jimcalpin

i'm geting my first tank next week! it will be a 55 gal. and i was looking for some suggestions on which kinds of fish i should keep.

Tommy Gun

Hey jumcalpin - welcome to the forum!

To be honest, your question is extremely hard to answer simply because you have a nearly infinite number of options to choose from. With that being said,you could start 'window shopping' for fish a at your local fish stores (LS) to not only look for fish that catch your eye, but to see which fish are readily available to you. However, my strong suggestion would be to fight any urges to purchase fish until you can get some common and/or scientific names and go home to research them a little bit so you are sure they will fit comfortably in your tank and coexist well with its other potential tank mates. If you don't think you can stave off that urge to "buy now, ask questions later" feeling, or want to start looking now, you could also browse through some of the on line fish stores such as THIS ONE.

Of course, you are always free to pick the brains of the members on this forum. There are literally hundreds of very knowledgeable and experienced aquarists here!

RustyNut

Alternately, start looking online at tank setups and see if there is something you like and want to replicate.... then find out what types of fish like that type of biotope and get a species for each niche.

Of course not everyone is into bio-tope setups, but I think the "natural" look always is more impressive visually.

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jimcalpin

One of the problems that I think is going to happen is that in my town there are two places to buy fish, Wal-Mart and a crappy pet store run by potheads. So I?m going to be driving around to other towns to see what they have or I might buy online. I?ve been looking around online and wanted some opinions on this combination (I based this on a compatibility chart I found on a website, I haven't decided on the specific fish yet)

Angelfish
Molly?s
Barbs
Betta
Swordtails
Tetras
And a redtail/rainbow shark

Any suggestions are welcome

orb4me

I hate to be the one to bring this up, Jim, but you have to cycle the tank

If you new to this hobby like i was a few months ago, you just might say, naw, dont really want to do all that crap, but its so darned important, other wise the fish die. Read some of the topics here, and other places on the web about cycling a fish tank, theyre all the same i think. There is some stuff called Cycle that will hurry it along, but i dont know much about it. Then... you will need a test kit to check all the diff chemicals, ph, nitrites, nitrates, chlorine, hardness, alkalinty, and the another kit to check amonia levels... then you need a heater, and good thermometer. please check it out before buying fish.

There a numerous topics/threads about fish dying, most of the time, its due to not cycling or not enough water changes.

welcome to this great site, hang around and get addicted lots of answers to all questions are right on this site.

I drive 60 mile round trip to buy my fish. cheaper than online, JMO

jimcalpin

yeah i know about cycling, i've read several book and websites about fishkeeping and i'm planing on doing this thing right (i hate it when my pets die). i'm just trying to figure out which fish are the best to keep from the people who have already done this before(plan ahead i always say). i'm also looking at all the diffent test kits and trying to pick one out. thanks for keepin me in-line, btw it's lookin like an 80 mile round trip for me

orb4me

plan ahead... hummmm ive heard of that plan, wish i had used it. I now have a tiny 2" black shark(bought him in Dec) that is now 4" at best guess (they are fast) and my tank is breakfast, lunch and dinner for him. I was forewarned, but thinking i had lots of time, did not plan ahead. 1 rainbow and a rope fish is keeping him in check for now.

Keep us updated, and maybe some photos soon?(of the fish, that is)

Tommy Gun

Hello again jimcalpin!

There is nothing better than hearing someone like yourself is not only willing to take the time to get things right, but also willing to do the research first! If you haven't already, check out FTF's Articles section since there are quite a few bits of useful information that can help you out; including articles on cycling, like this one:
http://www.fishtankforums.com/fishtank/about

I realize that it is not always the case, the problem with some books is that they can be old and outdated (a lot has changed in this hobby in a relatively short period of time), or offer some very narrow advice in a manner which can lead some of us to believe there is only one option.

If it helps, I strongly suggest using the test tube type kits versus the test strips because the strips are easy to ruin if they are not stored correctly, which can throw you off.

Usually most "master test kits' are going to give you all of the tests you will need or use more often. Otherwise, you would probably want to have an ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH test at a minimum. To be honest, that is where I started out, but have picked up quite a few more tests as I ran into problems that required monitoring a specific parameter.
Overall, I think your list could work out well. Stick to only one retail or rainbow shark because they don't get along all that often when in a group. A lot of the barbs and tetras are the exact opposite in that many of them are best off in a school or shoal...and be careful when picking these fish out because some stay small enough to make a good snack for an angelfish. One thing to think about is that, while they can and have been kept in larger and/or community tanks, you might find out that they do not like being around very active fish and obviously are a prime target for other fish which have a habit of nipping fins (quite a few barbs and tetras would qualify for that status). Lastly, it is very possible that your mollies and swordtails could multiply quickly and easily...which is fine if you are prepared for that (they can be hard to re-home sometimes and you definitely don't want to wind up with too many fish in your tank).

Like I said though, if you are aware of the various aspects of the fish on your list before hand, you can make that stocking work out well.

jimcalpin

You Wrote:
"...and be careful when picking these fish out because some stay small enough to make a good snack for an angelfish."


so if an angelfish can grow to be ~6" how big of a fish can they eat?

cshippyjr

For a starter I think those are great fish to go with. Here is my thoughts on each though from my experiences.

Angelfish - Buitiful small and large, add these last, they are harder to keep
Molly?s - Can be very unique, only a few though
Barbs - Never liked them, Had problems with these killing my smaller Tetra's
Betta - Only put 1 in your tank, some say 55 gallon can have a few, stick with 1, you can add this fish right away to help your tank cycle faster.
Swordtails - Buitiful fish long as the Barbs don't eat the tails
Tetras - Many great fish, you can make a tank out of these alone
And a redtail/rainbow shark - Never dealt with, very sharp looking though.