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Hi all,
I haven't been here in quite awhile, but I'm back for some advice.... I have a 55 gal that was nicely stocked up until a little over a month ago... then we had a power outage while we were out of town, according to the neighbors, the power was off at our house for almost 3 days... then the power came back on... one filter apparantly wasn't working, and the other spewed all that lovely stagnant gunky water right back into the tank when it kicked on.... Not suprisingly, we came home to a LOT of dead fish (and apparantly their tank mates ate quite a few as well)...

So I'd like to start over again, we've fixed the filters, changed the water, cycle'd the tank and have all the parameters back to "normal" levels.... I have a very odd assortment of fish left, and have plans on giving most of them away to friends with compatible tank mates....

What we have left after the power outage are:
1 clown loach (lost 2)
1 serpae tetra (lost 5)
3 black skirt tetras (lost 3)
0 rosy barbs (lost 5)
0 pleco (lost 2 ... definitely need another, too much algae on the glass!)
1 Leporinus (don't ask why he's in the tank, LFS said it was a peaceful community tank fish, LOL)

the clown loach shoul have a new home here in a day or two, as well as the tetra's ....

I'm thinking of keeping the Leporinus and changing the tank to an aggressive chiclid tank.... we'd like to have at least a couple of colorful fish in the tank (like electric yellow's that we've seen at the LFS) but I'd love some advice on how to stock my tank....

55 gal US running 2 Aqua Clear 300's for filtration....

Thanks guys!!!

so basically you are going to keep your Leporinus that will grow up to a foot in legnth and you are going to get another pleco that is also going to grow to be a foot in legnth.

here is some info on your Leporinus
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile1.html
lot of info on cichlids and their set ups...got this from on of the threads in the cichlid forum
http://http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rift_lake_setup.php/

I have no one to take the Leporinus, except the LFS that sold him to me, but they wont' take him back for a few years until he is much bigger they said.... so I'm keeping him, rather than euthanize him....

I'm open to suggestion re: the pleco.... I need some sort of algae eater than likes to clean the glass... pleco's are about all you can get around here.... please suggest other options, I'm open to anything... also the LFS recommends the Pleco's b/c they like buying them back in a few years when they have reached a larger size....

Otocinclus (ottos) are from what I hear great alge eaters and don't get too big...
don't know how they will fare with a much larger Leporinus, probebly not to well.

don't get me wrong plecos are great for alge consumption I have one in my 55 gallon. And if the LFS will buy it back then that would be cool.
If you are set with the cichlid tank idea then you may want to repost in the cichlid central forum on this site.

I did a quick search and found these threads directly related to stocking a 55 gallon tank with cichlids lots of good suggestions. Take alook

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/22517.1.htm?3#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/27146.1.htm?3#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/23994.1.htm?8#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/1680.1.htm?7#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/22872.1.htm?3#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/4427.1.htm?7#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/23357.1.htm?3#
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/22157.1.htm?5#

Thank you!

Do you have suggestions for something other than a cichlid tank?

You dont have to have algae eater in a tank. Nothing beats an algae magnet. Maintaining a tank properly and you may not end up with algae at all.

You might consider MTS as algae eaters for the tank. They stay small, dont harm plants, and are useful in helping keeping the substrate turned over.

^_^

I do have a magnetic algae cleaner, however it doesn't work on the silk plants or the rock formations..... We get direct sunlight on the tank each day, so algae is inevitable.... Thanks for the tip on the snails! I'll check and see if they are available at the LFS...

I keep a RubberLipped Pleco in with my Mbunas in a 46g, and they do all right. Ive also heard rapheal cats do well with agressive chichlids, because they arn't very active and mind there own buissiness. Just remember to give them a lot of space and they'll be okay

Inky

no luck on the snails... only thing they carry are the pleco's