# 55 Gallon stocking, ran out of ideas



## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

I am restocking my 55 gallon. I will have:

14 harlequin rasboras
4 green cories
1 blue gourami
8 ottos
1 striped raphael
2 kuhlii loaches

Couple things, ran out of ideas to finish it off. Secondly, how will the striped raphael fit in there? It's a moderately planted tank, I have a cave for him to hide in, but will he uproot the plants?


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Kuhli loaches really like to be in larger groups. I would suggest several more of them.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

That looks okay but make sure the rasboras are big enough so that the gourami cant eat them.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

The harlies are about 1" when I buy them, they won't grow much more, but the blue gourami will not be able to eat them. So the raphael shouldn't mess up the plants and other decor?


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## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

cucci67 said:


> The harlies are about 1" when I buy them, they won't grow much more, but the blue gourami will not be able to eat them. So the raphael shouldn't mess up the plants and other decor?


my Neons were all about an inch and my blue gourami picked them off 1 by 1 at night... Food for thought. pardon the punn


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

The difference is that neons have a very slender body shape which makes them easy food. Harlies are taller so they can not fit into the gourami's mouth. 

My other idea was to make a biotope tank, with only fish from asia. Only problem is I really want the raphael, cories, and ottos. I could replace the ottos with a siamese algae eater, but I think I am going to stick with the community tank.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

a rule of thumb is that if a fish can almost fit into a gourami or cichlids mouth, it will find a way to eat it. I saw my shubunkin eat a small fish that shouldve been too big for his mouth.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2006)

Do you have the blue gourami now? If so how big is it? Harlies are small, but I've seen them kept with angels with no problems. Try to buy the biggest ones you can (i understand that it may be hard to do that).

I have a 3.5in blue gourami and in that tank, a couple of my glowlight tetras are really small (a slim 1 inch), but he hasn't eaten them. I also have neons in with him, but they are bigger. He mostly chases the cories and the neons/glowlights...but only because he's a bully.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

The Blues at the LFS range from about 3-5", I was going to buy a smaller younger fish anyway. Don't worry the harlies are a good bit too big to be eaten. 

So, so far I want:
14 harlequin rasboras
4 green cories
1 blue gourami
8 ottos
1 striped raphael
2 kuhlii loaches
1 flying fox


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Ah! I love flying foxes! great call! that looks good
\


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## Ajreoandoeka (Aug 11, 2005)

I may be wrong on this, but shouldn't you be thinking about more cories? I believe I read they are best with 1 per 5 gallons of water, or at least that they prefer to be in groups of 5 or more. I may be wrong about the 1 per 5 gallons, but I am almost positive that they like to be in a group of 5 or more. I know for my 29g I am planning on getting 6. Other than that, I don't know much about the rest of the fish you plan on getting.

A friend of mine said when he added a blue gourami to his tank, it killed of all of his smaller fish, but that could also have been just one specific case, or it could have been something else. Just thought I'd let you know that I have heard of blue gouramis causing problems with smaller fish.


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## Dinsdale (Jul 26, 2006)

Yeah, what he said. You should add more cories. They will be so happy.


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2006)

Blue gouramis can be aggressive, but it looks to me like the other fish on his list will stay out of its way. The harlies are fast so they can get away from him and the others stay more towards the bottom. My blue gourami chases my neons, but they are slow. He doesn't hurt them though....I've never seen any damage to their fins.

I also agree that you should have more cories. You have the room! Go with atleast 6...you will see that they will enjoy having a bigger group.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Ok, thank you guys, so here is what I have at the moment.

2 harlies (2 ended up dieing)
1 blue gourami (3")
2 platies
4 cories
2 kuhliis
1 striped raphael (3")
1 female betta
2 ghost shrimp
a bunch of small apple snails waiting to grow out to sell

After this I want:
10-12 more harlies
2-6 more cories
1 flying fox
6-8 ottos

Do you guys think I have room for another school of fish, maybe some neons/glowlights? Or should I stick to just the harlies. I could cut downt eh harlie numbers to 10 to fit in another school. I like the looks of two schools in a tank.

The tank is moderately planted with java fern, anacharis, and a good bit of hornwort.


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## waynside (Aug 21, 2005)

i'm stocking mine right now...going to do a new 55 gal tank with: 

30 cardinal tetras
10 black neons
1 blue crowntail betta
5 harlequin rasboras
3 ottos
4 panda cories

probably going to get some ghost shrimp in there too...


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

That tank will look incredible, with 30 cardinals in there! Thats like a swarming mass of color zipping around the tank. Best of luck with that bro.


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## judya (Jan 23, 2005)

Several thoughts: --stock the tank slowly, so the biological bacteria have a chance to keep up. 
--Have a quarantine tank so any new arrivals don't bring in something that wipes everybody else out. 
--Put your first batch of fish in and let it run awhile - that way you can see where everybody swims and what it seems the community needs - more mid-water swimmers? top swimmers? and what color it seems to need. The tank doesn't have to be completely planned right away. You may find some other fish appeal to you over time.
--Grow some live plants - even if they're simpler ones like java moss/java fern. 
--Make sure you feed the fish at the bottom - either sinking pellets, or some flakes that get past the midwater swimmers and fall to the bottom.


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## super7 (Jul 24, 2006)

i would put some dwarf puffers in there and more loaches. the puffers might eat the ghost shrimp though so if they do get manta shrimp instead. I had dwarf and was breading them and i really enjoyed them.


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## super7 (Jul 24, 2006)

there is a pic of a dwarf puffer under my name, i forgot thought it was a cichlid


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

I would HIGHLY recommend NOT putting a dwarf puffer or any other kind of puffer in there. They are extremely territorial and extremely aggressive, surprisingly so for their size, and will almost certainly shred the fins of the other fish. Sorry, its terrible advice to suggest someone put puffers of any kind into a community tank.


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## waynside (Aug 21, 2005)

put in 10 cardinals two weeks ago...now about to add another set...


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