I want an understocked 55gal. Suggestions?

[BeckyCats]

Hello,
I have a 55 gallon "long" freshwater planted tank with 4 remaining elderly tetras. I'm not adding anything else to the tank until they all die. At that point I'm not sure what I want to keep in the aquarium and I'm looking for suggestions.

I am not interested in having a large variety of species at this point. I just want something interesting. I prefer a lot of plants but I don't have to have them if that's not what's best for the animal. My water is soft and starts out neutral from the tap but gets acidic fairly quickly. I am willing to do brackish water but I have never adjusted for hardness so I would be nervous about doing that. I want something that will be fairly hardy for the water I have, or be okay with brackish.

Things I've considered:

• One or two betta fish (perhaps one male, 2 females, or even just one single fish, male or female doesn't matter) in a heavily planted tank. Biggest downside I can see: bettas don't roam much if they are by themselves. They seem to need something else in the tank to make them want to leave their one little corner. At least the few I've had and seen have been that way. Maybe just a female-only population of 2 or 3?
• One pea puffer or up to 6 depending on what's best for them. I've read they are psychotic little jerks that will murder any other tank inhabitants but I think they're adorable. I'd be happy to let one have the run of the tank. I've also read that they prefer a heavily planted tank and can live with other puffers if they have enough space. I would consider putting as many as 4 -6 in there together if anyone has had experience with this and has had no trouble with fighting that led to stress or injury.
• Fiddler crabs. This would be really fun to set up the tank as half water and half land. I'm a little intimidated about the cleaning process and getting the water back to the right salinity. I've never messed with water parameters before and I am terrified of harming the animals with my ineptitude. Also, I might be looking for something a little more low-maintenance. But dang they're cute. And it really would be so fun to set up the tank.
• Shell dwellers if I can find them available. They prefer harder water so I'd have to supplement with cichlid water additive I think. But again, I'd be nervous to do that since I haven't done so before. Their behavior is fantastic though and I can imagine hours of just watching them be adorable.
• Set up a paludarium tank. This is very tempting to me. I have no idea what species I would or could keep in such an environment but I am worried about gnats, mold and other unwanted things that result from the moist environment. I'll read more about it but I'm very interested in this option.

If you were going to do a lightly stocked, possibly species-only aquarium or paludarium, what would you do? Thanks.

I wasn't sure where to post this as it seems to cross several categories (tropical, oddballs, planted, brackish). I chose this because the tank is currently a tropical one.

 

[Beastije]

I can only comment one small thing, shell dwellers are awesome, yes the water parameters are a bit challenging, and often the shell dwellers do better with a dither fish (but find one that matches the water parameters and dont eat young, not so easy)
Having said that, shelldwellers are an amazing choice

 

[Alice B]

I have half a dozen guppies, a female albino bristlenose and a probably 7 year old clown pleco. plants. Simple, inexpensive, the guppies are pretty, they eat most of their young,

 

[JuiceBox52]

A single bonded pair of angelfish would be cool

 

[GaryE]

Killifish. They would not need heaters, which lowers humidity. In time, they will populate the tank so you can watch it all grow.

 

[BeckyCats]

I can only comment one small thing, shell dwellers are awesome, yes the water parameters are a bit challenging, and often the shell dwellers do better with a dither fish (but find one that matches the water parameters and dont eat young, not so easy)
Having said that, shelldwellers are an amazing choice

Availability for me is an issue. I've only ever seen them at one specialty fish store. They are outrageously adorable though and worth the effort of getting them. They are high on my list of possibilities!

 

[BeckyCats]

I have half a dozen guppies, a female albino bristlenose and a probably 7 year old clown pleco. plants. Simple, inexpensive, the guppies are pretty, they eat most of their young,

I believe guppies need a harder water than what I can provide. I have seen some gorgeous ones though. I do love all varieties of pleco. I'll keep them in mind as well. Thanks so much for your suggestions!

