# New tank



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

So I'll be picking up this tank tomorrow. I will repair the leak in it and maybe treat the front glass with vinegar if it looks too cloudy. I'm not really sure what kind of filter it has, and when I asked her she replied that she doesnt know what filter it took but the equipment for the filter is there. I assume she meant that she doesnt know what filter media it takes, but that she has the filter.

Anyway, any suggestions on what to put in it? I was considering a few angels but I would be up for suggestions even if they dont include angels. The other thing I was thinking would be a terrarium/aquarium mix, with fish on one half, then having some sand slope up to a reptile on the other half.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Why don't you put cool fish in it like payaras or some rare or oddball fish. Knifefish?


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

I second the knife fish suggestion.


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

Hehe, me third! Gotta love the knives, such cool fish.


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

Sure go for a ghost knife, they're cool. Or a spiny eel or 2?


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2009)

i say go with the BGK as well. you will love them. talk to Ghost_Knife and Blue Cray on care and keep. these 2 are members i know who have ghost knifes.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

You can keep a Black Ghost Knife in a 55 gallon for about a year to a year and a half depending how large it is when you buy it and how fast they grow. Since I moved mine to the 125 gallon 2 weeks ago I swear he has grown by about 1/2". I would assume that he feels more comfortable having so much room so he ends up eating more.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

OK so everyone seems to think a Knife fish is a good idea, but Ghost says that they will need a bigger aquarium after a year. I dont really want a fish that I will have to find a bigger aquarium for in the future. Are all knives like this or just the black ghosts?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

bmlbytes said:


> OK so everyone seems to think a Knife fish is a good idea, but Ghost says that they will need a bigger aquarium after a year. I dont really want a fish that I will have to find a bigger aquarium for in the future. Are all knives like this or just the black ghosts?


Yeah, at least all of the knives I am familiar with. The Black Ghost Knife, Glass Knife, and African Brown Knife will reach about 14-18" and the Clown Knife can easily reach 24". If you can get a Black Ghost Knife that's really little, like around 2", then it could stay in a 55 gallon for well over a year. Knives really need a minimum of a 75 gallon tank if you want to never have to worry about moving them because that extra 6" in the width of tank compared to a 55 makes all the difference.


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

you could try moving all the fish that are in the 20 and add from there? but the oddball idea is what i would go for. good luck! tell us when you get it!


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

It may be just me, but I really like Peacock Cichlids. You could keep a good number of those in a 55 for their entire lives. They're completely beautiful, in fact they're sometimes mistaken for marine fish. Totally up to you, though. Angels are very nice too.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

OK so I got all the stuff today. I got way more than I expected. Here is a list of the stuff I got:
-1 Aquarium
-1 Aquarium top w/ lights
-1 Black aquarium stand
-2 Aqua-tech 30-60
-1 Aquaclear 200
-2 Aquarium heaters (not sure of wattage)
-2 Large bubble sticks
-1 Small bubble stick
-About 5 or 6 large plastic plants
-1 Large rock ornament
-Some activated carbon
-Some water conditioner
-Some AlgaeFix

Everything looks a bit dirty, but that is easily fixed. Overall I say its well over $35 worth of equipment. I filled it up and I don't see a leak yet, but I am going to give it a few hours to prove it. 

Also since the knife fish idea is not something I want (with it getting too big and all) any other suggestions. I may do an oddball or the cichlid idea, but I just want a few more suggestions. 

BTW thanks for all the ideas.


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

i think some of the more common knifefish stay about 12" but im not sure. like the african and glass. You'd have to look it up since ive never kept one but, i dont think they get that big.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

The African Brown Knives and Glass Knives will reach 16" just like the Black Ghost Knife.

Also, be careful with this possible leak. My 135 gallon that busted in April had no leaks and had been filled for 2 months. Make sure you have a wet/dry vac on standby.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

I'll ask you a question so we can narrow it down. 

Do you want:

A lot of smaller fish?

A few medium sized fish?

Or 1-2 large fish?

That will help us give you better suggestions since there are just so many options.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

What do you mean by that GK? Was yours listed as a leaky one too? <joke>Maybe I'll just put a ShamWOW under it.</joke> Also a few hours have passed since I filled it, and not a single leak.

As for your question, Superfly724, I think I would like either a few medium fish or a couple larger fish. I do not want just one fish and I don't think I want 50 tetras, danios and guppies. I might consider some angels or larger barbs or something like that size. I think some cichlids are a good idea, I was just wondering what you guys would think.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

I bought my 135 used from a guy on Craigslist and he only kept it half full because he used it for Guppies as bait. I figured it would be fine but after two months it all of a sudden cracked diagonally along the middle of the back glass. All of the seals were fully intact though.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Wow that sucks. Any idea why that would have happened?

This lady didn't seem to be hiding anything though. She said it would leak and she gave me tons of stuff for it. I just haven't seen it leak in the few hours its been set up.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

bmlbytes said:


> Wow that sucks. Any idea why that would have happened?
> 
> This lady didn't seem to be hiding anything though. She said it would leak and she gave me tons of stuff for it. I just haven't seen it leak in the few hours its been set up.


