55G Aquarium Stocking

[hecnik]

Hi everyone,
 
I'm new to this forum and the hobby itself :fish1:. We recently got a 4ft 55g tank and am currently aquascaping it. 
 
I did a run on an online stocking calculator to check the compatibility and stuff for the fish I wanted. The results are as below,
My Tank: 48inch x 14.5inch x 18 inch. 54.2gUS

12 x Guppy
12 x Harlequin Rasbora
4 x Albino Cory
20 x Red Cherry Shrimp
4 x Dwarf Gourami
6 x Glow light tetra

Estimated stock level is 81%
 
However, am a little confused with the procedure I need to follow now. Are there any flaws which the website overlooked?
 
Also, if I proceed with the levels as above, what order and quantities do I follow to introduce them gradually? Which species 1st n how many, then how long to wait and what next n so on... 
 
Thanks a lot in advance for ur help.. :thumb:
 
Cheers,
Nik

 

[Wills]

Hi Hecnik welcome to the forum I just had to edit your post a little as we dont like to have mentions of stocking calculators as they are unreliable and offer only one viewpoint, they often miss issues and the site has been known to have malware problems in general... so yeah I would avoid using them tbh.
 
That said I would look at doing a stock list more like this
 
4 x Dwarf Gourami
10 x Guppy
10 x Harlequin Rasbora
10 x Glow light tetra
8 x Albino Cory - you could do a mix of Albino and Bronze Cories if you wanted
20 x Red Cherry Shrimp
 
Something I like to do is order stocking lists - Centrepiece fish, top level swimmers, mid level swimmers and then bottom level swimmers. Its not important but I do it as it helps visualise how each level of the tank will look.
 
In the list above, I cut down the number of Gupies and Harlequins and added more Glow lights and Cories, its better to balance out schools like that as it means your hitting good numbers for each of them. Which is beneficial to each species.
 
As for adding fish to this set up have you started your fishless cycle yet? And if so how far along are you and what are you using?
 
Hope that helped
Wills

 

[hecnik]

Hi Wills,
 
Thanks for ur reply mate... I haven't started the cycle yet, as I mentioned Im still planning the aquascape now. Curing my driftwood n rocks atm. Once that is done, I plan to run the filter (1200 lph canister) with some fishfood initially for a while till the parameters stabilize. Am guessing a couple of weeks should be able to do it. If there is anything that can be done better plz let me know.
 
Also u mentioned ordering stocking lists for centre piece, top/bottom etc. I didnt get tht.. Is tht an online tool or something? Also, another doubt regarding the stocking I had was 4 dwarf gouramis.. I read in a few places that 2 males dont get along well as they r territorial.. so would it be ok to have 4 (all males preferably)? Plz clarify.
 
Cheers,
Nik

 

[hecnik]

Also, is it ok to get 1 or 2 Angelfish instead of 4 DGs?? 
 
It was mentioned that they eat the shrimps, and cause problems with tetras and rasboras.. however if I get the juveniles.. would they coexist? or is it  a war zone in the making?

 

[l_l_l]

4 Male Gouramis is just trouble waiting to happen.
I think you would be better at a 1 male and 3 female ratio.

 

[Wills]

Hi no problem I'll answer your questions in order if thats ok.
 

Thanks for ur reply mate... I haven't started the cycle yet, as I mentioned Im still planning the aquascape now. Curing my driftwood n rocks atm. Once that is done, I plan to run the filter (1200 lph canister) with some fishfood initially for a while till the parameters stabilize. Am guessing a couple of weeks should be able to do it. If there is anything that can be done better plz let me know.

 
Cycling with food isnt really the best way of doing it, with the food its pretty hard to accurately judge how much your cycling your filter. The best way to do it before you have fish is the fishless cycle, its the one trick the shops dont share with you as all they want to do is sell you cycling potions that in my opinion simply do not work.
 
This is a fantastic resource on this forum, written by hobbyists for hobbyists http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/ I would read through all the Cycling section but particularly the nitrogen cycle and the fishless cycling articles.

Also when you say you are curing your wood and rocks? Im guessing with the wood your getting the tannins out but what do you mean with the rocks? You only really cure rock in marine tanks where as in freshwater tanks most rocks can be placed straight in though avoid things like lava rock or limestone - anything that will affect the ph basically.
 

Also u mentioned ordering stocking lists for centre piece, top/bottom etc. I didnt get tht.. Is tht an online tool or something?

 
Its not a tool or anything just something I do for lists to get an idea of activity in the tank, so start with the centre pieces then list them top, middle, bottom so you can look at the list and see the Guppies will be at the top of the tank, Harlequins and Glowlights in the middle and Cories and Shrimp on the bottom - its not really important but something I find helpful when planning a tank to visualise activity within the tank.
 

Also, another doubt regarding the stocking I had was 4 dwarf gouramis.. I read in a few places that 2 males dont get along well as they r territorial.. so would it be ok to have 4 (all males preferably)? Plz clarify.

ize. Am guessing a couple of weeks should be able to do it. If there is anything that can be done better plz let me know.

 
I agree that 4 males would be a bad idea in this tank but to be honest most dwarf gourami are so line bred the females are often as colourful as the males, the females just have shorter dorsal fins. As I_I_I said 1 male 3 females would be best.

I think adding the angels is not the best idea for this tank as you do have a lot of small fish and shrimp but you could look at other dwarf cichlids like Bolivian Rams, Apistogrammas, or Laetacaras - though the Apistos may be a threat to your Shrimp...
 
Hope thats helped
Wills