Fresh water fish tank gurus

[Layinlow]

Just picked up a 55 gallon setup, this is my first time personally owning a tank, had one when I was a little kid and always wanted one. My son loves looking at them anytime we go anywhere that has one so that was further excuse to pull the trigger

My question is what are some good choices for fish? I want the tank to be as self sustaining as possible. I like a lil bit bigger fish, but not too big to where I can only have 2-3 in the whole tank.

Any recommendations on fish, or tips to help out a rookie would be greatly appreciated

 

[hangemhigh]

Angel-fish are a good choice. They'll grow some, but not too much, and they're pretty resilient too.

Having good community fish is a must. Nothing like having aggressive fish eat the tails off the more passive ones. Been there...It's a learning curve.

 

[99slverZ]

Just picked up a 55 gallon setup, this is my first time personally owning a tank, had one when I was a little kid and always wanted one. My son loves looking at them anytime we go anywhere that has one so that was further excuse to pull the trigger

My question is what are some good choices for fish? I want the tank to be as self sustaining as possible. I like a lil bit bigger fish, but not too big to where I can only have 2-3 in the whole tank.

Any recommendations on fish, or tips to help out a rookie would be greatly appreciated

You can try cichlids but in a tank that small you will have some fights here and there eventually. Most freshwater are pretty self sustaining. Pick up a canister filter and clean it every two or three weeks and top off the water, it doesn't get much easier then that. Check the water parameters every so often.

 

[apkano]

Personally, I've always liked the more aggressive fish. Jack Dempsey's, Texas Blue's and Oscars, mostly Oscars. I like the way that Oscars will come right up to the glass and look back at you.

I've had community tanks before, it always bummed me out when I go up there to look at them and they all run and hide.

Might as well throw in a Plecostomus or two as well.

 

[cjmatt]

Just fill it with plants, 5 plecos, 40 zebra Danios, and 50 neon tetras. Kids love those things

 

[Tin]

Angelfish get too large for a 55G. They get about 8" long and close to a foot tall....youd need a deeper tank to properly house them. Preferrably 24" deep or more. Angels also get aggressive when they attain full size...but are peaceful when smaller. If you want medium size non aggressive cichlids...look into blue acaras, green severums, rams, chanchitos, chocolate cichlids, or firemouths. I worked in pet stores all throughout high school. If you want anymore advice shoot me a PM.

 

[Tin]

Personally, I've always liked the more aggressive fish. Jack Dempsey's, Texas Blue's and Oscars, mostly Oscars. I like the way that Oscars will come right up to the glass and look back at you.

I've had community tanks before, it always bummed me out when I go up there to look at them and they all run and hide.

Might as well throw in a Plecostomus or two as well.

If you get plecos....make sure you FEED THEM. They are not algae eaters like many misconstrue...throw them some romaine or pleco tablets or they will die. Also...look for plecos that dont grow very big, because the standard ones you commonly see get huge (18").

 

[Tin]

One other thing, I suggest culturing your aquarium before you add any nice fish to it. The filtration system provides mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration. The biofilter needs to grow, beneficial bacteria grow on the filter substrate and consume the microscopic waste products in the water. The best way to do this is to buy a couple of dozen feeder goldfish and leave them in the tank for a month or 2. The waste products produced by the goldfish will kick start the process. Goldfish are very hardy and good for this, plus if some of them die youre not at a big loss. After the 30 to 60 days are up, you can take em back to the pet store.

 

[jsxtreme]

If you get plecos....make sure you FEED THEM. They are not algae eaters like many misconstrue...throw them some romaine or pleco tablets or they will die. Also...look for plecos that dont grow very big, because the standard ones you commonly see get huge (18").

I had a buddy in high school that use to raise those things for what ever odd reason, and they were HUGE. Most borning fish ever though.

Like Matt said, zebra danios and tetras are always good. They're active. I've been wanting to set up another tank myself, just dont want to add one more chore to the weekly list.

 

[Tin]

I had a buddy in high school that use to raise those things for what ever odd reason, and they were HUGE. Most borning fish ever though.

Ive been "bitten" by one before, and they can fuck you up. They have rasp-like teeth that are shaped like little spoons. In their natural habitat they feed on leaf litter, rotting driftwood, and aquatic plants. Some of the more exotic plecos like the goldens and blue eyed ones are pretty cool, but theyre all boring. They just sit there eating. Biologicially, plecos are catfish. Speaking of catfish, Corydoras are great for community tanks. if you decide on some medium cichlids, the pictus cats and pimelodus cats are great. Just dont buy a red tailed catfish, they get huge. So big in fact they were featured on River Monsters a few seasons ago :lol:.

