Stocking and Scaping a 55gal

[livelifelow]

Hi guys,

I was hoping to get some help with stocking and scaping my new tank. I am upgrading from a 34 gallon long to a 55 gallon long. I genuinely have no concept of how many fish/what fish I can have in a tank together and have it be something nice to look at. I am planning on having the new tank be sand-bottomed with fertilizer underneath.

Current stocking in 34:
-1 Opaline Gourami
-2 neon tetra
-3 male guppies
-1 blackskirt tetra
-1 Julie cory
-2 BN plecos
-6 netrile snails

I am hoping to get rid of the Opaline if an lfs will take him....he has been snacking heavily on my fish/shrimp population and harassing them something fierce. The blackskirt and julie are remnants of old shoals that I'm not really planning on having again. I know the neon shoal should be much larger, I think it was around 11 before someone took a liking to fish snacks.

Fish I'm interested in for the 55:
-dwarf chain loach
-hillstream loach
-clown loach
-Peru gold stripe cory
-golden nugget pleco
-L397
-Purple Harlequin Rasbora
-Boeseman's Rainbowfish
-Congo tetra
-Farlowella catfish
-Whiptail catfish
-Redline torpedo barb
-Otos
-Shrimp

I assume that some of those are definite 'no', they are just some things that I thought looked nice. I would really like to have a more active tank than I currently do. I anyone has pictures or suggestions for aquascaping the tank, I would appreciate it. I really don't have an eye for that.

pH: 7.6
kH: 200 ppm? (12-13 drops of the solution)
I don't have a gH test, but I know its hard water.
I do have an RO/DI system that I need to set up for my saltwater tank, do I need to use it for the freshwater as well? Should I?

Edit: If I could add some of these fish to the 34 until the 55 is ready, I would be happy to. Also, I love plecos, so if anyone has suggestions for ways to have more or some nice looking ones I would appreciate it.

 

[fish boi]

ok i saw some problems with current stocking: neon tetras are schooling fish and need to be in groups of at least 6. black skirt tetras and Julie cory should be kept in groups of 6 or more. all those fish would be more active once they are in school.
on the other stuff i'm no help with. someone like essjay or byron would be best

 

[Essjay]

I know you said 55 gallon long but just how long is the new tank?
And we need to know just how hard is hard. Does your water provider's website give that info?

There are a few fish you can remove from your list.
Clown loaches are big fish and need a tank at least 6 ft long.
Hillstream loaches like very fast flowing water and cooler temperatures than most fish.
And maybe red line torpedo barbs and boeseman's rainbows as they need a tank at least 4 ft which is why I asked how long your new tank is.

As for the rest of the fish on your list, it will depend on exactly how hard your water is.

 

[livelifelow]

The tank is 47.5" x 11.5" x 20" (tall). I will have to wait until this weekend to pick up a test for the hardness, I'm on a well. I figured the clown loaches were a long shot, couldn't recall if they needed a 4ft or 6 ft tank. Would the hillstream loaches be happy if I put a powerhead in the tank? If not, that's ok too, I'd rather have content fish than fish out of their element.

 

[Byron]

I concur with essjay on all she posted.

To your latest post...Hillstream Loaches are very demanding; they need a strong current (none of the other fish mentioned would appreciate it this strong, believe me) and they need good overhead light to encourage algae to grow on rocks so they can graze them (though there are ways to provide algae encrusted rocks). Cooler temperatures are another issue. It is not easy to find tankmates for Hillstream loaches.

The API GH/KH test kit is a good one. It is a shame you have to buy it, as you may only use it once to find out the well water parameters. Maybe a local fish store would test GH? If you do this, make certain you get the numbers and the unit, example 12 degrees GH, or 214 ppm [these are equivalents].

You could go the RO route,mixing with tap water. But you may not need to, depending what the GH is. The rainbows and barbs for example should manage with moderately hard water and your slightly basic pH of 7.6.

Sand substrate is a good idea; some fish need this (cories, dwarf loaches, the other loaches for that matter). You will want lots of chunks of wood with tunnels and crevices for any of the loaches particularly.

The fertilizer under the sand...this is something you should carefully reconsider. For one thing, some of these fish dig...my dwarf loaches and Botia kubotai loaches have made 2-3 inch deep tunnels under chunks of wood, that is their nature. This goes nearly to the tank floor, and I hate to think what would happen if I had some sort of plant substrate under the 2-3 inches of sand. Aside from the possible mess, these substrates are frequently rough (I had serious cory issues with Flourite a few year ago and got rid of it) Also, in my experience which is borne out by others too, these substrates rarely provide any benefit for plants.

