My 55 Gallon Tank: I need help =/

[Aquarium Questionare]

This is my first time ceeping more than one fish. I got a 55 gallon tank, filter, etc. I was wondering if I could get these fish:

- Albino Cory Cats or Panda Cory Cats
- Electric Yellow Labidochromis African Cichlid
- Otocinclus’s
- Australian Rainbowfish
- Pink Kissing Gourami
- Sunburst Wag Platy’s
- Sunburst Mickey Mouse Platy
- lastly, Spiny Zig Zag Eel

I was wondering what I can feed all these fish that is in a small budget. We have a Bearded Dragon, and other animals At our house. I was wondering if I could feed my Spiny Zig Zag Cockroaches??? I don’t want to keep any other live foods. I am fine buying bloodworms, or anything else. Thank you

 

[Hendre]

Welcome to MFK!

Firstly, that is quite an impressive list of fish with somewhat differing needs. Some like soft water (otos) and others will tend to harder water (rainbowfish, platies and the cichlid). Kissing gourami also get quite large so I would pass on them. African cichlids also tend to do best with other African cichlids, especially rift lake cichlids. I would skip him too. Lastly for the spiny eel, you would need TINY roaches initially. My bichir is about 7" with a big mouth and struggles with anything more than 5-6mm wide. Eels generally will only eat frozen or live foods, so that is up to you. The species you have mentioned, Mastacembelus armatus gets 24-30" so I would look for a significantly smaller species.

Out of that list personally I would take platies, corydoras and maybe a group of rainbowfish. You could try otos depending on your water hardness.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask more questions

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard
Never heard of anyone feeding Spiny Eels cockroaches. I suggest you rehome the Eel.

 

[Aquarium Questionare]

I was wondering if breeding Ghost Shrimp is hard??? Also, I don’t have the eel yet, but I REALLY want one. I’ve heard you can train it to eat pellets or something else. As a main course, could I feed it frozen bloodworms, and every time I go to PetSmart, I get a few live worms, or crickets, etc.. Any thoughts on the fish food for the other fish???

 

[Aquarium Questionare]

@ Hendre, the species of African Cichlid I mentioned only gets to around 4-5”. I could pick a dif gourami, and I breed cockroaches, so I could pick them when they are tiny. I dont breed, but I have hundreds of mealworms if that helps. I could feed the eel the Pupae stage of the worm. Any other cleaner fish that I could get that don’t get big? The Yellow Spiny Tail Zig Zag Eel only gets to around 8”. As you can tell, I have LOTS of things to know. Just tell me what you know, and I will be thankful. But plz stay on my questions before the lecture

 

[Fishnerd360]

You could probably get all of them but the cichlids. My zig zag may be long in length, but doesn’t have a large mouth, so I don’t think it could eat large shrimps only babies. Unless the baby cockroach’s are only the size of a blood worm, I don’t think the eel will be able to fit it in it’s mouth.
I think pearl gouramis would be better than kissing gouramis, and if you want to get cichlids, blue acaras would be better.

 

[Aquarium Questionare]

Ok. You may have noticed that I have no experience with fish. When I was 5, I had a betta, but I suddenly thought having fish would be cool. I got a deal of literally everything besides dècor, gravel, and fish for $240. So my lineup is looking like this:
- 1 Electric Blue Acara Cichlid
- 1 Yellow Spiny Zig Zag Eel
- (I don’t know how many) Pearl Gourami’s
- Some sub-species of Sunburst Platy’s
- (IDK how many) Australian Rainbowfish
- Albino or Panda Cory’s
and some others.

can one of you post a reply about what fish would be good (besides the eel, because I‘m gettin the eel) in my 55 gallon Shiw Tank?
example: What could replace a oto that is a hard water fish and doesn’t get bigger than a few inches?
my sis wants me to get Platy’s. I will get a few, but any fish that are a beginner-intermediate that could fit in my tank?
actually, post what u would put in a 13x50.5x55 (including stand) tank.

