# 55 gallon stocking list- good or bad?



## juhason (Nov 10, 2013)

My 55 gallon unfortunately went through a shock and killed all my fish but one. :-(

Killed all my gorgeous sunfish (2 northern longears, 3 dollars) and my friendly creek chub.... he would let me pet him and everything. Also killed my long fin rosy barbs and all my giant danios except 1. So I will find the remaining giant danio a nice big school to join and that leaves me with an empty tank I would like to stock.

So in the meantime while my tank stabilizes, I am planning what I will restock it with. I do not want to go the native route again... too soon  So here's my idea. I would like to do a central american tank setup. These are my ideas so far: 
1 rubber-lip pleco
2 female convicts
1 jewel cichlid (I know he's not new world, but he's cool and appears to work well with them)
1 salvini OR 1 jack dempsey OR 1 Electric Blue Acara

or would it be possible to do both the salvini and acara?

Let me know if you guys think this could work or not, thank you!!!!!


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## juhason (Nov 10, 2013)

Finman said:


> I would not recommend any aggressive cichlid communities in a 55. I know a salvini would kill everything in the tank once it matured or even sooner. I have heard the same about acaras. I think a JD would be better off in a 75 alone or as a pair. Even if you got the rare well behaved salvini/JD/acara, if you happened to get a male it would most likely pair up with one of the female convicts and wreak havoc on your plans. No. I wouldn't try this stocking in anything less than a 180. For a 55 maybe keyholes and or rainbow cichlids with a single severum would be more like it.


Uh oh.....  Since I posted it on two sites and no one answered me for a few days, I double check with Aqadvisor and went and got them  (2 female convicts, 1 (most likely) female salvini and 1 Electric Blue Acara)
I thought I saw other posts of people with similar setups so I figured it would be ok.... thank you for your reply though! I can tell you right now my salvini is not well behaved, it chases my convicts a bit, but nothing excessive so far. The salvini and acara are bffs right now, and the acara kind of doesn't care about anything except me (food). I guess all I can do now is not get attached to any of them and be prepared to separate them if needed. Any other tips? I shouldn't have dived into it like this.


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

I have a salvini that worked in a community in a 75. Overall I think this is a bit too small of a tank long term for those fish though. After keeping fish for a longer period of time than I did back then, I try and think long term for my tanks instead of trying to work with multiple grow out tanks or later upgrading everything. Better in my opinion to have the tank that your fish can grow into to start with.

How big are your fish now? The smaller they are the better chance you have of things working out long term, but I still think you would do better with a larger tank or cutting down the stock.


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## juhason (Nov 10, 2013)

cage623 said:


> I have a salvini that worked in a community in a 75. Overall I think this is a bit too small of a tank long term for those fish though. After keeping fish for a longer period of time than I did back then, I try and think long term for my tanks instead of trying to work with multiple grow out tanks or later upgrading everything. Better in my opinion to have the tank that your fish can grow into to start with.
> 
> How big are your fish now? The smaller they are the better chance you have of things working out long term, but I still think you would do better with a larger tank or cutting down the stock.


They are all small. The acara and salvini are about 2" and the convicts are both at about 1" 
If I have a decent amount of time (like a few months) I can definitely manage getting another tank put together to separate them when the time comes.But what would you recommend would work??? 1 of each? Or getting rid of one of the bigger ones? (salvini or acara)


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

The problem with knowing what do to is knowing if you have a male and female set of convicts or not. If you do, then chances are they will pair off. This would greatly increase the stress and potentially the aggression of the tank. I would ask yourself: which species do you want to keep the most?

Convicts would do very nicely in a 55 together if hey are paired off. To assure that I would get a few more, grow them out and wait for a pair to form. Then get rid of the rest.

Salvini, I would again say a pair would do best in the 55 (better then with other tankmates even though I did this in the past but it didn't work out that well). So again, get some more, let them grow out and pair off, get rid of the rest.

As far as Acaras, I don't have as much experience with them. Might get someone to advise a tankmate or two. Or maybe a pair of them would work best in your 55 as well.

The truth is, that a 55 gallon aquarium seems very large to most people, but it doesn't work for communities of cichlids or most pairs. But it can be used as a early grow out tank, a pair for a few species (like the convicts) or some wet pet situations.

Hope that helps some, and good luck.


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## juhason (Nov 10, 2013)

cage623 said:


> The problem with knowing what do to is knowing if you have a male and female set of convicts or not. If you do, then chances are they will pair off. This would greatly increase the stress and potentially the aggression of the tank. I would ask yourself: which species do you want to keep the most?
> 
> Convicts would do very nicely in a 55 together if hey are paired off. To assure that I would get a few more, grow them out and wait for a pair to form. Then get rid of the rest.
> 
> ...


Yes this is helpful, thank you! I will do some more research for sure. I really love the salvini so I might go with those once turmoil breaks out in my tank. Also the convicts are most definitely both female, I made sure of it. Both are displaying beautiful orange yellows and blues and are happy as of now. Of course who knows if the peace will last long  Thanks again!


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

Just because things are working out now that does not in any way indicate that things will be fine in the future. You are only talking about one and two inch fish. They are not likely going to get that aggressive until they are at least twice that size. Not to mention that some community tanks work out for years, until one day a random fish will snap. 
Another thing to think of is if a pair forms with two fish of different species in your tank. It happens. 
All I'm saying is, with cichlids, you need to know that anything is a possibility. That is both why they are great fish and not for everyone. Good luck.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

juhason said:


> Finman said:
> 
> 
> > I would not recommend any aggressive cichlid communities in a 55. I know a salvini would kill everything in the tank once it matured or even sooner. I have heard the same about acaras. I think a JD would be better off in a 75 alone or as a pair. Even if you got the rare well behaved salvini/JD/acara, if you happened to get a male it would most likely pair up with one of the female convicts and wreak havoc on your plans. No. I wouldn't try this stocking in anything less than a 180. For a 55 maybe keyholes and or rainbow cichlids with a single severum would be more like it.
> ...


I break ALL of the rules with stocking. It really is trial and error with cichlids a lot of times. I have species that are supposed to murder each other that are the best of friends. It's all about each particular fish.


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