suggestions needed

[peter101]

Im looking to buy a new tank probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 gallons (US) freshwater

I have a few types of fish i wanna have in it:
maybe some bala sharks
maybe move my angels that are getting pretty big into it
orr i could go with a few red belly pirahnas
It's still early in the planning

any suggestion of fish you liked in your medium sized tank (round 55 g) would be much appriciated

 

[CFC]

I wouldnt recomend balas or RBP's for a 55g, these are both shoaling fish (which means you need to keep at least 3) and due to the size of the balas (13"+ full grown) and the aggressiveness of the RBP's the tank would not be quite big enough for them. If you are going to move the angels into the tank then i would build the decor and list of tankmates around them with a amazon river theme, for tankmates i would suggest a shoal of the slightly larger tetras such as cardinals or rummynoses, a group of dwarf cichlids (appistogramma species, one male + 3 or 4 females), a shoal of corydoras or 3 or 4 medium sized peaceful catfish such as hoplosternum species and either a pair of bristlenoses, 2 or 3 farrowellas (twig catfish) or up to 10 otocinclus to clean algea patches up. Decorate the tank with amazon sword plants and pieces of bogwood with a sand substrate.

 

[peter101]

great thanks for the info
just a quick question: what would be the minimum size tank for some RBPs? It may be possible for me to buy a larger tank
thanx in advance

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

You could go with some discus. They are great and really good looking fish

 

[CFC]

For RBP's id suggest nothing less than 75g, it is best to have as many as possible to try to prevent aggression being focused on one fish, id try to go with 5 in a 75 and provide pleanty of cover with low light requiring plants like java fern and anubias or plastic plants.