thanks for everything,
Aquarium Questionare

 

[Aquarium Questionare]

The baby cockroaches or Dubia Roaches (Blaptica Dubia) are approximately 1/8 an inch when they are born, and grow 1/8 an inch every 3-4 weeks. The females are pregnant for around 62-75 days. Since Dubia Roaches keep giving birth and have multiple babies when they are giving live birth, my colony grows. I feed my lizard the ones who are about to morph into a male or female. The normal Dubia Roach lives up to 18 months. I have around 39 females and Males who are constantly breeding and producing. Each live birth, they produce 20-40 roaches. As my colony grows, I feed them to my lizard. I would not suggest keeping them to feed your fish. It isnt worth it. But I also have mealworms.

The Mealworm Beetle (Tenebrio Molitor) is a species of pest beetle. Most people keep the larval state of them to feed pets. I keep the larval state of them. I dont breed them. I feed them to my lizard. Occasionally, They turn into Pupae, the 3rd stage of 4. The Pupae is an inactive, 1/2 inch long Albino-lookin thing. They stay like that for some time. If I find a Mealworm beetle, I simply throw it in the trash.

I could switch to crickets instead of Dubia Roaches. Idk what to do. Plz help ?

 

[Hendre]

For some algae eating a Bristlenose pleco would work. Acaras are great, I have a few. They are more mild mannered and will fit your community better:


I would suggest keeping some other fish first and allow the tank to cycle and when you get the hang of maintaining water chemistry, that is when you should consider an eel. They are somewhat sensitive and require special feeding, as you are aware. Having an acara, cories, rainbowfish and so on will already by stocking the tank well. I would advise holding off on the eel till you have went through the (sometimes bumpy) first few months with the tank.

To be honest, rainbows are expensive. An acara, platies and corydoras will give a colourful and busy tank

 

[Hendre]

The baby cockroaches or Dubia Roaches (Blaptica Dubia) are approximately 1/8 an inch when they are born, and grow 1/8 an inch every 3-4 weeks. The females are pregnant for around 62-75 days. Since Dubia Roaches keep giving birth and have multiple babies when they are giving live birth, my colony grows. I feed my lizard the ones who are about to morph into a male or female. The normal Dubia Roach lives up to 18 months. I have around 39 females and Males who are constantly breeding and producing. Each live birth, they produce 20-40 roaches. As my colony grows, I feed them to my lizard. I would not suggest keeping them to feed your fish. It isnt worth it. But I also have mealworms.

The Mealworm Beetle (Tenebrio Molitor) is a species of pest beetle. Most people keep the larval state of them to feed pets. I keep the larval state of them. I dont breed them. I feed them to my lizard. Occasionally, They turn into Pupae, the 3rd stage of 4. The Pupae is an inactive, 1/2 inch long Albino-lookin thing. They stay like that for some time. If I find a Mealworm beetle, I simply throw it in the trash.

I could switch to crickets instead of Dubia Roaches. Idk what to do. Plz help ?

An eel would require tiny food as mentioned. Terrestrial insects tend to be treats as most fish don't digest chitin marvellously so too much can cause a blockage. Some fish (like polypterus) can produce chitin digesting enzymes which helps, I don't know of many others. I doubt small eels would since insects would be rare, with more worms and aquatic larvae being in their diets. I feed dubia roaches to my bichir often, since my brother has hordes. I tend to pass mealworms due to higher chitin content and their guts go everywhere.

I was wondering if breeding Ghost Shrimp is hard??? Also, I don’t have the eel yet, but I REALLY want one. I’ve heard you can train it to eat pellets or something else. As a main course, could I feed it frozen bloodworms, and every time I go to PetSmart, I get a few live worms, or crickets, etc.. Any thoughts on the fish food for the other fish???

Breeding shrimp is easy but a certain amount of care is needed to get them there. You would need a large tank to get any decent number of them. Eels are picky eaters and may not take prepared foods all the time