Is This Ok For Stocking A 55 Gallon

[williamc]

I was wondering if this would be okay to gave 6 tiger barbs,4 columbian tetras,2 bloivian rams,1 convict,2 leapord(juli cory),2 albanio corycat, and 1 rubber lip pleco?
Could I have any more fish in this tank or not?

 

[minxfishy]

Yes you could have more, I would up the number of tiger barbs to a minimum of 8, as it helps to keep them occupied in each other rather than nip the other fish. Maybe consider adding more cories too, the larger the number the better they do, 6+ is a good size group. Same with the tetras, 6+.

 

[Corleone]

I'd drop the convict. Some of your fish should be able to stand up to one, but I think the rams and corys would stand to be terrorized. A firemouth is about the same size, but not as ornery. A pair of kribensis would also be tough guys without being terrors.

Keyhole cichlids have a similar body shape to convicts but are peaceful almost to a fault, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do well with tiger barbs, mine will back down from a fight with an apple snail. Festivum are in the same weight class, I don't know terribly much about them.

 

[williamc]

ok so maybe the convict wouldnt work but could I have a pair of fire mouths or just one fire mouth or a jack dempsey?

 

[Davo86]

ok so maybe the convict wouldnt work but could I have a pair of fire mouths or just one fire mouth or a jack dempsey?

def not a pair of firemouths and def not a JD,
and IMO not a single firemouth either.

I would go with either keyholes, apistos, kribs or possibly a rainbow cichlid

 

[williamc]

davo what exactly is a aspisto? but some kribs would work? like a pair of them

ohh yea and I will have to hold 2 rams 2 kribs and some cories in a 20gallon for like 2 weeks would that be okay?

 

[Davo86]

davo what exactly is a aspisto? but some kribs would work? like a pair of them

ohh yea and I will have to hold 2 rams 2 kribs and some cories in a 20gallon for like 2 weeks would that be okay?

Apistogramma's are dwarf cichlids with a similar temperament to Rams, There are many different varieties of apisto and all of them are extremely colourful
click here

2 kribs should be ok, They might show some aggression towards each other though so make the tank setup quite dense.

provided the 20G is cycled they should be fine for 2 weeks, although again make the tank quite dense to break up lines of site so that they can't always see one another. This will reduce aggression

 

[waterdrop]

ok so maybe the convict wouldnt work but could I have a pair of fire mouths or just one fire mouth or a jack dempsey?

def not a pair of firemouths and def not a JD,
and IMO not a single firemouth either.

I would go with either keyholes, apistos, kribs or possibly a rainbow cichlid

I'm not really very educated about these cichlids either.

If you guys had to rank these smaller, more peaceful cichlids starting from the "bottom" most peaceful and going up, would the list order be the same as you have there? And what about german blue rams (I think I'm remembering that right), where do they fit in. Which, if any of these would qualify in a pair as being a replacement pair for a pair of angels, in the sense of similar body-mass/ammonia-load and suitability to be centerpiece fish in a smaller (30G/120L say) sized tank. We seem to get so much call for this type of advice, I'd like to know more.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Corleone]

Keyhole would definitely be at the bottom - exceptionally peaceful cichlid, mine are cowards, even though many fish around them are still clearly intimidated by their presence. Mine will occasionally want to fight - they'll jerk towards other fish and start opening their mouths, but they always surrender short of actually sticking up for themselves. Rams would fit about the same area as apistos. I don't know about rainbow cichlids, but my experience with kribs, I'm tempted to say they're the upper range of community friendly cichlids. They've been sometimes known to get nippy and are fearless when protecting a nest - I ended up selling my pair when they spawned, because they became complete terrors and I didn't have anywhere to separate them from the community. Many of the fish the OP lists would probably be able to deal with that sort of behavior.

 

[waterdrop]

thanks there Corleone. apologies for the hijack OP

 

[williamc]

ok so could I get more than one pair of rams or would that be too much?

 

[Corleone]

For a 55, that should be good, or a different dwarf cichlid like a cockatoo apistogramma - there's some color morphs of ram that would give you some more variety, too.

 

[williamc]

ill look around for those type of smaller chiclid

 

[Davo86]

I'm not really very educated about these cichlids either.

If you guys had to rank these smaller, more peaceful cichlids starting from the "bottom" most peaceful and going up, would the list order be the same as you have there? And what about german blue rams (I think I'm remembering that right), where do they fit in. Which, if any of these would qualify in a pair as being a replacement pair for a pair of angels, in the sense of similar body-mass/ammonia-load and suitability to be centerpiece fish in a smaller (30G/120L say) sized tank. We seem to get so much call for this type of advice, I'd like to know more.

~~waterdrop~~

As an alternative for angels, a pair of Keyholes is possibly the most similar in terms of size and dietary needs, although they aren't quite as aggressive IMO.
another alternative if the tank is around 50USG would be a Festivum, These are similar in size and temperament to that of the angelfish.


Hardy community tank - i.e. larger barbs, botias etc.
Blue acara, Rainbow Cichlid, Severum

mid range tank - swordtails, rainbows etc.
Kribs, Angels, Festivum

Peaceful community tank, i.e. neons, rasboras etc.
Blue Rams, Bolivain Rams, Keyholes, apistos,

 

[waterdrop]

I'm not really very educated about these cichlids either.

If you guys had to rank these smaller, more peaceful cichlids starting from the "bottom" most peaceful and going up, would the list order be the same as you have there? And what about german blue rams (I think I'm remembering that right), where do they fit in. Which, if any of these would qualify in a pair as being a replacement pair for a pair of angels, in the sense of similar body-mass/ammonia-load and suitability to be centerpiece fish in a smaller (30G/120L say) sized tank. We seem to get so much call for this type of advice, I'd like to know more.

~~waterdrop~~

As an alternative for angels, a pair of Keyholes is possibly the most similar in terms of size and dietary needs, although they aren't quite as aggressive IMO.
another alternative if the tank is around 50USG would be a Festivum, These are similar in size and temperament to that of the angelfish.


Hardy community tank - i.e. larger barbs, botias etc.
Blue acara, Rainbow Cichlid, Severum

mid range tank - swordtails, rainbows etc.
Kribs, Angels, Festivum

Peaceful community tank, i.e. neons, rasboras etc.
Blue Rams, Bolivain Rams, Keyholes, apistos,

OK, very interesting.
Which among that most peaceful group..
(Blue Rams, Bolivain Rams, Keyholes, apistos)
would work as a pair in, say, a 28 or 29g tall or 30g?

And, while we're at it, how low a volume could be go with each of these 4 types?
(given appropriate overall stocking reductions.. in other words considering mosly the tank size/shape/ornamentation needs of the cichlids)
(what I'm getting at is a better understanding of what would make good recommendations for the large number of beginners who are looking for "centerpiece" pairs in smaller tanks with mostly peaceful (neons, rasboras etc. as you say) communities overall.. just seems a steady call for this type of advice here.)

~~waterdrop~~
ps. (thanks for the effort Davo!)