new fish opinions

[jiggerpolebill]

my tank is getting close to the end of cycling and im wondering what type of fish i should get next. it was started on 07/20, so should my next selection be a scavenger of some type or is it too soon for them? im not noticing any algea build-ups, or maybe im just not seeing them. should there be a significant amount now? ive been doing 40-45% water changes weekly. its a 55g tank. its been cycled with 7 zebra danios. my last water test for KH and GH was on 08/10 and the results were:
 
 KH - 233ppm or 13dKH
 GH - 412ppm or 23dGH

which species would do well in this tank? pH is consistanly 7.6 and water temp is consistantly 76F. i was thinking about some cories or loaches, but i know loaches get rather large and should be kept in small schools so i dont know if i'll go that route or not. this will be a community tank and im planning on 2 more schools of small fish, maybe a pair of gouramis, some scavengers and possibly a krib for one big fish.
any and all opinions and advice would be appreciated.

 

[Rune]

You could do lots of things with this tank! That's why large tanks are a blessing.
If it were *my* tank...which it's not....*grumbles*...anyway, I'd probably add some clown loaches--they're adorable and sleep in a pile. Maybe some angelfish, if you like them. They need groups of four or five, upwards of six being best. They're beautiful. You could also use gouramis, or have a small school of danios. If you heavily plant the tank and add some livebearers like platies and guppies, you'd have more fish very soon. It's really up to you! there's so much you could do.
Let us know what you pick!
Also, 40% water changes are way too much. All that new water will shock the fish and kill your beneficial bacteria! You just got done cycling, I don't think you want to do it again. ^^
Try twenty five percent. Much safer. You could do it twice a week and it'd be about the same amount.
No, there' shouldn't be much algae....there really doesn't have to be any at all. If there is then the tank either gets too much sunlight or too much food. You might get a little algae but it should be easily controlled by scraping. If you add plants you're much less likely to have algae, as they compete for food.
I think cories would be very nice. They're friendly and cute.
You don't need a scavenger. Were you talking like an algae eating one? If so you'd need to supplement it's diet with fresh greens and algae wafers, since you don't have any algae. You should do that anyway, though. Don't get chinese algae eaters that are commonly found in pet stores. They get huge and don't eat much algae, generally preferring to latch onto your fish.
Oh, I think tetras would be very nice. Maybe a small school(7-8) of silvertips or head and tail light.

 

[Pooky125]

For small fish, how about a school of corys, say, 3-5, a school of black neon tetras, 3-6, a school or cardinal tetras, 3-6, a school of lemon tetras, 3-6, and a pair of dwarf gouramis if you can find them, the females are almost impossible to find, so, u might be better off with just one, 1 as I believe most males will fight with eachother. As for algae, your always going to have it, wait a few months, and get a trio of otos for it, there small, and are great algae eaters, and will not suck on the sides of ur other fish.

For water changes, hes right, waay to much, how about 20% once a week, that should be more the adequit for such a small bioload. U might even be able to get away with 10%

 

[jiggerpolebill]

ok, ill try cutting back on the % of water on the water changes. i suppose that could be the reason that its taking so long to finish cycling. for the last 7 days straight, my numbers havent changed:

ammonia - 0
nitrite - 1.0ppm
nitrate - 10ppm

consistent pH and temp. so im still waiting on those nitrites to fall. thanks for the suggestions. i was considering dwarf gouramis, but as ive read some more info on this species of gouramis, they are suseptible to a certain disease that can easily spread and wipe out your entire tank. if i can find the link again on it, i'll post it. so i may go with a different species like maybe opaline. i really like the dwarfs coloring though. i was thinking of adding another school of danios like long-finned leopard or long-finned blue because i really like them too, but i dont want to make the tank too hyper for the rest of the inhabitants. cardinals and black neons are definately on the ballot. ive also started considering platies and mollies, platies especially. are danios rather nippy? i dont want to make the mistake of putting something in long-finned if its going to constantly be harrassed. one more thing, what about a couple of female bettas? or would they be stressed out in a tank this active? thanks again for the input.

 

[Pooky125]

No, don't think danios are nippy.. and bettas should be ok.. but, I'd only get one or 2.. can get kinda aggressive with others of there own kind..

 

[Rune]

Bettas don't usually do well with gouramis, they are too closely related. Danios can be nippy, but if you have a small school they usually keep each other busy. It's not really usually a problem.
I wouldn't go with mollies except in an all-livebearer tank--they usually need some marine salt(brackish conditions) or they get slimy patches and ich easily. Platies and guppies and swordtails should be fine though.
What was said about females dwarf gouramis being hard to find--actually they're not. The breeders just use hormones on the fish to brighten their colours, so they all look like males. Poor things. That's why I wouldn't buy any.
Here's a good tank, in my opinion:
Two or three(remember, you'll have more very soon) of each swordtails and platies, three corey cats, five or six danios, and maybe a dwarf gourami. I go by the vague rule of one inch of fish--adult size--per gallon.
Oh, cardinals and neons are very disease susceptible, they get something called Neon Tetra Disease, which is untreatable and will spread to your other fish. Not a good beginner fish, but okay if you want to watch them carefully and you have soft, acidic water. I know you don't have acidic water, and I don't know what kh/gh is considered soft.

 

[Pooky125]

For starters, I have a male betta, and 3 male gouramis, plus a female all in one tank with no problems. I also keep mollys with out aquarium salt, all of which are doing quite well. One more thing, I have 3 neons in very hard (tap) water with a pretty high Ph, and so far, no unacounted for deaths. If you acclimate them to hard water, they should do fine. Granted, they prefure soft water, but, they should survive in soft water. On the other side of the scale, I have kept live bearers in soft water, with no adverse reactions... HTH

 

[clothahump]

Oh, cardinals and neons are very disease susceptible, they get something called Neon Tetra Disease,

I really would like to know where you are getting your information Rune.
Neon Tetra Disease is so called as it was first identified in Neons, it affects all species of fish not just Neons and Cardinals.
http://www.eheim-uk.com/disease.asp

 

[luvfishies]

Your water is very hard. I would make sure that any fish you get are locally raised or have been acclimated very very gradually.

40% waterchanges are not too much. Your beneficial bacteria are on all surfaces of the tank, concentrated in the filter, so changing water will not de-cycle the tank. You're still cycling (nitrite reading over 0 indicates this), so all changing water is doing is slowing things down.

what is the pH/KH/GH in the tank before waterchanges? If those values are close to the tapwater values, go ahead and change water with no fear of stressing the fish.

 

[Rune]

I really would like to know where you are getting your information Rune.

I never said that only neons and cardinals are affected, only that they are susceptible. Usually a little more so than other tetras.
My information is gathered from various websites and books.

 

[clothahump]

It was not an attack on you Rune, it was the way it reads that confused me.

 

[sweetpickles7]

First off i would just have one giant school instead of a bunch of small schools[in my opinion it looks alot better].Then you said that you liked kribs so you could do a pair of those.Then a small group of cories,and then maybe some type of centerpiece fish.Just make sure its not big enough to were it would eat your tetras.

 

[sweetpickles7]

Or you could add some livebearers instead of a centerpiece fish.

 

[Seleya]

ROTFL, this thread is nearly 5 yrs old....