# potential stock for 55 gallon



## tyger_eyes (Mar 11, 2010)

got my new "used" 55 gallon cleaned out (new hood and filter, marineland penguin 350). i will be adding black tahitian moon sand as a substrate today, 2 20 lb bags outta do it. still need a heater, getting today also, 200 watt should be good for this tank i think. all i am going to add today is the substrate as i hear it takes a day or so for the cloudyness to leave the water, even if you rinse it good which i plan on doing. after all the cloudyness is gone i will decorate, rocks, driftwood, fake plants (lot of hiding places). just listing all this so i can get advice if i am doing something horribly wrong.

as for stock, i will be cycling with tetra either x ray, bleeding heart, or serpae (8-10). after fully cycled i will add one other shoal of one of the other option for a total of two shoals. next i want to add a pair of german blue rams(about two weeks after cycling) then a pair of kribs (a week after the rams). lastly i will be moving two clown loaches into this tank, i know i will need to move them to a larger one eventually. but they are very small right now and should be fine.

now my lfs just got in some panda corys from a local guy who breeds them. i would love to add these to the tank but have heard that kribs and rams like the bottom of the tank as would the corys. i do not want to add them to the tank if it would cause the corys to get beat up during breeding time. is there another bottom dweller who the kribs would not bother if the corys wont work.

also i have a livebearer tank with three platys, two guppies, and four peppered corys. would adding the pandas to this tank be possible? if the tank with the kirbs will not work out.

advice on any of what i have written would be appreciated


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## Quintin117 (Oct 19, 2008)

If you are looking for a peaceful bottom dweller, an oto might work.
They are small and should mind themselves.
And I suggest using bleeding heart tetras for the cycling( Because they look cool), but it's your decision. I would suggest tiger barbs but they are kind of aggresive, and would pick on your blue ram in the future.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2010)

sounds like a well thought out plan. and yes, the cory might be subjected to a beating once the rams or kribs get into breeding mode.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2010)

Quint....i wouldnt agree. infact, the barbs will get beaten up properly if they messed with the rams. seen this happen in the past when i 1st got into cichlids. the barbs learnt fast enough though. more over, if you keep enough barbs in a tank, they will pretty much stick to them selves.


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## Quintin117 (Oct 19, 2008)

I used to have a Blue ram. It was doing fine until the filter broke for the tank. I couldn't get it fixed soon enough, so I eventually had to put it in my other tank. There was a school of 6 tiger barbs in it, so I thought they would just mind themselves. They ended up picking on the ram and killing it.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2010)

weird. i had 6 as well. went down to 5 once my male beat the crap out of one of them and the rest stayed away from the rams for good. moved them to the 25 with my firemouths and they stayed FAR away from the firemouths.


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## tyger_eyes (Mar 11, 2010)

not a huge fan of the tiger barbs so probably wouldn't get any. but i do want the panda corys. if they would get beat up too bad in a tank with kribs, how about putting four or five in my livebearer tank: 3 plattys, two guppies, and four peppered corys.


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2010)

how big is the livebearer tank?


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## tyger_eyes (Mar 11, 2010)

sorry, i forgot about that. its a 37 gallon tank.


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