# Starting a 55G Tank - Planted



## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Hi all,

I am just trying to get some suggestions here. I just joined and have been reading a lot of posts. Glad I did. I got a 55G tank for my birthday with stand:









I am looking to setup a community planted aquarium with some south american freshwater fish. I am open for suggestions here from my fellow hobbyists with more experience 

Equipment:
-18" Flourescent lighting (came with aquarium) - need to be replaced with plant lighting
- 200W heater
- Rena XP3 Canister Filter
(anything else I need here?) Should I be adding for filtering? - air circulation, air stones?

Also, I have added Sea Chem Fluorite Dark as the substrate. Pretty plain from the picture. I am planning to decorate with some driftwood and slate (give the fish places to hide).

What I plan:

Plants (I probably will not be able to find most of them over in my area):
- Java Fern - sticking them on driftwood or Anubias Nana Narrowleaf
- Crypt - Lutea
- Crypt - Wendtii Green and Red
- Ozelot Sword
- Bacopa Australis
- Wisteria
- Rotala
- Red Foxtail
- Vals

Maybe I am getting too complicated with this - open for suggestions here!

Fish (I have not figured out the numbers):

- Angelfish (pair)
- German Rams
- Dwarf Gouramis
- Cardinal Tetras (school - 12)
- Bushynose Plecos (pair)
- Peppered Cory Cats
- Hatchets ?

At this point, I feel kind of stuck. Don't know where to start. Going to do the fishless cycle but just read from this forum not to add plants until the cycle completes. I read from other sites to add plants right away. 

I got a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH! I think I got that part right!

I am able to seed the tank from a friend's established tank (add some gravel into a sock? ha!)
No carbon added to the canister filter, so what should I run in it? or should I use something else?

Did you use pure ammonia to start the tank?

Signed - confused


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

Due to the size of your pic it is hard to understand your post and view your tank. I'd highly recommend resizing it.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

I can see it. 

That's a really fancy stand. I like it. Also slightly jealous.

You can get the 48" power compact coralife lights cheap now. You should also look into pressurized co2 for a tank that size.. talk to plant people. I'm not plant people. The aforementioned is hearsay.

Anyways, I can speak to your fish choices

Angelfish (pair)< Yes. Could also do a group, but only without the gouramis.
- German Rams <Yes
- Dwarf Gouramis< Not a great idea given that they will compete for the same strata as the angels. If you want gouramis, get pearls, and set up one end of the tank for the angels (branches, swords) and the other for the gouramis (floating plants, calm). Honestly I would pick angels or gouramis.
- Cardinal Tetras (school - 12) <Iffy. If they're really small the angels will bother them. Otherwise no problem. Go for 20 though. 
- Bushynose Plecos (pair) <Yep
- Peppered Cory Cats <I'd go for bronze I think they're nicer or sterbai
- Hatchets ? < Might be a little too placid to make for the happiest possible setup with the other fish.


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Thanks for your advise AquariAM. It won't be a while until I start populating with fish so lots of time to think about it. I am torn between the angelfish and the gouramis, they are both beautiful fish. I'm not planning on breeding the fish so perhaps if I get two female angels it may work out? Who knows. Any other recommendations for fish? How about rasboras instead of tetras?
So exciting! 

Sorry about the HUGE picture trailblazer, I will re-adjust the size.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

trailblazer295 said:


> Due to the size of your pic it is hard to understand your post and view your tank. I'd highly recommend resizing it.


you need a bigger monitor w/ better resolution LOL

it's a big pic but i saw it clearly.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Steeners said:


> Thanks for your advise AquariAM. It won't be a while until I start populating with fish so lots of time to think about it. I am torn between the angelfish and the gouramis, they are both beautiful fish. I'm not planning on breeding the fish so perhaps if I get two female angels it may work out? Who knows. Any other recommendations for fish? How about rasboras instead of tetras?
> So exciting!
> 
> Sorry about the HUGE picture trailblazer, I will re-adjust the size.


If you dont want to breed, honestly, in terms of something interesting to watch doing stuff, you're probably best off with a trio or quad of pearl gourami (only 1 male though-- if you want them {youtube and google them} we can tell you how to sex them etc). Most people think angels and discus are very pretty but then they get them home and complain that they just 'sit there'. They certainly do. That's about it. And have interesting spawning and courting behaviour. If you aren't looking for that, you really aren't going to have a good time in my opinion with any of the 'dinner plate-esque' shaped cichlids.

I'm not a rasbora fan. So, I will advise you away from rasboras purely due to my bias against them. Doesn't mean they're bad fish.
I suggest (if you go with the gouramis) about four denison barb







(they eventually get big like 5"+)
or







ten-ish odessa barbs (menagerie has perfect ones right now. You could probably buy them and have them hold the ten until the tank is ready... which realistically should only be like four days if you clone the biofilter).
or







12-15 cherry barbs- hugely underapreciated fish. Look like little cartoon characters.

These fish may or may not turn right in your tank at home.


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