# 55 Gallon project



## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Well I have been sitting on this 55 for about 6 months...I was going to pu tmy solotary spilo in there but Now im thinking I would like a VERY BRIGHT and COLORFUL planted tank.

Can anyone give me suggestions?
I was thinking Cichlids.
I also do NOT want to have to worry about upgrading any time soon.

Help a brother out here guys!

Thanks for any suggestions.....Im thinking no Piranhas this time.


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## Pit_man (Sep 13, 2008)

If it was me, I would like a tank of blue and gold rams. I think these are very nice.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Thats funny...I would like Rams..I hear they are fairly particular with the water params though.


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## Curley (Aug 4, 2004)

I have kept Rams off and on for about 5 years now. They are by pound for pound the most colorful fish salt or fresh when healthy and happy. They however are picky about parameters but for the price you can replace fairly cheap compared to most fish. They are very rewarding and have great personality. Look into Apisto Grammits(sp) also, they are sick looking and are also picky. Both these fish breed pretty easy and before you know it will have a tank full of color. Also Brazillian Rams are great...Only thing about these fish is they only live for about a year.

If I were you I would go with Discus! I have a 100 gallon with discus fully planted and its a living room show piece. I get more questions about it then any other tank I have. Just some thoughts...

Iam in the same boat as you with a spare 55 gallon cycling right now. Not sure what I want to do with it. I kind of want to do the malawai Cichlid thing. Cheap fish with great color... Keep me updated as I want to look into options also...


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## ICEE (Feb 3, 2007)

you always post your fish sh*t in the lounge.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

cichlids love to destroy plants in my experience and they have even destroyed rock decorations by moving substrate around. i think discus, angels, and tetras would be a nice choice with maybe some cherry shrimp, corys or something going on for some bottom level movement and maybe some hatchets at the top.


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## Pit_man (Sep 13, 2008)

If you wanna try to keep the Rams I found this,

Caring for German Blue Rams
The German blue ram is not a suitable fish for newly set up aquariums; wait until the aquarium have been inhabited for quite a while and contains a thriving population of beneficial bacteria. You must also carry out frequent water changes and install adequate filtration. Wild German blue rams are typically found in areas with slow-flowing water, so vigorous water movements are not recommended in the aquarium.

Try to resemble the natural environment of the German blue ram in the aquarium, e.g. by using soft acidic water with a pH-value of 5. In the wild, the German blue ram is used to a water temperature of 25.5-29.5 ºC (78-85 ºF). Aquarium kept specimens will normally do fine up to 80 °F (27 °C) and they can usually adapt to a pH-value from 5.0 to 7.0. Some aquarists have even managed to keep German blue rams in moderately hard water. If you find it hard to keep the water in your aquarium acidic, add peat moss.

Here is the link... http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/germanblueram.php


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

yeah...PH...gets me nervous.
I never had to maintain a specific PH.


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## Devon Amazon (Apr 3, 2005)

Go for cichlids over piranha

Tropheus are a really cool option, very colourful and super active.
They need lots of rocky hideouts as they are constantly infighting, need harder water as they are africans, eat veggies too

These guys are Tropheus sp "Ikola"


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## wizardslovak (Feb 17, 2007)

try cicla peacock 
very aggressive fish and very nice


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

wizardslovak said:


> try cicla peacock
> very aggressive fish and very nice


his tank is way too small for any species of peacock bass even if it was only one.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

no peacocks....
I want something very colorful that is EXTREMELY OVERSTOCKED.
I will have a Fluval 304 and an AC500 to start and get another Fluval within a month or 2 when I finally get a good Idea.

