# tank stocking help please



## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

hello everyone this is my first time doing this forum stuff so please be patient i have a 55 or 52 gallon half hexagon tank thats pretty weirdly shaped. my friend gave to me after he failed trying to keep saltwater fish and now its all cleaned and i have 4 neons and 3 glowlights and 3 emerald "cory" catfish right now and one largeish plant so i think im ready to add some more fish and i need suggestions on how to stock it.... i feel like the way it is now i can do many different things with the tank my want is to get some gbr but i dont know how good community fish they are...any help is greatly appreciated  i will post a pic soon


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

i need some easy plant ideas aswell


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

What type of lighting do you have? How many watts per gallon? IMO you should add more neons, since they are a schooling fish and will do much better in larger groups. Id keep like 20 in there. Plus they look a lot cooler when they are all schooling around the tank.


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## pieplz12 (Jul 20, 2012)

try platys or a few red minor tetras. the red minor tetras look like fancy piranas, and the platys school like tetras, but are slightly larger, and differently colored.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

cories, tetra, and a pair of apsitos.


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

its just a florescent long bulb not sure how many watts per gallon but since the blinds are up it looks like theres no light  okay so do you think if i were to get like 20ish neons i could keep other types of fish too?? yea i like the red minor idea. i dont really like platys that much.. do you think i could get rummynose tetras??


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

apistos are cichlids right?? i thought they were big mistakes for community tanks?? if they are good i can maybe get them cause i need some centerpiece fish aswell


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

How I make thread


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

If I was you I'd get a couple bala sharks. They are super nice and get big. They are great community fish. Skip the cichlids unless you make it a cichlid community tank. And a cichlid tank is even better IMO.


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

will cichlids work with neons or emerald catfish? cause if they do i will be all over that!


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## Coolfish (Apr 30, 2012)

40 neon tetras?


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Not with neons but the cichlids would leave the catfish alone. A African cichlid tank with some electric yellows and red zibrad would be awesome in that tank. Plus since I'm guessing your new to fish keeping Africans are super hardy fish. You can make every mistake in the book and they will come out alive. IMO you can't go wrong with Africans. Also if you get them really small they wont show much aggression. And they are really smart fish within like two weeks I got them to fallow my fingers on the glass. Also if you get them small you can keep live plants in there a lot of people say no but iv done it and it works. Plus you said you only had a few fish in there it's not to late yet to turn back. I hate tetras they always get sick and are not great fish. I had white skirt tetras that showed more aggression in my 55g then my African cichlids. 

Here's a few of my fav ac. 
Scientific name: Labidochromis caeruleus Aka "electric yellow" in my sig also pictured here.
(this is what made me NEED a cichlid tank)









My number 2 fav cichlid. 

Scientific name: Maylandia estherae aka red zebra

Beautiful fish and vary peaceful from what I see in my tank.

Pictured here. (sorry not the best pics)








Also here. 









Best friends here and also my fav ac tank picture because it has my two all time fav cichlids.


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## jgg4Jesus (Jul 23, 2012)

if you want live plants I'd go with java moss, java fern or annubias....all are low light...so don't have to have a plant light. All are hardy, all can be tied to rock or drift wood with string till the roots take hold....non can be buried in the gravel as this causes the base of the plant to rot...I like the tying them to something idea cause then I can sweep my gravel and move them is needed....none of these plants have to have co2 or fertilizers...I'm just starting and have found them to be good plants....


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## jgg4Jesus (Jul 23, 2012)

do lot's of research on the type of fish you want to get....most compatibility charts will tell you if a cichlid is aggressive or community....I found that the Keyhole cichlid is reported to be very shy, I have also read that the red parrot is peaceful...however the red parrot gets very large so may consider a tiny neon as lunch or a snack....


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

@coolfish so much of one fish wouldnt be appealing to me or my family thanks for the opinion though


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

those cichlids are beautiful!! i love the yellow one with the black on the fin  how large is it?? ive actually kept a 15 gallon tank for like a year but im new to the big tank  maybe i could give the tetras back to the lfs...could i keep different types of cichlids together??


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

yea i wanna get some java fern


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

You can keep all different types of African cichlids or SA cichlids it's not a good idea to mix SA cichlids with Africans. But there are so many types of Africans with bright colors that really pop out. Look up the electric blues I have one of them with mine as well. Now you can't keep a crap load of fish in the tank since cichlids can get upto 5-6" big I keep 8 of them in my 55g and a lot of people that dont know much about fish keeping ask me if they are saltwater fish because of the bright colors. You could do like 10 in your tank and be ok I only have 8 because I picked the 8 I liked and couldn't find 9 and 10 lol. Some places will give you a store discount as well if you give fish back so ask about that. And deff look into the electric blue cichlids that's my #3 choice and find them as small as possible so they don't get aggressive to each other. They like to hide in rocks and plants. Here's my African tank.









The Africans love rocks and best of all rocks are free.


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## needs help (Jul 24, 2012)

thats a really nice tank! i need to look into the different kinds of cichlids...so i cant have live plants with them?? haha your right the best rocks are the ones outside


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