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I know these questions come up loads so I apologise in advance.

I've done a fair amount of reading and think I have a rough idea of the setup I want to go for, but I wanted to run it past the experts first.

I'm looking to setup a tropical freshwater tank. The tank is about 50 gallons, with a surface area of 92cm x 41cm. The combination of fish I was thinking would be along the lines of

1 x Bristlenose Plec
3 x Cories (Bronze or similar)
2 x Rams
2 x Dwarf Gourami or 1 x Paradise Gourami

This is where it gets a little tricky. I then want to include some small fun, colourful mid level swimmers and was thinking along the lines of Tetras, Barbs or Danios. For instance, I could go for
5 x Zebra Danios
5 x Bloodfin Tetras

Although I do rather like the Tiger Barb, or even the Cherry Barb.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jay

Well, my advice would be to increase the numbers of the schooling fish. Instead of just 3 cories, get 6, and instead of just 5 tetras/danios/barbs, get 12. The larger schools will look better and show more natural schooling behavior, making the fish happier.
Don't add all the fish at once. Go to the LFS and get one or two types of fish, bring them home to acclimate and see how they do for at least a week or two. Then go back to the LFS and get your second batch of fish, acclimate, wait at least one week, and repeat until your tank is stocked the way you want it. Adding too many fish at once can raise the ammonia in the tank to dangerous levels.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

My eleven and a half cents:

You definitely need to get a minimum of 6 cories. 8 would be better.

You do not want to put tiger barbs and gouramis in the same tank. And honestly I'm not sure how tb's and rams would do in the same tank - the rams require a different type of water chemistry.

To repeat what illustrae said, you definitely need to go with larger numbers of the danios and or tetras. A bare minimum of 8 in both cases, preferably 12-15.

Listen! Do you smell that?

Cheers for the response guys.

So based on what you are saying I could for something like

1 x Bristlenose Plec
6 x Cories (Bronze or similar)
1 x Paradise Gourami
12 x Tetras/Danios

However, wouldn't that already be overstocking the tank?

Looking further at the profiles, I can see that the Rams might be a little tricky to keep. Bit of a pity because I thought they were really nice looking fish. Got any other suggestions of something similar?

Bit tricky trying to make sure you get a nice balance that's good for the fish

That's not overstocked for a 50g.

Even with your last list you could still add a pair of pair of cherry barbs for a bit of different color in the tank.

Another gourami option would be pearls. You could have more than one in that sized tank.

I've always kept rams by themselves. They prefer a lower pH and higher temp. Have you considered an angel as a centerpiece?

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Oh, that would be far from overstocking. Without going into the "inch per gallon" debate, you need to look at the bioload you're putting on the filter and the surface area of the water.

With the stocking you last listed, your biggest bioload would come from the pleco. The cories and tetras/danios have a relatively small bioload each, so the groups of 6 and 12 would effectively have the same bioload as 3 more plecos in the tank. You'd actually be at about 2/3 capacity for the tank, including the gourami.



Listen! Do you smell that?

My few cents...
Don't go with the danios
Go ahead with everything else
Maybe some Neons instead of the Angelfish

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

I Agree with ShadowTBL skip the danios. Though they are extremely active they are not the most colorful of fish. Tetras or some Harlequin Rasboras would look better. Danios are pigs too. They will eat anything placed in the tank including the bottom feeders food, before they can get to it.

Sounds like it is shaping up to be a great stocking list.
Good luck!

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

As a big fan of Danios i would say keep them but only the Zebra Variation. The blue streak looks nice. Also you can always add Glo Red Danios for that nice pink look also I have seen them in electric yellow and e blue. Now this would depend on how you feel about genetically alter fish personally i think the no alter fish are beautiful

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck