New 55 gallon tank setup species help

[PizzaVino]

Hi all.. new member here. Just purchased a 55 gallon tank and looking for some recommendations on setting up the tank and fish species. Can you recommend a good set up of fish that will get together in a community tank? How do I go about introducing the fish should I do a few at a time

I am thinking of getting the following fish as my centerpiece fish I don't know how many of each. Or if they will do good together. I do like the discus but I hear there very hard to take care of. So I'm thinking of
Angelfish, pearl Gouarmis, dwarf gouramis,

What other fish could I place with these. Smaller size

I would like to set up the tank for individual species that use the upper, mid and lower levels of the tank.

Thanks

 

[sharkweek178]

The first thing everyone will want to know is what is your water hardness. If you don't know, you can find it on your water company website or look it up online by your zip code.

 

[PizzaVino]

The first thing everyone will want to know is what is your water hardness. If you don't know, you can find it on your water company website or look it up online by your zip code.

Sharkweek, just checked says the range is 40 to 75 milligrams per liter an dor 4.3 grams per gallon

 

[Byron]

On the GH, the hobby interchangeably uses two units for GH and KH, either ppm (parts per million, which is equivalent to mg/l) or degrees. So 40-75 ppm is your range, in degrees that would be 2 to 4 dH. This is very soft water, so your fish options should be species from such natural waters. This covers a lot of species, from tetras, rasboras, danios, barbs, gourami, most catfish...and others. Forget all livebearers and rift lake cichlids, they need harder water.

You mentioned angelfish and two gourami species. These are soft water, but they also carry "issues" with them. Males of both are territorial, to varying degrees, so it is advisable to have one of these but no other gourami or cichlids. Angelfish are shoaling/schooling fish requiring a small group, say five or six. I won't go into all the issues now, but suggest that pearl gourami would be a better choice. A group of five or six, with two or three males and three or four females. Suitable tankmates include most of the rasboras, many of the tetras, but no danios or barbs as these are too active; gourami are quiet sedate fish that need to cruise among floating plants, and they do not appreciate active fish annoying them.

Substrate is important for fish. If you may intend most catfish including the popular cories, you want soft sand. Sand works for any fish, and plants, so it is a good option.

The gourami will tend to be in the upper third, the rasbora roughly mid-tank, and most catfish lower level. So that works here.

 

[sharkweek178]

On the GH, the hobby interchangeably uses two units for GH and KH, either ppm (parts per million, which is equivalent to mg/l) or degrees. So 40-75 ppm is your range, in degrees that would be 2 to 4 dH. This is very soft water, so your fish options should be species from such natural waters. This covers a lot of species, from tetras, rasboras, danios, barbs, gourami, most catfish...and others. Forget all livebearers and rift lake cichlids, they need harder water.

You mentioned angelfish and two gourami species. These are soft water, but they also carry "issues" with them. Males of both are territorial, to varying degrees, so it is advisable to have one of these but no other gourami or cichlids. Angelfish are shoaling/schooling fish requiring a small group, say five or six. I won't go into all the issues now, but suggest that pearl gourami would be a better choice. A group of five or six, with two or three males and three or four females. Suitable tankmates include most of the rasboras, many of the tetras, but no danios or barbs as these are too active; gourami are quiet sedate fish that need to cruise among floating plants, and they do not appreciate active fish annoying them.

Substrate is important for fish. If you may intend most catfish including the popular cories, you want soft sand. Sand works for any fish, and plants, so it is a good option.

The gourami will tend to be in the upper third, the rasbora roughly mid-tank, and most catfish lower level. So that works here.

A caveat here. Some fish that are popularly named rasbora are actually danios. Danio margaritatus are usually known as celestial pearl danios but are sometimes called galaxy rasbora. Danio erythromicron are called both emerald dwarf danio or emerald dwarf rasbora.

 

[Byron]

agree. I used very general terms to make it easier, but it is always a good idea to run any intended fish past us on TFF, and use scientific names if at all possible so everyone know the specific species being mentioned.