No clue at all. Since there was no crack or anything there before hand I am not really sure why it cracked.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

If you want to go the Cichlid route, I recommend either Mbuna or Peacock, but not together as the aggression levels are totally different. You could keep around 13 cichlids in a 55 gallon and they normally get around 5-6 inches. Also, with the Cichlids you could add some nice catfish such as Synodontis. Spice up the lower levels.

Angels are also really nice and would do well in a 55 gallon. As far as I know, they're also decent community fish so you could put in some nice colorful smaller fish in with them.

Silver dollars are interesting, decent sized fish and would fit well in a 55 gallon. 

A group of gouramis would also look nice in there.

I'm just throwing out ideas. I'll post some more options as I think of them.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Don't forget other S. american cichlids. A pair of Uaru or severum would look awesome. Whats your tap water like? pH and hardness. Much easier to match fish to water.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

We have moderately hard water, with a pH at 7.4 - 7.8. The pH neutralizer works well so I can get it to 7.0 and I have had luck with CO2 lowering pH, but it's unstable and I don't know if it would work well in a 55. So it probably would be the best route to go with slightly alkaline favoring fish.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

centipede knifefish don't get that big and black african knifefish normally don't get much bigger than 8 ''


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

OK so I think I am going to not get knife fish for a few reasons:
1. Most are too big
2. They are not completely compatible with most fish
3. I want fish I will see all day. This will be a display tank.

I am really considering cichlids, especially the angels. Maybe Ill do a few angels and some dwarf gouramis or swordtails.


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## N0z (Jun 3, 2009)

Cool tank, is it fixed yet ?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

bmlbytes said:


> OK so I think I am going to not get knife fish for a few reasons:
> 1. Most are too big
> 2. They are not completely compatible with most fish
> 3. I want fish I will see all day. This will be a display tank.
> ...


Here's a good combination b:

2 Angels
4-6 Blue Gouramis
4-6 Gold Gourams
6-8 Cories for the bottom
and an algae eater of some sort


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## Guest (Sep 11, 2009)

Angels and Swordtails make a nice combo.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

I agree with Ghost Knife on this. That would make a nice setup with all the water levels being pretty active. 

As for the algae eater, if possible get a Bristlenose Pleco. You can keep a Common Pleco for maybe a couple years, but they'll get MUCH too large for a 55 gallon. BN stay around 6". Just be careful because they're used to lower PH levels.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Superfly724 said:


> I agree with Ghost Knife on this. That would make a nice setup with all the water levels being pretty active.
> 
> As for the algae eater, if possible get a Bristlenose Pleco. You can keep a Common Pleco for maybe a couple years, but they'll get MUCH too large for a 55 gallon. BN stay around 6". Just be careful because they're used to lower PH levels.


Right, a BN or Rubberlip Pleco would be the best bet since they both max out around 5-7".


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

OK so I set up the tank yesterday and I got some fishes for it. I am going to get the fish Ghost Knife suggested. So far I got this:

2 Angelfish (1 black, 1 white)
6 Blue Gouramis

I plan to get: 
6 Gold Gouramis
6-8 Corydoras 
1 Bristlenose Pleco

Here are a few pics of the set up tank:
This is the tank and the stand all set up









The tank by itself









The angelfish









I couldnt get a good shot of one of the gourami


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Looks great b and be sure to keep us updated. I think you'll like the Gouramis as they are rather active. 

Is the water slightly cloudy or it is just me?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Thanks GK, I already like the gouramis, although they pick on my snail (I put him in there so I can get rid of the baby snails in my 20G). The snail isn't being hurt by them though.

The water is crystal clear. I'm just a poor photographer, so the pictures come out looking not so clear.

Also, when I was buying the angels, every store was selling them for $10 to $20. I went to the local pet store instead of the chains, and they were selling little ones for $5. So I bought those. I figure they will get bigger anyway.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

Everything looks pretty good! Yeah, fish stores will get you much better deals than chains most of the time. One thing I noticed, I know it's probably too late to correct but, your aquarium is right next to a window and that could cause large algae blooms. The BN Pleco should take care of that, but there may be times where it looks kind of nasty. Other than that good job!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It looks nice. You might add a blue or black background, but thats about it.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

I noticed you have a couple Emperor 400s for filtration and that's really good. Better to have too much than not enough.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

We have had a tank next to that window before. It takes a little more cleaning, but it will be OK.

Also the filters in the tank are Aqua Tech 30-60. They came with the tank.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

bmlbytes said:


> We have had a tank next to that window before. It takes a little more cleaning, but it will be OK.
> 
> Also the filters in the tank are Aqua Tech 30-60. They came with the tank.


Wow, they even have the same filter intakes as the Emperor 400.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

It has the same shape intake filter on it, but the intake tube is round on the Aqua Tech and the Emperor has a square shaped intake tube. They are similar in other ways though. The Aqua Tech will fit the refillable filter media that the Emperor takes, and it has 4 spaces for filter media (2 on each side).


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