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Greetings! I had posted about a new 55 gallon a little while ago. Kind of stuck on what i want to do from this point.

Current Stock:
8 Red Tail Rasboras (blackline?) Rasbora borapetensis
1 Firemouth Cichlid - juvenile
3 Yo Yo Loaches
2 SAEs
2 Bolivian Rams (mature)
6 peppered cories (going to probably get 2 more)

I just moved out 2 mature three spot gouramis to a new home with a family member and think i have some room now for something else. Festivums and keyholes were suggested before. Any oddballs that would fit into this tank?

I do worry about my rams with the firemouth. My male ram is almost always on peacock display because of the firemouth who is just barely smaller than the ram.

As always you opinions are appreciated.

I would probely get rid of the Firemouth because in time it will get aggressive towards the rams. As the bottom area of you're tank is pretty much full I would only suggest getting 1 or 2 more cichlids, like the keyholes, kribs or more rams. Unless you like the idea of Angels, they will stay mid-water. But what I would suggest is maybe getting some more schooling fish such as some black skirt tetras,rummy nose, or 5-6 Congo tetras. But really the list is endless for good schooling fish.

My recommendations:

[1] Increase the size of the Rasbora borapetensis school to 16. Believe me, when you see a decent sized school of fishes such as this, you'll NEVER want to go back to small schools ever again! Plus, you'll have a decent gene pool to work with if you want to spawn them. My Braz Walker pocket book recommends using 2 males to 1 female for optimum results when spawning, and plenty of fine leaved plants plus an egg trap of some kind, as the parents are fairly enthusiastic egg eaters.

[2] Bump up the Corys to 8 or 10.

[3] Rehouse the Firemouth. This fish will cause serious problems once it piles on some body mass, it's the most potentially aggressive fish in your setup by a wide margin.

[4] If you're looking for something to occupy the upper layers, possibly to dwell just beneath the surface, try Marbled Hatchets. Since they stay small (around one and a half inches), you could have 12 in there. However, bear in mind that these ARE freshwater flying fishes, and WILL jump if left uncovered - actually, they won't so much jump as go on miniature ICBM flights across your living room if you're not especially careful with keeping them covered, but this is their only major disadvantage, and one that you can plan ahead for.

[5] If at all possible, I would consider setting up a species aquarium for your Bolivian Rams so that they can spawn in peace if they are a true male/female pair. Do that, and you would have room for something different in your 55 Cichlid wise - apart from my usual recommendations of Laetacara curviceps and Anomalochromis thomasi as Cichlids that are nice and peaceful (by usual Cichlid standards they're pacifists akin to Quakers, which should give you an idea how mellow they are) you could also try Apistogramma panduro, a nice small Dwarf Cichlid that has the additional advantage (apart from small size) of being visibly VERY sexually dimorphic even as juveniles, allowing you to pick out males and females to order from the word 'go'.

By the time you've followed steps [1] to [5], consider the 55 stocked.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I can move the RAMs I have an empty tank at the moment that they were in so thats not really an issue. Otherwise people on this forum suggested the firemouth with the rest of those fish. Noone corrected this suggestion at the time... I did not have the rams in this tank at that time so i will probably just move them back into their old 20 gallon.

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