What can you put in a 55?

robham777

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I saw this youtube video today, and thought with the exception of the geos/satanoperca it was a pretty good list.Not sure about some of the compatibility either, my experience with african butterfly fish is that they are fairly territorial so 4 or 5 may not be a good idea. I can't claim to be familiar enough with many species listed to have an opinion on them so I thought I would post it and see what others thought.

 

robham777

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I was thinking that the eartheaters listed got somewhere in the 8" to 10" range and did better in larger groups so would be poor candidates for a 55 long term. It did seem like a pretty good starting point for someone looking for realistic ideas, and I found several of them pretty compelling.
 
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duanes

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It's not only the tanks area size, per size swimming needs of the fish.
To put (for example) a cichlid like an oscar, severum, or full grown Geophagine (which I see many people and some literature says, or believes is OK) in a 55, per the amount of urine an adult oscar or any large cichlid puts out, unless the aquarist didn't change 50% or more per day, the oscar would be swimming in its own highly concentrated urine soup.
I believe this is why we see so many scarred up (HLLE), and gill curled oscars, severums, etc etc turned into LFSs when they reach any kind of adult size.
 

robham777

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It's not only the tanks area size, per size swimming needs of the fish.
To put (for example) a cichlid like an oscar, severum, or full grown Geophagine (which I see many people and some literature says, or believes is OK) in a 55, per the amount of urine an adult oscar or any large cichlid puts out, unless the aquarist didn't change 50% or more per day, the oscar would be swimming in its own highly concentrated urine soup.
I believe this is why we see so many scarred up (HLLE), and gill curled oscars, severums, etc etc turned into LFSs when they reach any kind of adult size.
100% agree with you. I read somewhere that the bioload for a single adult oscar is equivalent to several hundred neon tetras. I try for a 20ppm nitrate accumulation per/wk as a max in my own tanks. A single 8" fish in a 75 gallon can produce that amount depending on feeding and species.
 

Mattk1996

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I saw this youtube video today, and thought with the exception of the geos/satanoperca it was a pretty good list.Not sure about some of the compatibility either, my experience with african butterfly fish is that they are fairly territorial so 4 or 5 may not be a good idea. I can't claim to be familiar enough with many species listed to have an opinion on them so I thought I would post it and see what others thought.

Seen a lfs yesterday recommend 6-8 piranhas for a 55 gallon tank
 

J. H.

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My current 55 stock:
krib pair
rainbows

Hope to set up a 2nd with redhead geos.
 
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