Best Fish for A 55 Gallon Fish Tank— How Many Will Fit
By Eddie Waithaka @aquariawise
A 55-gallon fish tank is a perfect size for a hobbyist with decent fish-keeping skills looking to move from a starter aquarium (10 to 30 gallons). The tank can house bigger, centerpiece fish, like cichlids, with a school of smaller accent finnies.
A 55-gallon is big enough for:
— Several mid-sized to big-sized fish, between 4 and 8 inches adult size, such as Ram cichlids (Bolivian & German), Angelfish, Lake Malawi Cichlids, African Riverine Cichlids (Kribensis), Dwarf Cichlids (Apistogramma and Rams), and South America Cichlids, Bandit cichlids.
— Large groups of schooling fish, such as rasboras, tetras, danios, minnows, pencilfish, ricefish, and endlers.
— Centerpiece fish, such as gourami, ram cichlid, angelfish, Apisto, killifish, rainbow fish, kribensis, blue acara, red tail sharks and peacock cichlids.
— Bottom-feeding cleaner fish, like bristlenose pleco, spotted bulldog pleco (rubbernose), cory catfish, synodontis catfish, kuhli loach, siamese algae eater, dwarf chain loach, yoyo loach, hillstream loach, rosy loach, zebra loach.
— A big community of livebearers, like guppies, mollies, platys, and swordtails.
— Aggressive fish with fun personalities, like convict cichlid, green terrors, red devils, barbs (tiger and cherry), blue acara, mbuna cichlids, and fire mouth cichlid.
| 50 Gallon Fish | Ideal Species | |
|---|---|---|
| Large 55 Gallon Fish | Electric Blue Acaras, Hondurous Red Points, Convict Cichlids (+other Amatitlanias), Polar Blue Parrots, Mbuna cichlids, Peacock cichlids, Red Tail (Ruby or Rainbow) Sharks, Kribensis, Bolivian Rams, Blood Parrots, Featherfin catfish, Keyhole Cichlid, Julidochromis | |
| Schooling Fish, 55 Gallon Fish | Tetras—Rummynose, Neon, Cardinal, Bloodfin, Ember, Pepper, Candy Cane, Ruby, Serpae, Buenos Aires, Columbian Tetras Danios—Longfin Zebra, Celestial Pearl Rasboras—Emerald eye, Lambchop, Harlequin, Kubotai, Chilli, Minnows— Longfin White Cloud Mountain, Rosy Red, Others— Hatchetfish, Cherry Barbs, Daisy Ricefish, Medaka, Rainbow Shiners, Pencilfish, Gardneri Killifish, Endler’s livebearers | |
| Planted 55 Gallon Fish | ||
| Colorful, Centerpiece Fish, 55 Gallon | Gourami— Dwarf, Honey, Pearl, Cories—Bronze,Spotted, Bronze, Panda, Bristlenose Pleco— Super Red Longfin, Albino Longfin, Ram Cichlids—Bolivian, German, Lake Malawi Cichlids—Mbuna, Peacock, Others—Electric Blue Acara, Kribensis, Orange Chromide, Angelfish, Killifish, Apistogramma Dwarf Cichlids, Nanochromis, Dwarf Flag Cichlid, Rainbow Fish, African butterfly cichlid, Lemon cichlid | |
| Aggressive Fish, 50 Gallon | ||
| Cleaner Fish, 50 Gallon | Zebra loach, Corydoras, Bristlenose pleco, Siamese Algae Eaters, Dwarf Chain Loach, Hillstream loach, Featherfin catfish, Synodontis catfish, Zosy loach, Spotted Bulldog pleco, Otocinclus catfish, glass catfish | |
| Predatory Fish, 50 Gallon |
