55G Community, How Many Cories?

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I have a 55g that I want to turn into a community tank. At the moment there are apple snails and a ton of platy in there. I am going to be selling the platy but am keeping the snails. I really want a couple types of cories in here but dont know how many shoals would be ok. Would also like a recomendation for a "centerpiece" type fish that would be ok with them! Thank you

eddited to add: Have sand substrate in tank and am in the process of adding live plants.

 

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Hmm...anyone? In case my question didnt make sense, I want to have the cories and then work the rest of the stocking around them. Just need to know how many shoals I can have in the 55g and them be happy! The other question can wait if need be. Thanks!

 

[Harlequins]

I think you could easily get away with 12 or more,depending what other fish you will be getting and the footprint of your tank,temp will need to be between 22-25 degrees to keep them happy,unless sterbais which can handle 28-30 degrees.Either shoals of 6+ or a big shoal of whatever you fancy

I have a 55 gals,but i have overload of corys ,averaging 2 inches,but apart from 4 juvis,most have been in the tank for nearly 2 years now

Hope this helps somewhat....

 

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Thank you!! The tank foot print is 48in x 12.5in. I currently have a group of cories and b. splendens in another 20g tank so the plan is to up the numbers to at least 6 each in the 55g. But I have just found Pandas for the first time here and want a group of those and peppered too. so that would be 4 groups of 6 or more(cant leave one by itself if the lfs has one more than i need ) in the 55g. The current temp in that tank is 76F. Does that sound like a good idea, would I still hve room to add another group or more to the existing ones down the road? Thank you

 

[Harlequins]

Well put it this way i have 15 tri's,9 pandas + juvis,6 gold lasers,6 blacks,6 skunks,3 albinos,15 pygmys...

Pygmys tend to stay up on the bogwood or swim/shoal mid level,pandas are like kamikeze pilots,they just dont keep still,bless them so the remainder have happy ploughing through the sand

I know some would say thats far too overcrowded for the bottom...causing stress & overcrowding,but touch wood i haven't lost any corys since the original 3 i put in 2 years ago

Splendens do grow bigger than the corys has you know,but i think you should be ok with your plan if you got good filtration & room for them to move around

 

[This Old Spouse]

Thank you!! The tank foot print is 48in x 12.5in. I currently have a group of cories and b. splendens in another 20g tank so the plan is to up the numbers to at least 6 each in the 55g. But I have just found Pandas for the first time here and want a group of those and peppered too. so that would be 4 groups of 6 or more(cant leave one by itself if the lfs has one more than i need ) in the 55g. The current temp in that tank is 76F. Does that sound like a good idea, would I still hve room to add another group or more to the existing ones down the road? Thank you

I think you'd be overstocking cories if you completed your plan and added more shoals down the road. Keep in mind that they spend almost all their time on the bottom, so they'd need lots of room to "snuffle" around in the sand without constantly bumping into each other. Plus they should have some kind of caves or other structures for cover.

IMO 4 groups of six is pushing it. I'd keep the platies and get maybe 3 shoals of cories. Otherwise you'll have nothing swimming around the rest of your tank for the most part.

While I'm shopping, I'm also of a mind to get the whole group of whatever it is they have in the LFS. Sometimes it's 5 and sometimes it's 12!

 

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I have over 50 platies spread over 6 tanks, other than them cories and glo fish are all I have. want some new fish!! I currently have 3 B. splendends, 2 albinos and one Tri. (didnt know about needing the same kind in a shoal when I got them over a year ago) So I want to add 5 more Tri in the 20 and move the albinos and b. splendens to the 55g and add 4 albinos and 3 green to make them happy. Only one place within 50 miles has the pandas and would really like to get those...but dont want to overcrowd. They will have live plants and plenty of hidey holes once done. Still working on the tank so this is my planning stage. I dont need more if there wont be room, just seeing what will be do-able

I am very jealous Harlequins! I have been reading a lot of your threads here and want your fish! LOL

 

[Harlequins]

- i want them too

You stocking plan sounds good depending what else you will be putting in the 20gals,you could up the Tri's to 8+

Centre piece fish-I have dwarf gouramis and they've been fine with the corys,are you adding any schools?

 

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Thats great!! In the 20g there are also 4 glofish and I have a school of 7 of them in the 55g that I am keeping. I was looking at the dwarf gouramis, good looking fish but I havent seen anything but males at the lfs around here. 1 male would look neat in the 20g but will the danios nip it? Could alwasy move tham to the 55g if need be! Thanks for being helpful

how many Dwarfs would go into the 55g? if they are all males would that even work?

 

[Harlequins]

Male DG can be territorial,so unless you have plenty of cover for them,they may well fight,i have powder blue pair (m/f),and they've been fine,they do recommend 1m/2f.
Honey gouramis are alot more placid than DG,red robin DG's are cute also.

I find here,that male DG's are alot more available then females....
I think DG's do prefer dither fish,has opposed to speedy danios,my harlequins swim around the gouramis and they dont mind

 

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Yeha the only female DG's I have ever seen were at walmart and I refuse to buy any fish there! Every where else only ever have males. So i can move the danios to the 55g with the others and get harlequins for the 20g with one male DG or honey gouramis. Would a trio of honeys fit in the20? or would they be better off in the 55g if i go that route in the 55g?

 

[Harlequins]

Perhaps honey gouramis in 55 gals,and male DG in 20gal for centre piece ,Harleys can go in either,

 

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Sounds great!! I cant wait to start getting it all done. Now if only the plants would grow faster! LOL Thank you for all the help!

 

[Harlequins]

You're welcome

Good luck with it all,let us know how it goes

 

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Thank you I will give an update as soon as I can get the ball rolling on everything!!