Chose the fish we want

[FishGyrlFriend]

For my 55 gallon we decided on these fish

1 Black Ghost Knifefish
1 Columbian Shark
2 cory albino catfish
2 upsidedown catfish
2 kissing gourami
1 khuli loach
2 clown loaches
2 tiger barbs
1 leopard pleco

In less then a year i plan on getting a 75 gallon tank to swap the BGK and Columbian Shark into to accomodate their size.

 

[Dragonslair]

IMPO you will never see the Khulii loach, so you need to ask yourself, is there a point of having it. You need at least 5 to make anything effective and if you have an exterior canister type of filter, it needs to either be turn down low or off. These loaches get everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Your other fish may also think of it as a meal and try to have it for breakfast.
Having odd numbers of fish are generally more pleasing to the eye.
You need to have robust fish because your shark and possibly the knifefish will be quite skittish.
I wouldn't recommend having barbs especially only 2. These little fish are schooling creatures and are better with a whole group. If left as individuals they tend to be quite aggressive and fin nip.
The rest of your choice is a matter of personal taste, there is no right or wrong.

 

[A&C]

We had 2 upside down cat fish but we had to trade them back to the shop as they were eating all our samll fish. Between the two of them they ate 12 neon tetras

 

[Dragonslair]

There are several species of "upsidedown" catfish, but only one true one
Synodontis Nigriventris. This little chap(chappess)is 2" long fully grown and spends the majority of it's life upside down. Others such as Syndontis aterrimus often sold in lfs as the upside down catfish grows to around 4" in length and is quite a "bruiser" in the tank. They look very similar when they are young, the difference only appears as they grow into adulthood.

 

[clutterydrawer]

If you want albino corydoras you should get at least four....they like to have friends. Clown loaches should also be kept in grups, at least 3, and they get very very big.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

also cories and clown loaches like to be in groups of at least four

 

[CFC]

Columbian sharks are brackish/marine fish that will not live long in freshwater so you should remove that one from your wanted list.

A 55 will not be big enough to house a black ghost knife fish for life, these can reach up to 20 inches in length when full grown and will require a tank of at least 75 gallons and prefferably larger. BGK's are also oppertunist predators that will consume any smaller tankmates if given the chance, they have huge cavernous mouths and can swallow quite sizeable fish. They should only be combined with fish that grow to 4" or larger which rules out the corys, khulie loaches and tiger barbs.