Plans, Big Ones

Being an engineer I can't do anything without a plan. The first thing I did when I found out I'd be getting an aquarium was to go to the library and check out three books on them. Reading all three cover to cover and then visiting some local fish stores I had my plan.

I'm doing a simpler freshwater aquarium using mainly tetras, small hardy fish.

First off, I'll start with a school of neon tetras. They're schooling fish so I'm shooting for 8+ to begin with. They're dirt cheap and hard to kill, so win for me. They're bright and shiny so my son Charles should get a kick out of watching them swim around.


After that come some bottom feeders, panda cory catfish. Again, they don't get too big, about 2" at most and like the tetras they're schooling fish. I figure on 4+ of these. They like to root in the substrate for food so they'll help keep it clean.


Following on their heels come the rummy-nosed tetras. A little bigger than neons, they are also more active. Again they're schooling fish (hmm, trends?) and I'll start with around 8+.


The final members of the tetra horde will be some serpaes. These are the fish that convinced me tetras might be the way to go. They're a lot fancier than the other tetras and look awesome in a tank. Schoolers, 8+ you know the drill by now.


Well that was the end of the small fish horde to begin with however a 55 gallon tank can hold A LOT of small fish. So I plan on adding a school of harlequin rasboras as well.


Last, but not least, is my center piece fish. A lone red tailed black shark. There is some, ok a lot, of disagreement on this fish's temperament and what kind of fish it can be kept with. While everyone agrees that they are aggressive with other members of their own species no one seems to agree if they are with other fish. What I've been advised and decided to go with is to add the shark last and to get the smallest one I can. If the shark is added last she won't immediately stake out the whole tank as HER territory and if she grows up with the other fish she's likely to ignore them when she's full grown. RTBSs are gorgeous fish and I can't wait to have one swimming in my tank.


Well that's the plan so far. With the much larger tank and how small the fish all are I can probably increase the numbers of the small fish I have or maybe even pick out another impressive looking loner or two.