 

[BeckyCats]

A single bonded pair of angelfish would be cool

Yes, that is a good thought. I see them as rescues occasionally too. I like the idea of keeping the tank cycled and just waiting for a rescue situation like that. Once the time comes of course. My little tetras are currently enjoying having the rule of the kingdom atm and I wouldn't want to upset their little world.
Another idea that is now high on my list of possibilities. Thank you!

 

[BeckyCats]

Killifish. They would not need heaters, which lowers humidity. In time, they will populate the tank so you can watch it all grow.

I thought killifish needed hard water but I just looked it up and many like soft water, so thank you for putting those on my radar. One of my local stores has some really neat little halfbeak fish that are the tiniest most darling little things I've ever seen. They remind me killifish in that they have that thin elongated profile. They needed hard water though.

Do killifish get overpopulated? I wouldn't want to be overrun and have to find homes for extra babies. Perhaps their brief lifespan prevents that from happening? I will research killifish but would love to hear your experience with them as I'm in research mode and trying to collect as much info as possible. I could see a species-only community tank being very enjoyable to watch. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[BeckyCats]

Killifish. They would not need heaters, which lowers humidity. In time, they will populate the tank so you can watch it all grow.

Also wondering if killifish could be a good choice in a paludarium since they originate from shallow pools. Any experience with that? Thanks!

 

[GaryE]

I have Chromaphyosemion poliaki in my paludarium. I put 5 in, and have about 20 moving through the plants in the 40 gallon set up.

 

[Alice B]

I believe guppies need a harder water than what I can provide. I have seen some gorgeous ones though. I do love all varieties of pleco. I'll keep them in mind as well. Thanks so much for your suggestions!

My GH is 6 and except 2 males for color I haven't had to buy guppies in years.

 

[Wills]

Gulper Catfish funny looking things that look like they belong in a cartoon, have to live alone and eat anything and I mean anything but necessarily live they will take frozen and fresh foods.

*edit - hmmm so Gulpers are cool, they are a predatory fish but they dont have to be fed live fish, they can be fed strips of cod/ white bait etc but I just googled them to see whats going on with them and there are a lot of gratuitous live feeding videos which are nothing other than grotesque so just wanted to put a bit of a warning out there and ask for us not to not derail this thread with a debate on predatory fish...

 

[BeckyCats]

Gulper Catfish funny looking things that look like they belong in a cartoon, have to live alone and eat anything and I mean anything but necessarily live they will take frozen and fresh foods.

*edit - hmmm so Gulpers are cool, they are a predatory fish but they dont have to be fed live fish, they can be fed strips of cod/ white bait etc but I just googled them to see whats going on with them and there are a lot of gratuitous live feeding videos which are nothing other than grotesque so just wanted to put a bit of a warning out there and ask for us not to not derail this thread with a debate on predatory fish...

Thank you for the suggestion and for the edit. I did not see those videos yet as I went first to a Tropical Fish Magazine article on them, so it's good to be aware of them so I can avoid them.

According to the TFM article I would need a larger tank as they get up to 14". I will say though that with the pic below being the first thing I saw, I do love them already. If my tank were larger I would definitely consider one. I mean come on, who doesn't love this mug?

 

[BeckyCats]

I'm also considering a crayfish/mini lobster type of thing. As with everything else, I would just need to make sure it would be happy with the environment I could give it.

I think it is fun to consider a sparsely populated and/or single species and/or single individual tank. When I started, I was like everyone else and wanted as many different species as I could humanely accomodate, which naturally led to MTS (multiple tank syndrome). After dealing with a serious illness (I'm better now), I reorganized my priorities and as each tank's residents swam under the rainbow bridge, I broke down and packed away the extra tanks, thereby trimming some chores.

Now I just want to have a tank with something a little different from what I've had before. Something chill but interesting. I appreciate the suggestions. Please keep them coming!