Hi! Which colorful fish to use?

[LilRedRose]

Hi! So this past week my boyfriend set up a fish tank and had gotten himself some dull, plain tetras and a zebra stripped fish also dull in color. I have been teasing him that I was going to put a snail in there to give it some color well tonight he told me I can put some colorful fish and a snail in there. I don't know fish. I want some pretty fish to look at when I am there. It's a 55 gallon L shaped tank. Lots of rocks and some shells, no plants yet, it's a work in progress. Ill be going back over there tomorrow night so I would like some suggestions before then.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

any idea what the pH and GH (general hardness) of the water is?

if the tank is only newly set up, you don't want to add too many fish because the filters won't be established yet. It takes around 4-5 weeks for the filters to develop enough beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean. Until then you get ammonia and nitrite levels building up in the water and these can kill any fish, shrimp or snail in the tank.
There is more info about filters and cycling tanks at the following link.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Are those "zebra striped fish" zebra danios?

Are you looking for colorful schooling fish, or a centerpiece fish?

Agreed with Colin - please verify if this tank is cycled or not. Also, adding too many fish too fast can crash a tank. Don't be in a hurry.