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About 2 weeks ago was when disaster struck my 55 gallon fish tank. And it was my fault. I was feeding them brine shrimp and I usually turn off the filters for some dumb reason to prevent all the shrimp from being sucked up. My friend was over and I got preoccupied and forgot to turn the filters back on. I lost 6 fish in all. Needless to say I won't ever be turning the filters off again unless its just for a second to change filter cartridges.

Anyways, on a bit happier note, there is room now for a couple more fish and I was thinking a couple american cichlids.

Current fish:
1 common pleco
1 bn pleco
2 clown loaches
1 green severum
1 firemouth

One of my local fish stores has some nice looking convicts, and I was thinking if they weren't too ill-tempered I'd like to have one. Would it terrorize my fish I have now? I have heard they can be pretty vicious at times, but I was thinking about just getting a female.

Also, if convicts won't work, what is a good colorful american that would work well?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Edit: On second thought, I don't really know if I want to deal with the aggresiveness of convicts (unless females are more docile) and am thinking now about blue acaras?? Input is definitely welcome about experiences with these fish.

Last edited by fishiedude at 15-Aug-2005 19:23

Last edited by fishiedude at 15-Aug-2005 19:29

how about increasing the clowns to 3 and drop the commom pleco?

just a suggestion

blue acaras should work great. a convict might work but its a little risky. They arent overly aggressive when not mating but thats still a good idea to skip them.

The common pleco and the clown loaches get too big for a 55 gallon. You would need a 120 gallon+ tank to keep a proper school of clown loaches and the common pleco. And convicts are only agressive during breeding if I am not mistaken.

I'd suggest adding these fish...

10 Diamond Tetras (used as dither fish)
1 Gold Nugget Pleco (or any other smaller plecos)
4 Blue Rams (make sure all are males or all are females...wouldn't want breeding going on in a tank like that)
And maybe 1 convict cichlid (females would probably be less agressive out of breeding)

So you would end up with....

1 Green Severum
1 BN Pleco
10 Diamond Tetras
1 Gold nugget Pleco (or other small pleco)
4 Blue Rams (all male or all female)
1 Firemouth Cichlid
1 Convict Cichlid (female...MAYBE)

I THINK that would be ok...but it might be a bit overstocked so the list might need to be played around with a bit.

I'm definitely not going to get rid of any of the fish I have now, and I do plan on getting one more clown loach. None of the fish I have there now are too big, the common pleco has pretty much stopped growing at about 9" and the clowns are still very, small under 3". By the time they get too big for my tank I will be long gone and at college. Right now all I'm thinking about is one or two fish to liven it up a little since most of my old fish are gone.

how about adding another sev or firemouth........or both, to give your current 2 friends?

Adding another severum would be overstocking the tank...and especially adding another severum AND firemouth.

Even though you may be going off to college soon...the common pleco definately needs to go back if he is 9 inches long. That is really big considering you ahve a severum that grows 8 inches in there and the pleco is a waste machine.

I don't think another male severum would be very good as the one I have probably wouldn't allow him in the tank, but would a female do okay, maybe a gold one?? They wouldn't become extremely territorial if they started breeding would they?

You can NOT have 2 severums in a 55 gallon...period...especially with 3 clown loaches, a 9 inch common pleco that has not stopped growing unless it is stunted and a firemouth cichlid. Too much bio-load and two 8 inch fish that are large bodied (not slender as you now...they are bulky) would be cramped in a 55. I don't care if you are going to college soon, those fish need to be removed from the 55 gallon now...the pleco definately now, the clown loaches will need to go when they hit about 6 inches each.

The 1 severum and 1 firemouth may stay...

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 16-Aug-2005 13:52

I think you can add another clown loach, coz they grow very very slowly, and will do well in ur 55 gal. You definitely want to do away with the pleco. You can add another convict if you wish, but add either one female, or a male, not a pair.

Have you thought of what you want to do with your fish once ur gone to college?

Ok, thanks for the help. I don't know what I'm going to do once I go to college, I don't have any friends with tanks to take them, so I'm not sure as of now.

Well, if you don't have anyone to take care of the fish while you are away, the only thing you really can do is take them back to the lfs before you head out.

Well, taking them to the lfs is one option, but I have a friend whos dad used to have fish and actually used to breed bettas, and he said some day he might want to get back into fish keeping. Maybe I can talk him into keeping them for me.