Start of my new 55 gallon community tank

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J

JBeast99

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 14, 2013
25
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Manhattan, KS
Just moved my two Oscars out of the 55 gal they were outgrowing into a 125 gal. Decided to turn the 55 into a community tank, and this is what I got so far. What do you think?

Right now there are 6 x green tiger barbs, 5 x bosemani rainbowfish, 1 x redtail shark and a few random mollies that I can't figure out what to do with...

Gonna try to take some higher quality pictures later on

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I like the gravel, and general layout, but I'm not into man made deco in my tanks so the pot and fake plants don't really do it for me.
cories are a great addition to a community tank. get ten to twelve of one or two species to see their best behavior. if you go with one of the dwarf species, go for 20.
 
Good looking tank, but personally I would replace the fake plants with real ones. And get rocks and/or driftwood as decor.
 
Reminds me of the 55 I had back around 2000.
 
Yeah, I'm still fairly new to the hobby and I'm trying to take it one step at a time. Planting this tank is my next step, but I don't have any real experience with it. Trying to do my research before I go and waste all my money...

Most of these fake plants will probably end up in my 125 gallon with my Oscars since I don't plan on having any live plants with them...

Anybody have some suggestions to help me get started on some plants? From what I understand, certain plants can do well enough without a substrate and CO2, but I might be completely wrong...
 
JBeast99 said:
Yeah, I'm still fairly new to the hobby and I'm trying to take it one step at a time. Planting this tank is my next step, but I don't have any real experience with it. Trying to do my research before I go and waste all my money...

Most of these fake plants will probably end up in my 125 gallon with my Oscars since I don't plan on having any live plants with them...

Anybody have some suggestions to help me get started on some plants? From what I understand, certain plants can do well enough without a substrate and CO2, but I might be completely wrong...
Click to expand...

1. Java Fern and Java moss - you can't go wrong. They feed on fish waste and are low light and tough
2. Get rid of the shark. He'll kill your fish eventually.
 
fake plants are good for oscars, gives them something durable to abuse.
I've never used co2, but I've never really tried difficult plants. swords, vals, sagittaria, anubias, ludwigia, algae, and mosses have all done well with some decent light and sometimes root tabs.
be careful with the mosses though, they can be hard to remove if you decide you don't want them.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, definitely going to look into that stuff. I do love the look of natural plants, just scared to try to do too much at once and have a disaster.

On a side note the shark actually seemed to be the most timid one in the tank. He lived with my Oscars for a while, and seemed really stressed out in the community tank. Moved him back with the Oscars and he seems happy as ever.... strange

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