, but I'll definitely double check that.

Also, even though the rtbs is territorial, is it still ok to put 55" of fish in the 55 gallon? I know they lose their color when stressed out so I don't want my Red Tail Black Shark to be an Orange Tail Grey Shark

 

[Mark Z.]

I have a red-tailed shark in a 48 gallon tank and I have angelfish, tetras and two large plecos. I put two or three algae discs in opposite sides of the tank at feeding time so they plecos and shark don't fight over them. They get along fine. Sometimes the shark even "cleans" the backs of the plecos.

 

[sharkalark]

2 large plecos? don't those get to like 18"? or do they actually grow to fit the tank they're in?

if i can get a large pleco instead of a bristlenose, then by all means I'll gladly do that!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

2 large plecos? don't those get to like 18"? or do they actually grow to fit the tank they're in?

if i can get a large pleco instead of a bristlenose, then by all means I'll gladly do that!

no the thing about growing to the size of the tank is not correct. common plec's get to around 18" long. the way to work out space needed for large catfish is your tank needs to be 4 times the length of the fish and 1.5 times the width and height to give enough swimming room and space to turn. so for an 18" fish you need a tank 72" x 27" x 27" which is about 220 gallons.

one of the things you have to work out with forums like this is whose opinion to trust, we're all just hobbyists and of course some of us have more experience than others. there will often be contradictory information and really it's up to you to work out who is correct. my personal opinion is that neither your tank or the one Mark Z has mentioned is big enough for fully grown common plecs. to be honest common plecs shouldn't be on sale really as you can imagine how few people really have big enough tanks to support them. they're also big waste producers even compared to other fish the same size so you also need a whopping great filter.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

red tailed sharks have got a bad name. They are great fish, but either have to be kept singularly (sp) or in a big group. On the assumption your just having 1, you should be fine.
The only think to make a note of, is they get aggresive with other fish that look like them, so keep away from any black loaches or anything like that and you will be fine!