Angels don't like current nor do discus I don't believe?
Also, again just like the African cichlids...the PH has to be adjusted...is there a way to do this without chems?
I heard that crushed coral helps balance it but my tap water isn't correct so I would assume I would have to pre mix a PH adjuster in with the water before I add it.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

i had wrote a nice little paragraph but my comp glitch so im going to be lazy and abreviate what i say. coral/shells raises ph and driftwood lowers ph. they buffer the water so when you add tap water the ph doesnt change much if at all. get the fish you want and dont worry too much about the ph and you should be ok. just get the amount of driftwood or coral that you need if ph is a concern and you can just add regular water during water changes.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

SOunds good to me.


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## NakedSavage (Apr 9, 2008)

+1 for the rams. i had two of them awile back in my community tank and they took center stage, great color, personality, and finger chased like no other fish ive ever had!

Also i was at a lfs the other day and seen they had what was labled an angel ram... it was colored just like a german blue but had longer fins and a bulbus body shape, really cool looking, did alittle research and some call it a baloon ram, they look sweet.


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## MiGsTeR (Jan 19, 2008)

I got 12 exodons, 3 plecos, 2 clown loach, black ghost knife, green terror and a small pacu in my 55g


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

I saw bolivian ram as well....Im liking the rams...not sure what else I could put in there yet as I don't know where tehy come from or what else is local to them.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

i dont know about rams but lately i have been messing with ghost shrimp, they are small and really fun to watch... im not sure if the rams will eat them or not though... but if u can and you will have a planted tank, i would reccommend having them in there.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

I love Ghost shrimp!
Damn problem is that you can't find them half the time!!! 
I don't know if Rams would eat them either...I have to look more into it unless someone else has input??


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## sapir (Jun 20, 2008)

notaverage do your self a favor and check out tanganyikan cichlids you will love them, there is a wide variety of species that will occupy all levels of your tank. i keep mine without worrying about the ph or adding any chemicals, just weekly water changes and about the only thing i do to the water is add some chlorine remover. heres a good link http://www.reservestockcichlids.com/pages.php?pageid=9


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

cherry shrimp if your going to go shrimp i say usually you can find a local breeder.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

This tank is still in my basement..haha
I painted the back black a month ago...I need someone to run an outlet for me and I'm too cheap to pay someone...guess I'll have to figure out how to run a line myself so I can get this thing up and running!!!
I'm thinking I'm just gonna put my Mac in there b/c he is still in the 29.


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

One word dude

discus


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## Tinkerbelle (Oct 14, 2004)

notaverage said:


> I love Ghost shrimp!
> Damn problem is that you can't find them half the time!!!
> I don't know if Rams would eat them either...I have to look more into it unless someone else has input??


Rams will not do well in overstocked environments. They pair male/female and get extremely aggressive and territorial during spawning.

I had one pair in a 10 g. with a spare female, and moved the trio to a 30g when the aggression got bad enough... eventually even in a 30g the mated pair picked on/stressed the spare female to death. They would also pester my Cory Cats when they were spawning, so my guess is they would bother the ghost shrimp as well.

Personally if I was going to do an overstock tank i'd do it with schooling fish and/or discus... with a high rate of filtration.


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

instead of ghost shrimp get cherry shrimp.. after they establish they breed like rabbits! You can see them and even if they do get eaten you gotta think theres some carotene in those bright red badboys.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

Rams are very cool. I'd go with some of those babies!


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Yeah..thats what I'm leaning towards..I just have to find some very colorful ones.


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## Tinkerbelle (Oct 14, 2004)

notaverage said:


> Yeah..thats what I'm leaning towards..I just have to find some very colorful ones.


Again... "Rams will not do well in overstocked environments".... See my reply above. You're going to end up with stressed fish that do not show good color.


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## kove32 (Oct 26, 2004)

Oh man, a while back I had a tank of rams.. AMAZING little fish.. Just as colorful as guppies but dang they have a personality to boot.. I truly don't remember worrying about PH all that much either?


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

I could probably keep a Rhom in the 55 for a good 2 OR 3 years couldn't I????

Sorry...last post said 203 years..meant 2 OR 3

I finally ran a new outlegt with 2 GFCIs.

I have to really figure this out now!


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