Stocking For A 55 Gallon

[FishySarah]

After a disaster with a leaking tank, which damaged my apartment and the one beneath me, the landlord told me I had to get rid of all but one of my tanks. Since I was lucky not to be evicted, I did not argue. I had a 55 gallon with goldfish, overstocked anyway, so I returned them to the store along with a bunch of other fish and moved my remaining fish which were compatible into the 55 gallon.

Now, in the 55 gallon I have the following fish:

4 bloodfin tetras
3 black skirt tetras
1 female platy (was in a tank w males, may drop?)
2 female mollies (ditto)
4 guppies, 1 male 3 female
1 opaline gourami
2 gold barbs

I think I need to add black skirt tetras, maybe two to bring the number up to five. I don't think my lfs carries gold barbs, but I could add two of them I suppose if I can find them. I want to add some cory cats. I really only wanted to add two or three, but everyone is telling me I need at least 6. Is that true?

After that? Well, I really want to add 1 or 2 dwarf gouramis and another few platies. My tank has tons of caves and rocks and hiding places, so I will probably get some fry surviving. I wanted to leave a little space for that, though I dont' plan on actively trying to save fry, like I said my tank is chock full of decor and plastic or silk plants (I combined stuff from all the tanks) and I think some may make it. I know its hard to predict whether fish will be aggressive in hunting the fry down, so I really don't know. What do you think?

So anyway...I am seeking any advice. I don't really want to add the tetras and barbs, but I don't want my fish to be unhappy. I don't want to overcrowd- but I have to add that my filtration is very good- two AquaClear 70 filters running side by side. Which I think is pretty good for a 55 gallon.

So any feedback?

 

[hamfist]

Getting the tetra numbers up to at least 5 per species would probably be appreciated by the tetras.

As for corys, yes I know you read the magic number "6" everywhere on the www. However, I have found that groups of 3 or 4 act every bit as happy, and socialise together exactly the same, as a larger group. I think that's pretty good evidence that a group of 3 or 4 is ample.
They don't actively shoal together in the same way as some other midwater species that tightly stick together and move together. THose types of species definately appreciate greater numbers.

As for gourami - act with care ! Gourami can be extremely territorial, aggressive fish. If you add dwarf gourami, my advice would be to add only one. Every pair of dwarf gourami I have ever kept in community tanks, the male has always ended up chasing and stressing the female to death eventually. I don't know if I've just been unlucky but that has happened to me 3 times in the past. The remaining males have usually been troublemakers with the other larger fish too.

How about getting a smallish, more peaceful cichlid ? Something like a keyhole or a Bolivian Ram, or an Apistogramma. Just another option. Personally I wouldn't get a pair, as bredding cichlids in a tank like that cause chaos !

 

[mattlee]

corys dont have a massive impact on the filters bioload so i would get as many as you can. the more you get the more active and happy they will be. a 55g tank is plenty big enough for a nice group of about 10 and you really will enjoy them more especially if you get all the same species as they will play and swim together, they are great little fish with awesome characters you wont regret it