55 stocking questions

[Mississippi fish guy]

Soon I plan on getting more plants for my 55 and once I have I plan to begin stocking more fish. The current population is 

1 albino rainbow shark

1 clown pleco

1 Bolivian ram

5 julli corys and one green Cory from my first school.

5 cherry barbs (I plan to increase this to 10 once I final get them to spawn)

3 kuhli loaches

i would like to add the following sometime later

1 angelfish 

10 black phantom tetras

10 rummy nose tetras

10 black neons

possibly some otocinclus

1 Amazon puffer

The Amazon puffer is something I’m not sure about. I want to get a puffer but I have never kept any puffer before. If an Amazon puffer wouldn’t work would pea puffers work? Also would this be over stocking? If so what would be a better stocking plan? 

Just as a note any other suggestions would need to be angelfish friendly since the only reason I haven’t got one yet is because I don’t want it to get big and eat my tetras when I get them.

[lefty o]

just my opinion, but id not put cherry barbs with a good number of those, as they can be quite aggressive towards other fish.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I haven’t kept Cherry Barbs, but I have kept a bunch of Angelfish and Tetras with them. 
 

I would say pick your Angelfish, and then pick one of the Tetras you listed. All of them seems like a lot with everything you already have.
 

I personally wouldn’t add the Oto’s, and definitely not the Puffer. Or the Pea Puffers. If you wanna do a Puffer tank of any kind, my suggestion would be to do a tank specifically for them instead of trying to cram them into a community tank. 
 

Pea Puffers are great because you don’t have to trim their beak, or even think about the possibility of having to trim their beak. Amazon Puffers would be dope, but I personally don’t want to have to trim a beak. Maybe one day I’ll try it, but for now I’m pretty pleased with my group of Pea Puffers and the shrimp and CPO’s I have in with them. 

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 8/27/2024 at 10:56 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Pea Puffers and the shrimp and CPO’s I have in with them. 

I didn’t know you could keep pea puffers and shrimp. Do you think that would work in a 5 gallon or would I need a 10. Also would a 5 be too small for 1 pea puffer?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 8/28/2024 at 6:04 AM, Mississippi fish guy said:

I didn’t know you could keep pea puffers and shrimp.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. Here’s some info:

29 gallon tank with 6 Pea Puffers. Over the years, the tank has become pretty heavily planted. 
 

First tried the orange shrimp that my red cherry’s throw every once in a while. There are no orange shrimp in this tank.

Then, we started putting the blue culls in there. A couple have remained. There is not a thriving colony of shrimp in the tank. There are a couple more shrimp than what I put in, and it’s cuz the tank looked like this:

 

So, a few shrimp survived and made a couple more. The rest became food. Which I’m okay with. Another live food source for the Puffers is always welcome. 
 

Now the tank looks like this:

Thinned out the PSO. Adult shrimp are still just fine and the Peas leave them alone. That’s how I knew the CPO’s would do fine if I put them in here as they are bigger than the Puffers. Again, there will probably be some breeding from them, and another live food source for the Puffers is always welcome. 
 

So, long story short, I don’t necessarily recommend shrimp with Pea Puffers. It can work. You can make a couple more, but nearly every shrimplet will become food, even with super dense planting. 
 

Personally, in a 5 gallon I would do a single pea puffer and no shrimp. 

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 8/28/2024 at 10:52 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Personally, in a 5 gallon I would do a single pea puffer and no shrimp

Ok thanks. I will probably try that instead of an Amazon puffer.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Pea Puffer is the much easier and less stressful route. Especially for that size tank. 
 

Frozen bloodworms and snails and you’ll be set!

[EricksonAquatics]

On 8/27/2024 at 9:26 PM, lefty o said:

they can be quite aggressive towards other fish.

Off topic but - I didn’t know cherry barbs could be aggressive to other tankmates. I thought they were pretty peaceful with other community fish. What setup did you have them in? I’m trying to get more info on them because I really want to try em out.

Also @Mississippi fish guy what’s been your experience with cherry barbs? Sorry to blow up your stocking thread with this😂

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 8/28/2024 at 8:02 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

Also @Mississippi fish guy what’s been your experience with cherry barbs

I have only kept one school of cherry barbs other than the one I have now so I’m no expert. If im not mistaken my previous school of cherry barbs were mostly peaceful though I think they would chase other smaller fish every so often. I would consult other more experienced hobbyists since I don’t have much experience with most fish.

 

On 8/28/2024 at 8:02 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

Sorry to blow up your stocking thread with this

That’s alright. I mostly was just being sure if my stocking plan was to much or if the Amazon puffer would be a problem.