55g - how many SAPs/Dwarfs?

[wonkadog]

Hi,
I'm setting up my 55 gallon freshwater tank (to be cycled w/ Bio-Spira) and am trying to decide on tankmates. I am currently thinking maybe 7 dwarfs (ha!) and 3 SAPs. My water change schedule (being realistic) will be 50% every 2 weeks. Also, I promised my wife there'd be something "pretty" in the tank (what, puffers aren't pretty??). I was thinking some sort of tetra group (maybe 5-6 neons?) could go in as well. Let me know if you think this is too much for a 55g tank and if so, give me any recommendations on stocking. I'm open to whatever and won't take anything personally if you guys think this is pushing the "bio-limit" of this tank.

P.S. I have trimmed F8 & GSP teeth before so don't worry about me not being to handle the SAP trimmings (I'm also setting up a 10g snail breeding tank). Thanks!

[Phaedrus]

I think it's pushing the limits.

I'd skip the SAPs and stick with the dwarfs, (or vise versa) and you could then probably have a school of tetras.

Over filtration, complex current, complex decoration is a must of course.

[nmonks]

Among other fish, I have found bleeding heart tetras to work amazingly well with SAPs. They have just the right temperament, as well as enough speed if needed. The bleeding hearts will stand their ground at feeding time, taking food from the puffers once in a while. On the other hand, they aren't nippy, and being a bit boisterous, the puffers tend to back-off when the bleeding hearts are displaying or fighting. Bleeding hearts are also nice and big, and plenty colourful.

Glassfish and halfbeaks also do well with SAPs, though neither are quite so pretty.

Cardinals didn't work well (too nervous, hid all the time) so I moved them into the tank with the red-tail puffers where they are working excellently as dither fish.

Corydoras, livebearers, and gobies don't work well with SAPs at all.

Cheers,

Neale

[Pufferpunk]

Aren't glassfish BW?

[nmonks]

Absolutely not.

The idea they need brackish water is a myth, based on a misidentification. There are brackish water Chanda spp., but the species sold as aquarium fish are Parambassis spp, and these live either exclusively in freshwater, or primarily in freshwater and only rarely in brackish. I keep mine in freshwater and they are happy, healthy, and very boisterous -- not at all the delicate, shy fish people think they are.

In the Aqualog book, Schaefer calls the glassfish chapter "brackish water fish that aren't". That pretty well sums it up.

Cheers,

Neale

[Pufferpunk]

Aren't there some new"ish" ones that have a big rino head?

[nmonks]

Yep, those are Parambassis pulcinella. Very nice fish. About 10 cm or so when fully grown. Need freshwater, never brackish (they live hundreds of miles inland). Ideally with plenty of oxygen and water movement, as they seem to be collected in rapid-type environments.

Something similar to Gymnochanda filamentosa is also being traded in the UK recently. It may even be that species. A tiny fish (a few cm) but with great long "whiskers" coming off the unpaired fins. Well worth looking out for.

The common species of glassfish are P. ranga in the UK and (apparently) P. siamensis in the US. Telling these two apart is tricky.

Cheers,

Neale

[coryc]

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[wonkadog]

Yeah, I just added 7 neon tetras and 3 bleeding hearts to the tank. I figure I'll let them "rule the roost" for a month or so before adding either some dwarves or SAPs.

[kimb3534]

wonkadog-

Have you added your puffers yet? Could you report on how the tank is doing. I am thinking about adding some bleeding hearts in with my SAPs.

[Dinsdale]

I would definitely do weekly water changes, not every other week. Puffers need stable water parameters.