I'm planning on finally stocking my 55 gallon tank. I haven't had a tank in a while, so since I don't have any established media to throw in, I'm going to use Bio-Spira. The filter has been running in the empty tank for just over 24 hours with Prime water conditioner, and when I took the water to the LFS for testing the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were all fine, but we're in an area with high ph, so tonight I added Seachem's Neutral Regulator and then I'll stock tomorrow. But I have a couple questions about stocking and details on the Bio-Spira.
First of all, here is what I would eventually like to have in the tank:
5 or 6 Mollies (probably gold dust which apparently stay at about 2 1/2")
5 or 6 Platys
6 Danios (either zebra or glofish, not the giant ones)
1 Angel (I'll add it later)
1 Male Betta (I'll keep an eye out for fin nipping and move if necessary)
2? Pictus Catfish
1 Bristlenose Placo (if I can find one)
So, does this seem generally ok? Not overstocked and seem like they will play well with each other? I won't have any fish small enough for the pictus to eat, and I'll move the Betta if there are issues. I have successfully had all of these in a community tank before, with the exception of the Betta, and the pleco was a standard, not a bristlenose, before. I also had a silvertip shark, and everyone got along fine. I'm skipping the shark this time because I don't want to have to deal with any fish that are potentially giant, although the last one stayed at 4 or 5" inches and got along well with everyone else.
My next question is about the Bio-Spira. When I add it tomorrow, how many fish should I add with it? Sources vary, even at the same store, between 1 school of about 6, 2 or 3 schools of 5 or 6, or a full load. I know I don't want to do the full load, but I'm thinking of adding in the Danios and the Platys with it to give it some ammonia to work with. Does this seem reasonable? And I should NOT do a water change for about a week or two, correct? And then once everything has dropped back down to 0 I can gradually add in the other fish, right?
Sorry to ask so many questions, I've done so much research and talked to so many people that my eyes are tired, and I think my ideas are ok, but I just wanted to run them by everyone one more time before I commit to stocking. Thanks so much for reading my lengthy post.
First of all, here is what I would eventually like to have in the tank:
5 or 6 Mollies (probably gold dust which apparently stay at about 2 1/2")
5 or 6 Platys
6 Danios (either zebra or glofish, not the giant ones)
1 Angel (I'll add it later)
1 Male Betta (I'll keep an eye out for fin nipping and move if necessary)
2? Pictus Catfish
1 Bristlenose Placo (if I can find one)
So, does this seem generally ok? Not overstocked and seem like they will play well with each other? I won't have any fish small enough for the pictus to eat, and I'll move the Betta if there are issues. I have successfully had all of these in a community tank before, with the exception of the Betta, and the pleco was a standard, not a bristlenose, before. I also had a silvertip shark, and everyone got along fine. I'm skipping the shark this time because I don't want to have to deal with any fish that are potentially giant, although the last one stayed at 4 or 5" inches and got along well with everyone else.
My next question is about the Bio-Spira. When I add it tomorrow, how many fish should I add with it? Sources vary, even at the same store, between 1 school of about 6, 2 or 3 schools of 5 or 6, or a full load. I know I don't want to do the full load, but I'm thinking of adding in the Danios and the Platys with it to give it some ammonia to work with. Does this seem reasonable? And I should NOT do a water change for about a week or two, correct? And then once everything has dropped back down to 0 I can gradually add in the other fish, right?
Sorry to ask so many questions, I've done so much research and talked to so many people that my eyes are tired, and I think my ideas are ok, but I just wanted to run them by everyone one more time before I commit to stocking. Thanks so much for reading my lengthy post.
