you could have a small array of fish in the tank... anything from guppies to tetras, other livebearers- platys, mollies things like that- cat fish wise, you could do cory cats, they're bottom dwellers and pretty cool. you could have a clown pleco- they stay small, or a bristle nose pleco.... Angel fish are pretty cool... very gorgeous. I had a couple in my tank- they were cool. german blue rams are also wiked cool. they're agressive but fun to watch. Check out yellow rams too(i don't know the official name sry..). Hachets are also wiked cool fish

You can also check out aquariacentral.com for some more ideas... what ever you decide.. make sure the fish won't outgrow the tank when full grown such as an oscar.

I don't have a 55 at the moment, but i do have a 30gal. a 75 and a 14g tank. My 30 has guppies and a betta ( which are great in community tanks btw!) the 75 has a flowerhorn.. which get huge and are pretty destructive, and the 14 has guppies and whiteclouds, as well as another betta. When i did have a 55 we also had khulie loaches angels


fyi. small mouth bass get 8-15 inches long and require a minimum of a 90gallon tank

large mouth bass get up to 2 ft... a 55 is 4 ft long... so deff not a good fit.

bala sharks get big- 1ft 4 inchesand they do best in groups of 4... you can put rainbow sharks in , they're really nice and cool to watch.


Have you thought about live vs fake plants?- live plants are cool but a good bit of work.

well thats what i have to suggest for now... if you have any questions you can always pm me or check out that above site- theres a chat and ppl are wiked cool and helpful :-)