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Well as some people know I setup my new 55 gallon planted tank a month ago. It has been going along GREAT so far and I am very happy with the way it looks. I anm planning on adding lots more plants though as right now it just has anubias,ancharis,and java moss. It has a some arrangments of large and small rocks along with a medium size peice of driftwood. The current stocking is:
Bolivian Ram pair
Blue Ram pair
11 panda corys
11 platies


So total I have 29 fish in th tank.

I have no problem with parameters, water is crystal clear, and the only aggression is from the male bolivian when there is food in the tank lol

I just wanted to know if I am fine right now as far as stocking goes or could i maybe get a few more fish? I was planning on getting otos also

But just some insight as to what I would like....I have fallen in love with small cichlids....and/or maybe a school of tetras,barbs,rasboras. Also maybe dwarf gouramis? Thanks for the help!

Anyone have any ideas?

I would like to get a trio of apistos, and 5 tiger barbs. Does this sound good to finish off the tank?

Hi,
Honestly, I'd find a new home for the platies and the
molly. They prefer water with salt in it, not quite
truly brackish, but almost. The other fish might not
tolerate that amount of salt.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I have never heard of platies needing salt and mine are very healthy and breeding. I mean I respect your advice but I have no intention of finding a new home for my platies they are perfectly fine. As for the molly she found a new home today with a freind who set up a brackish tank a few months ago and was looking for a few new fish. I dont have salt in the tank and like I said everyone is fine. Thank you for the reply though FRANK.

I have to respectfully disagree, Frank.
Neither platies nor mollies, at least the commercially
bred ones, require any salt whatsoever in their water.
These fish are bred in fresh water, live in freshwater, and have been kept that way for at least the past 30 years in aquariums.
Perhaps wild caught ones found in estuarine or brackish
waters naturally should be kept in such, but even mollies, guppies, and platies all come from areas of pure freshwater as well, so I dont really think its necessary unless said fish are wild caught, and were found in brackish/saltwater conditions.

As for stocking, I really dont think tiger barbs would be a good mix with the peaceful fish you have.
A trio of apistos should be fine, and perhaps you may
want to look for a peaceful, non-nippy schooling fish, aside from Tiger barbs.
I recently acquired a school of 7 Lambchop Rasbora (T. Espei), for my 10g tank, and these little fish are amazing.
I could only imagine how nice a group of 15-30 would look in a big tank.
I would say 10-15 T. Espei would equal the bioload of 5 tiger barbs.


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Thank you for the reply Sneaky.
I aws thinking of harlequins or espi when I was first thinking of the stock but I avoided them as I didnt want such a large school of fish...I dont want my tank to look too crazy. Any suggestions for a fish that will be happy with about 5 or so other schooling mates?
Thanks for the help everyone!!!

Hi,
I agree that you can keep those fish without salt as I know
folks who have. However, when I did a search on the
Internet for that specific fish, I found no less than 10
pages of references, all recommending the addition of small
amounts of salt for those and some other livebearers.

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/fish/Platys.pdf

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~catshaman/aqua/aqua2.htm

http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/livebearers/livebearers.htm

http://www.bestfish.com/blushts.html

I would not recomend bringing the tank up to the
recommended amount of salt over night, but I would advise
doing it slowly, a week at a time. For a long life, and
full color, the addition of some small amount of salt aids
these particular fish.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thank you FRANK. I dont plan on adding any salt to my tank though. It wont be good for my plants or any of the other fish. Like I said before I have a happy, healthy, breeding colony of platies who have never tasted salt in thier life and I have had no problems with them. I know by rams would not like the salt either. Any suggestions as far as the stocking goes FRANK. I am gald you are replying to my post though.

I think that you should add a small group of 3 yoyo loaches instead of the tiger barbs. They are so fun to watch.

-Vincent

I was thinking a trio of dwarf gouramis and a trio of apistos. Does this sound good to finish off my tank?

that sounds good to me, I used to have two trios of dwarf gourami's in my 55 until that dwarf gourami disease wiped them out. Make sure that yours are very healthy and from a good source before you buy them.

-Vincent

I think that if you added any more cichlids (even dwarfs) to that tank you would have problems.
I am guessing that you have a four foot tank. At the moment you have two pairs of cichlids. You may not have any issues now, but if either or both of those pairs decide to breed, each pair will defend an area of about two feet square. This is a push even in a four foot tank.
To add another pair or trio in the mix will end up most likely in death by harrassment.
Although you have plenty of room in your tank, all these cichlids live on or close to the bottom and will cause dramas.
Good luck

Thank you for your comment Dave. I have a male bolivian ram and a female bolivian ram. The male gaurds a large peice of driftwood in the middle and the female the far far left side of the tank. The male blue ram stays around the rock feature while the female blue ram stays around the female bolivian. So I guess I see your point Dave. So right now it just looks like a trio of gouramis. Any other suggestions?? thank you all.

i'd just like to agree with the previous post - a trio of apistos, even the most benign of them, will get all nasty if they decide to breed. i keep agassizii and cacatuoides in a 6 ft and 4 ft tank respectively, and the females still squabble over space, breeding sites etc. you have a lot of bottom dwellers - so i think if you're gonna add more fish, go for the gouramis. or, have you thought of a very small species, eg ember tetras? you could add 5 - 10 embers without any probs, i think.

justin

How about angelfish? Would they be ok? I was thinking them along with tthe gouramis. But would they not be good with my rams? I know I am getting gouramis but I am not sure yoet about the other fish.

Editted because i have no idea what im talkign about.

A pair of angels would do just fine in that tank.


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Ok thank you SoVerySneaky. So it looks like I will be getting a trio of dwarf gouramis and duo of angelfish lol. Thank you all for the help and if anyone else has anymore suggestions the would be greatly appreciated.