Forgot earlier @PizzaVino , welcome to TFF and the hobby.

 

[sharkweek178]

You might want to avoid dwarf gourami. Because of inbreeding on fish farms a lot of them have a disease called Iridovirus. It's 100% fatal and has no cure.

 

[PizzaVino]

Thanks for the info, so you recommend 5-6 of the pearl Gouramis, how many of the tetras or rasboras? Can I mix these up? Any specials of tetras?? Cardinal

 

[sharkweek178]

Thanks for the info, so you recommend 5-6 of the pearl Gouramis, how many of the tetras or rasboras? Can I mix these up? Any specials of tetras?? Cardinal

The tetras and rasboras are shoaling fish. You'll see a lot of sites that tell you a minimum of six. But studies show that they really need a minimum of 10-12. The more the better. They'll be less aggressive, less shy, display better and just be more interesting to watch.

 

[Byron]

Agree. There are dozens of species among the tetras and rasboras, and it would probably be a good idea to see what might be available to you locally. I am sure there are good fish stores in the Boston area, just avoid the chain store (Petsmart, etc) and visit the locally-owned stores. Many of these can get rarer fish. Or you can do mail order but I would wait for warmer weather given the current cold front over the eastern half of this continent.

There is a site called Seriously Fish, link below, that many of us here highly recommend. You can look fish up, run them past us, look up fish you see in stores...but do not impulse order based on what store people tell you. There are many members here who have learned this the hard way. There is quite a lot of thinking that is needed to build a peaceful community tank.

But while I;m here, one rasbora that does very well with peaceful (basically) gourami like the Pearl is Trigonostigma hengeli or Trigonostigma eques. Cousins of the common Harlequin Rasbora Trigonostigma heteromorpha, but much, much better suited. A group of 15 minimum would be fine. You need floating plants though, for these as well as gourami.

If you have sand, the Corydoras catfish are well worth considering.

 

[PizzaVino]

That's good info.. I will check that site out. I currently only have the 55 gallon tank, with aquaclear 79 filter and 200 watt fluvial heater. I was flip flopping between the aquaclear 70 and seachem 75. I also have the seachem prime, stability and pristine. I didn't purchase any substrate was thinking of fine gravel or sand any recommendations?
are easy floating plants easy to use and grow

 

[sharkweek178]

That's good info.. I will check that site out. I currently only have the 55 gallon tank, with aquaclear 79 filter and 200 watt fluvial heater. I was flip flopping between the aquaclear 70 and seachem 75. I also have the seachem prime, stability and pristine. I didn't purchase any substrate was thinking of fine gravel or sand any recommendations?
are easy floating plants easy to use and grow

Quikrete Play Sand, which you can get at a Home Depot or Lowes or pretty much any hardware story. It's designed for kids to play in which means that it's non-toxic and non-abrasive. So it's perfect for fish too. Add some root tabs and most plants will grow in it. And it is very inexpensive.
Most floating plants are very easy. My favorite is salvinia minima. There's also Amazon frogbit, water lettuce, red root floaters. You can also float water wisteria, water sprite or anacharis. They grow fast so they suck up a lot of nutrients which you want because it removes ammonia from your tank. Just make sure to add liquid fertilizer to help them grow. You don't need to start with much either. I throw away handfuls of salvinia minima every week because it grows so fast.

 

[seangee]

A word of caution, do check on which tetras you choose and choose carefully. Read up on them or even search on here or just ask (never trust the guy in the fish shop when he says they are peaceful). The most common example we see on here are serpae tetra. Yes they are lovely to look at but are simply not community fish and definitely no go with gouramis.

 

[PizzaVino]

I'm going to st my tank up thai weekend and then cycle it for about a week and test the water before I get any fish.

Do the shoaling fish have to be the same species or can you mix them up? I'm leaning towards the cardinal tetras are these good with the pearl Gouramis.

Late on I will get a catfish any recommendations for other bottom dwellers

 

[PizzaVino]

Any reputable online male order fish websites?