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I've had my 55 gallon tank filled with 7 lemon tetras, 1 pearl gourami, and 1 clown pleco for a year now and I've decided to complete it. I plan to have 20 lemon tetras, another clown and two pearl gouramis. What else could I have(No corydoras)?
EDIT: I forgot to add i will have 2 angels as well.

Last edited by Mkcube at 13-Jul-2005 13:53

How do you feel about loaches? You could have a small school of some sort of smaller loach like khulis or zebras to help fill out the bottom of your tank more.

What other sort of fish do you like?

Last edited by jenbabe256 at 13-Jul-2005 13:54

20 Lemon's, 3 Pearl Gourami's & 2 Clown Pleco's. You can add another school of Tetra's.

Why No Corydoras?.



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Didn't have much success with gourami's.

Corydoras are awesome though.

Last edited by kankushok at 13-Jul-2005 14:15

Thanks for responding. I forgot to add that this tank is heavily planted with fake plants(second-nature brand make them look vividly realistic) and is suffering from a green/black algae that is covering my plants(hair algae?). On a side note is there any way to deal with this problem short from taking all plants out and running them under hot water,etc?
Since the tank is heavily planted(only along sides, middle is open) does that affect the number of fish? So If I do have 2 angels, 20 lemons, 2 Pearl Gouramis, 2 clown plecos Is there enough room for another pearl and loaches? On that note how hardy are the smaller loaches? I do want the bottom activity to be high so Khuli loaches are out(always hiding under rocks,no?). Any others?
Corydoras are out as I have never had any success with them from my local lfs. They are always disease-ridden and die off within a couple of days. The ones that lived were always under the rock until feeding time(which was fun but still). The other reason is that my tank temperature tends to be in the 76-78 range, even higher during the summer months, and cories prefer cooler temperatures..

some nice loaches that add activity and aren't too big are striata loaches (Zebra or yellow-striped), yo-yo loaches (or pakistani loaches), and dwarf loaches. These loches are rare (from what I've heard, and the fact that I haven't seen any), but maybe your LFS can order some? I'm think about Zebra's for my 50, personally, and they are beautiful fish
Also, about corys in hot temps....my tank is always 76, and in the summer it can get to 80. There never are any problems with my emerald cats(very close relatives to corys)and they seem just as active. I'm sure corys would be fine in your tank.

Last edited by fairynr at 13-Jul-2005 19:26

After researching a bit, it seems that zebra loaches and yo-yo loaches are somewhat nippy during feeding time and to slow-moving long finned fish such as Angels and Gouramis. This will be a problem.. Anything else I could do/Is there some type of small-medium sized loach that isn't nippy?

Hi,
I keep several types of loaches in my 75g tank,
Yoyos, polka dot, queen, dojos, kuhli,
and I have never ever known them to be nippy
to my angels or discus.
They pretty much squabble only amongst themselves.
You would have no problem whatsoever with
loaches with your angels.


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I have zebra loaches with pearl gouramis and they never bother them at all. As long as you make sure to feed flakes for the top fish and some sort of pellet for the bottom feeders like your loaches, there should be no problem at all. My zebras tend to stick to themselves and definitely could care less about the qouramis.

You can get otto's (otocinclus) for the algae.

Are loaches aggressive towards other bottom dwellers such as the two clown plecos?

my loaches arent aggressive to my corys, plecos, or rams.
Loaches pretty much keep any aggression amongst themselves.
Polka Dot Botia, are one of the nicest botia out there in my opinion and very very peaceful. So are Queen botia.
Yoyos are much more active and flamboyant than either.
Heres a pic of my Polka Dot Botia:


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Ok. Thanks. You all have just about convinced me but will the loaches eat the cucumber and other vegetables I put in for the plecos?
EDIT: I did a bit of research on the Bengal Loach(Queen Botia) and was interested. How common are they in stores and under what name?

Last edited by Mkcube at 13-Jul-2005 23:30

Last edited by Mkcube at 13-Jul-2005 23:30

Yes loaches will usually snack a bit on veggies, but not so much that they would rob your plecos of the food.
Queen Loaches as I have seen are usually sold as Queens, but if you know what you are looking for, then it wont matter what name they are under.
They grow to about 6 inches, though are very slow growers.
Very very peaceful social fish. Way more peaceful than YoYos.
They should be pretty common as they breed readily in captivity, and would probably run you around 3-5 dollars each.


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Sneaky_Pete, do loaches need to have caves to sleep in? I do have two pieces of driftwood but they would probably only fit one loach once it grows to 6 inches.. Plus my plecos are inhabiting them right now. Since they do grow to such a size. Would this stock work out or am I going overboard?: 20 lemon tetras, 2 Pearl Gouramis, 2 Clown plecos, 2 Angelfish, 4 Queen Loaches?

I think that stock would be fine.
Yes loaches prefer to have hiding places
For mine I have some driftwood caves, and a pair of rock caves, that are all quite large, and my loaches, plecos, and corys all share and hang out together in the hideouts.
Heres a pic of a gathering:

And one of Queen Loach and Upside Down Catfish
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