 

[Tin]

Danios are nice too. I used to use giant danios as target fish when I bred cichlids back in the day. Theyre fast enough not to get caught, but give the male cichlids something to chase after so they dont kill the female. Breeding cichlids was my favorite part of the hobby. I used to sell to many of the pet stores in the area back about 10 to 15 years ago.

 

[jsxtreme]

Ive been "bitten" by one before, and they can fuck you up. They have rasp-like teeth that are shaped like little spoons. In their natural habitat they feed on leaf litter, rotting driftwood, and aquatic plants. Some of the more exotic plecos like the goldens and blue eyed ones are pretty cool, but theyre all boring. They just sit there eating. Biologicially, plecos are catfish. Speaking of catfish, Corydoras are great for community tanks. if you decide on some medium cichlids, the pictus cats and pimelodus cats are great. Just dont buy a red tailed catfish, they get huge. So big in fact they were featured on River Monsters a few seasons ago :lol:.

Certain species of cats can be rather aggresive. I had a tank with just a brown bullhead and a blue channel cat. Brown got to be about 14" and would eat 30 feeder goldfish in about an hour.

 

[briansc88]

Do a community tank of cichlids from lake malawi, they stay relatively small but you have to watch stocking because they're pretty aggressive with conspecifics

 

[Tin]

Do a community tank of cichlids from lake malawi, they stay relatively small but you have to watch stocking because they're pretty aggressive with conspecifics

The trick with African Cichlids is to over stock, and have many territories for each fish. African cichlids are polygamous, so you will want 2 to 4 females per male. With Central and South American cichlids, the less in an aquarium, the better. With Africans, the more the better. When you have an overabundance with African cichlids, it lets the males have many more targets to chase around instead of letting one or 2 bear the brunt of their aggression . The easy way to sex African cichlids, the males have "dummy egg" spots near their anal fins. Thats because Africans are mouth brooders, and the females will take the eggs into their mouth when they spawn, and the male will release his milt into her mouth to fertilize the eggs. A fish blowjob in essence :lol:

 

[briansc88]

The trick with African Cichlids is to over stock, and have many territories for each fish. African cichlids are polygamous, so you will want 2 to 4 females per male. With Central and South American cichlids, the less in an aquarium, the better. With Africans, the more the better. When you have an overabundance with African cichlids, it lets the males have many more targets to chase around instead of letting one or 2 bear the brunt of their aggression . The easy way to sex African cichlids, the males have "dummy egg" spots near their anal fins. Thats because Africans are mouth brooders, and the females will take the eggs into their mouth when they spawn, and the male will release his milt into her mouth to fertilize the eggs. A fish blowjob in essence :lol:

thanks for the info tin!

 

[apkano]

Danios are nice too. I used to use giant danios as target fish when I bred cichlids back in the day. Theyre fast enough not to get caught, but give the male cichlids something to chase after so they dont kill the female. Breeding cichlids was my favorite part of the hobby. I used to sell to many of the pet stores in the area back about 10 to 15 years ago.

LOL..... About 10 to 15 years ago I had 2 pairs of breeding Convicts. The guy up at the fish store loved me. To this day I still swear that Convicts are the rabbits of the water.

 

[Tin]

LOL..... About 10 to 15 years ago I had 2 pairs of breeding Convicts. The guy up at the fish store loved me. To this day I still swear that Convicts are the rabbits of the water.

Thats about it too :lol: I used to breed them as feeder fish, as most of the pet stores I would deal with didnt want them due to their obsessive breeding. When I was breeding Jaguar cichlids, one of em survived until it was a couple inches long, then got killed in a bout of spousal abuse when the male decided he didnt like his woman anymore :lol:

 

[347convert]

If you get slightly more brave you can set up a brackish tank. That's fish that live in the mouths or rivers that lead out to oceans. Once you establish the low salt level its pretty simple to maintain. We had a 10gal brakish tank with no trouble. You can also get super cool fiah like figure 8 puffers, green spot puffers, small sharks, and a few other odd fish. Once they get full grown you can either keep them brakish or slowly adapt them to full marine.

Just another option for a low maintenance tank.

 

[347convert]

Our green spot as a little guy.

As a full grown salt water guy

 

[Tin]

Blue gravel, cuz thats the shit thats really on the river bottom :lol:.