55 Gallon Stocking Help

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The Masked Shadow

The Masked Shadow

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jul 19, 2020
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Southern California (San Diego)
Hello MFK!

I am here to ask some questions about my stock. As you guys may remember, I wanted to stock with a pair of JD’s, per Kelly_Aquatics Kelly_Aquatics thought.
But, I realized that wouldn’t be good. Water changes and everything for a beginner. No. So, my new stock list:

1 pair of Angelfish
1 pair of laetacaras
8 Rummynose Tetras
8 Zebra Danios
And maybe a Raphael Cat or something like that.

I would like, if I could, for the Angels and Laetacaras to breed. Any thoughts?
 
Agree with fishhead. My angels are very territorial when breeding and will chase other fish around the tank and nip at their fins. Also, unless you are getting a certified pair, it is nearly impossible to sex as juveniles. If you can’t guarantee a pair, I’d probably get one angel. If you are getting a definite pair, I’d lower the stocking and get rid of laetacara pair and maybe increase the school of zebra danios.
 
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If you want to breed fish, as said above a species only tank will work much better. Since it’s only a 55 gallon, what about a colony of fairy cichlids(DescriptionNeolamprologus brichardi), but they will need harder water. If you want to keep your original stock, you’ll have to heavily plant it so the fish can hide, but the catfish may take out some fry or eggs at night. I’ll say, get 1 angel, 6 laetacaras, increase the tetra and danio school to 12, and instead of a catfish, get siamese algae eaters.
You will always have to do water changes, and a community tank will probably need the same amount of water changes as a pair of jack dempseys.
 
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The biggest problems with breeding cichlids in a community tank setting will be other fish eating your fry, and the parents becoming very territorial. It can be done; you could just remove what fry survive as soon as they are free-swimming. I agree though, that if your goal is mainly to breed and successfully raise the fry, a species-only tank would be the way to go. You will have a much easier time of it.
I also agree you are probably better off with the angels or smaller SA cichlids than Dempseys in a 55. Tapajos may be do-able in a small group, but something a bit larger would be better for them as well. Lots of dwarf cichlids that would work, bolivian rams, dwarf crenicichla. Some central american species like sajica or nanoluteus would be OK as well. All of these as a single species or with some appropriate dither fish. They would all have different needs of course and care for whichever species you end up with should be considered. Whether your available water is hard or soft, and the pH of it, may determine what makes the most sense for you.
 
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I quite enjoyed seeing this list personally. I like it better than the 2 JDs.

It honk you will get much more enjoyment from this setup than two JDs.

breeding and successfully raising fry are two different things.They will breed in this setup but as stated above the fry most likely will not survive.

my personal experience with angelfish is I started with 6 in a 60g sold off a one, one died trying to escape the others aggression and got stuck behind some deco. Two paired and laid eggs it was manageable with 5 angels but then I decided it wasn’t so I sold the pair. Two are semi paired but I never see eggs or fry. I see the female swell with eggs but that’s it. My tank is overstocked at the moment but it is manageable with80% weekly water changes. It’s heavily planted as well. The heavily planted part took about 1-2 years starting with minimal plants
 
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