Byron.

 

[livelifelow]

Sorry about taking forever, the boyfriend has been avoiding going to the pet store. Something about looking at every fish even if we aren't getting one.

Petsmart did not have a GH test or anything to test the water. When my bf got our water tested at an actual testing place they said the hardness was 18, but he has no units for it.

Looking at fish in the meantime, I would like to add celestial pearl danios to my list. I also decided that I want to keep the opaline gourami, it's my favorite fish in the tank. Truly a shame you can't really have just a gourami tank, they're such gorgeous creatures.
I have also found that I currently have 2 bamboo shrimp in my tank. I hadn't seen them since the night I put them in and assumed they had been eaten. Imagine my surprise to be cleaning the filter in a bucket of water and feel those guys!

 

[Byron]

Sorry about taking forever, the boyfriend has been avoiding going to the pet store. Something about looking at every fish even if we aren't getting one.

Petsmart did not have a GH test or anything to test the water. When my bf got our water tested at an actual testing place they said the hardness was 18, but he has no units for it.

Looking at fish in the meantime, I would like to add celestial pearl danios to my list. I also decided that I want to keep the opaline gourami, it's my favorite fish in the tank. Truly a shame you can't really have just a gourami tank, they're such gorgeous creatures.
I have also found that I currently have 2 bamboo shrimp in my tank. I hadn't seen them since the night I put them in and assumed they had been eaten. Imagine my surprise to be cleaning the filter in a bucket of water and feel those guys!

We're at a standstill until we know the GH.

Celestial Pearl Danio will not work here; they are very small fish, and not suited to be in the same tank with most gourami. More info here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/celestichthys-margaritatus/

You will have trouble with any gourami with the Opaline, which is not one of the peaceful gourami.

 

[livelifelow]

Not sure if it's of value or not, but I tried Petsmart again and they gave me a total hardness of 150ppm. Turns out my water also has 0.25 NH3

 

[Byron]

Not sure if it's of value or not, but I tried Petsmart again and they gave me a total hardness of 150ppm. Turns out my water also has 0.25 NH3

I can't comment on the reliability of this test, but it is "good" rather than bad if accurate. 150 ppm equates to 8 dGH, and this is on the border of soft-moderately hard. Livebearers, which require moderately hard water, need higher GH than this, just as an example. So you are in the range that should suite many species.

The former mentioned hardness of 18 had no units, so it is impossible to compare these.

 

[livelifelow]

Would it be advantageous to order a liquid test online? I figured the 18 was useless without units, and thank you for the conversion and help.

 

[Byron]

Would it be advantageous to order a liquid test online? I figured the 18 was useless without units, and thank you for the conversion and help.

You could order the API liquid test for GH/KH. I hate to advise someone to spend money for a test that you may only do the once. Is there any chance you could contact the "professional" place where the water tested 18 and find out the units they use?

 

[livelifelow]

Finally had the test come in....and it took 23 drops for the water to change color. The chart only goes up to 12 drops, but was rising at 1 drop= 1 dH, so mine is 23? Can fish even thrive in water that hard?

 

[Byron]

You are certainly getting vastly different results every time the water is tested for GH. You have to be careful with the API GH test; some people add the drops and wait until the colour (its green, if memory serves me) is dark, but the orange turns a pale green and that is what you want. It helps to hold the test tube vertically over a pure white surface (a sheet of paper) and look down through it. This is much more distinct then attempting to see it sideways as you would for pH, etc.

I checked back but couldn't see why the municipal water authority can't be contacted for GH...are you on municipal water, or private well?

 

[livelifelow]

I am on a well. I retested looking at it vertically and got 18 from the tap, 19 from the tank. I think the 23 may have been from not rinsing out the pipette I use to transfer the water into the tube; I use the same pipette for my fw and sw tests, I had thought my last sampling was from the fw.

 

[Byron]

I am on a well. I retested looking at it vertically and got 18 from the tap, 19 from the tank. I think the 23 may have been from not rinsing out the pipette I use to transfer the water into the tube; I use the same pipette for my fw and sw tests, I had thought my last sampling was from the fw.

Good. This at least tallies with the "18" back a few posts. So you have "fairly hard" water to use a subjective term.