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I want to add something to my 55, preferably some mid to top level fish. I'm not extremely fond of gouramis and the Bettas I had on hand couldn't stand the filter.

Current stock: 7 Serpae Tetras, 9 Tiger Barbs, 4 Ottos, 6 Julii Cories, 2 Bolivian Rams & a Guppy

Wanted to get another pair of rams and call it even, but the LFS hasn't been stocking them and I'd prefer something for the upper levels

Here's the tank (keep in mind, these pictures are over a month old, the tanks been rearranged, and then plant density has tripled):

http://imperialpraxium.org/~kitty/Tank55/

What about some kind of danio? They are top dwellers. Pearl danios would look nice. Maybe 6 pearls or you could try zebra or leopard.

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If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

oooh, now I like those pearl danios, never gave those much thought ^_^*

Would a school of 6 be overstocking though?

Danios are a good idea, or have you looked into hatchet fish? They're top dwelling schooling fish, most commonly found in the silver variety. You can also dind a marble version. They have a unique body shape and become more and more intriguing every time I see them in a LFS. A school of 6-8 of them would be a nice addition.

HTH

><>Dani<><

I could be wrong, but I don't think it would be overstocking to add 6 pearl danios and 6 hatchets. But, I would add them 4 weeks apart. The only thing is I don't know if the tiger barbs will wreak havoc on the hatchets. I know the danios will dance cirlces around the barbs

What are the dimensions of the the tank? We can do a quick figure using the surface area rule.

Length x Width, then divide that by 12 (in inches). This gives you the maximum number of adult fish inches you can have in your tank. Its a pretty good rule for the type of fish you have. It does not apply to goldfish, angelfish, sharks, oscars, most cichlids in general, and other specialty fish (clown knifes, etc.).

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Jan-2005 15:16

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Jan-2005 15:16

That gives me about 52 inches of fish... And I currently have...

2.7 x 9 tiger barbs
1.3 x 7 serpae tetras
2.1 x 2 bolivian rams
1.5 x 4 julii cories
1.9 x 4 ottos
1.9 x 1 guppy

for a total of 53.1 inches of adult fish currently -.-

it IS heavily planted though... A school of six danios would be another 12-14 inches...

Last edited by Sandy02 at 30-Jan-2005 18:10

Are you sure its only 52? What are the length and width of a 55? I've never kept track. Is it a bowfront or rectangular?

If it is a bowfront, give me the width at the ends and the width at the center. I can calculate the surface area with that.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Jan-2005 18:28

its 48"L x 13"W x 21"H, and its rectangular

A 55g is quite narrow for a 4' tank. I'd only add 1 more school especially since most of those fish will be swimming all about together. I find 8 congo tetras to pretty much use up the middle-top swimming area in my 55g. I'd stick to 1 school or 2 schools of small fish in a 55g and then bottom dwellers and algae eaters. If your fish don't really use the top though and you have enough biological filter a school of danios would probably work but if it was me I'd only add 1 4" or so fish or something like the rams instead of another school.

I just got black neons and the guy at the lfs told me they were very hardy, and they have awesome color! They are an awesome fish for the time that i have had them and they are fun to watch and a little more colorful than zebra danios!

With those dimensions, forget about my earlier suggestion . You are right about the 52 inches. With plants you can overstock slightly.

Ah well... I guess I'll just go with two more rams or a dwarf gourami (2 maybe?)