Grrr.....How many times can I change my mind?

Ethos

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Ok.
I started this forum, with the idea of a 75G reef tank.
But funds ran short.
Then I moved to a chichilid tank.
But I lost intrest.
Then I moved to a 55G Gourami tank.
But Then I decided against it (I still love my gouramis - I'll get them a 29G)
so now what?

I've decided I want a colourful, exciting community tank. With tons of small fish.
So, can anyone give me Ideas on what to "stock" my 55G on?
I want stuff like swordys, platies, ect.
Stuff like that, but not all live bearers.


PS. I hate Guppies! :dunno:
 
Edit: Sorry for the sarcasm.



Anyone else?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
well, what's your local water stats like? there are a lot of cool fish that have picky tastes like that... as for swordtails, i always dig the neon ones.

i personally am starting to hold the opinion that tanks look best with a dominant bottom dweller (like a small cichlid pair/trio), about two plecs or a large shoal of cories, then large groups of no more than 3 species of mid-/top-dwellers. i think a few key groups adds a bolder "flavor" to a tank--you really notice the fish that way.

alternatively, you could go with a dominant top-dwelling pair (angels or large gourami), large groups of about two species mid-/top-dwellers, then a group of cories, a group of smaller loaches, and a fancy plec.

the key is to balance your stocking so that you have space for your most dominant/aggressive species. cichlids with loaches, cories and plecos leads to beat up cories & loaches. gouramis with mollies, platies and tetras leads to beat up platies & tetras.

before i make any further suggestions, go read this EXCELLENT topic on selecting fish.

so, some basic suggestions:

beyond the common Rift Lake Cichlids, thre many other biotopes to consider such as Amazon, African River, S.East Asian, Australian. you wouldn't have to do a strict biotope, but could limit yourself to just fish from a single continent or country. one very interesting biotope would be to do an 'Indian' River. if i remember correctly, many loaches are from India/Pakistan--so are the danios and many species of barbs. Japanese species are great for coldwater tanks, as are many Chinese species (an LFS employee i know purchased some "Blue Bitterlings" that are just to die for! but i have tropical tanks, not coldwater...)

an example of a psuedo biotope i'd be interested in creating for myself would be based around the African River. i'd put in a pair of kribs, a pair of African butterflies, a large group of Congo Tetras and then a Synodontis catfish or two.

would you be interested in a tank full of tiny fish? dwarf platies, green fire tetras, blue rams, then maybe a fancy plec or two. oh and some croaking/sparkling gouramis if you can get them!
 
Ethos said:
I've decided I want a colourful, exciting community tank. With tons of small fish.
So, can anyone give me Ideas on what to "stock" my 55G on?
I want stuff like swordys, platies, ect.
Stuff like that, but not all live bearers.


PS. I hate Guppies! :dunno:
Stock it with lush green plants, bright red swordtails/platties, neons, rummy noses, dwarf gouramis, ottos and a few hatchet fish. Lovely !!!! :)
 
55G is a good sized tank. You could get something like 2 male swordtails, 6 female swordtails. A pair of rams, shoal of corydoras and..... I'm stuck, just trying to cover the different layers.

8 Swordies
8 Cories
2 Rams
1 Bristlenose
8 Marbled Hatchetfish

With good quality filtration and some finer leaved plants that should work. Depends on ur own tastes though.

Good luck,
Dman99
 
You could get a wood shrimp?

I'd also suggest a red line torpedo barb (but that's just because I love mine and think he's what a tropical fish "should" look like).
 
Ok....so this is my Idea of my tank....
Remember - This is a very rough draft.

10 Neons
5 Swordies
10 Cories
2 Dwarf Gouramis
2 Rams
5 Platies

Possible Fill-ins/Extras:
Hatchet fish
Bristle nose
Rummy nose

Ok?
Post your Comments!
 
u might wanna get more than 10 neons. cause on the way home, one or two of them may die out of stress.
 
oppositearmor said:
u might wanna get more than 10 neons. cause on the way home, one or two of them may die out of stress.
Well, I think I'll have 5 neons in bag 'x' and the 5 other in bag 'z'
Thanks for the advise though... I think I might get more anyways....
 
(sorry for dubble posting, but......)
Ps...
I also want about 6 Phantoms!

Here's my revised list;

10 Neons
5 Swordies
10 Cories
2 Dwarf Gouramis
2 Rams
5 Platies
6 Phantoms


Taaaaadaaaa!
 
Get cardianl tetras, they are much better than neons!!!!!

I just got a shoal of cherry barbs. They are cool.

Just go down the local LFS and look. Takes me ages to decide what to buy, you go down to buy some see some others then spend ages deciding, nightmare.
 
I will in a little while....My sister once again has my camera...
 
Bump....

Also, I was thinking of adding 3 honey gouramis...

10 Neons
5 Swordies
10 Cories
2 Dwarf Gouramis
2 Rams
5 Platies
3 Honey Gouramis
 

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