Heres my plan for the 55 US gallon tank im getting

[MNfishy]

Ok, so first off it has a very powerful filter and heater.

Decor/Substrate
I'm going to put sand on the bottom, Live plants (suggestions would be nice!!!!), some bog/drift wood (or whatever that wood that goes in a tank is), and some slate rock.

Fish
I just want to know if this would work. 2 small Bala Sharks, 4 neon tetras, 4 black neon tetras, 1 (or 3-4?) dwarf gourami, and either some guppies or some angle fish. Please tell me anything i would need to change. This summer i will be saving up for a much bigger tank. I could put the bala sharks in there once they get to big for the 55 gallon tank.

 

[enchanted]

Well, what kind of lighting are you going to have? That will help on the plants.

As for the fish, you realize the bala sharks could get a little large and greedy right?

 

[MNfishy]

ya thats why im going to put them in a bigger tank later. As for lighting ya i have that, i think 200 watts or somethingh like that

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You could get those fish in. I'd suggest more of the tetras, though. Makes for a stunning sight. However, some people claim that they have problems with angels and neons being put together. It seems that angels eat them...

Are you just starting out with plants?

 

[MNfishy]

Right now i have a 10 gallon tank with a couple of live plants. I didnt know how many tetras to get but i would definetly like to get more then 4 of each. What could i get instead of angles could i get some sort of gouramis? If so would i have to subtract the balas? THAnks

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You can't get all those fish into a tank. The balas would not be a good idea, since they need big tanks and you apparently can't get a bigger tank for them.

 

[digital_run]

I'd also say not to get any Bala's as stated they get quite big and are a schooling fish so you'd need to get 3 or more of them to make them happy. Since they can get to a foot in length i would say nothing less than a 75gal...but a 100gal+ would be best!!

 

[Tjimbsoj]

It works

 

[Tarod]

The balas and angle fish will eat your neons when they get big enough. And would evetually outgrow the tank. The guppies should to fine with the neons, I would get a couple cory's to keep the tank clean.

Of course if you have a bigger tank being cycled and readied then you could get away with the angles for a while before starting to see neons dissappear along with the guppies tails. But for my money I would simply set up the bigger tank then go with the angels.

Good luck and go vote.

 

[swampwalker]

I have a healthy gourami population in my 75 gallon tank and my 3 year old fell in love with angels. I bought 1 to start and he seemed well. I bought two more and things went downhill from there. As Gouramis grow they tend to become aggressors in the tank and start being fin nippers. This stresses the Angels to point of no return. In my opinion and this is just me, keep angels with their own kind or only peaceful fish, i.e. tetras, and very passive fish. It was a death that could have been avoided had I researched it more.

 

[sylvia]

Skip the balas. T
he tetras - especialy the neons - will get eaten by those angels. That is the angel's natural food in the wild - small shoaling fish like that, so avoid this combination.
Not all gouramies are fin nippers. My pearls are very peaceful and keeping them in a group of one male to several females helps also. With three-spot (blue, gold etc) gouramies you are limited to one male per tank to reduce aggression and you must have females to distract him as these are quite aggressive fish. Moonlight gouramies are larger but more peaceful than three-spots and usualy shy rather than nippy. Dwarf gouramies are great but character varies and some will be extra peaceful while athers will be little terrors. Keeping them together, at least in pairs, helps. There are other gouramies, like croaking, that might work but I think they're more fragile.
Personaly, I'd say to go for pearl gouramies and get one male and three females. However, don't be surprised if your angels are the ones doing the bullying - especialy when they get larger and if they pair up... Three-spots are actualy the ones more often kept with angels. If you must have a shoaling fish in there, don't go for realy small tetras. I think black phantom tetras may be a better option and fun to watch but I can't say for sure whether the angels would be able to eat them or not. Danios, I recomend long-fin zebras (absolutely beautiful), may work. They can be slightly nippy but are usualy ok with large fish like this and if kept in a shoal. Get some cories or a bristlenose pleco for bottom dwellers. Both are great fish.