29 gallon community

[King puff]

For people who read my thread about best food for Bolivian Rams, you would recall our discussion about my 29 gallon tank. I was talking to Byron and he said that I should re-home my Chinese algae eater, pea puffer, and kuhlii loach. Re-homing the kuhlii loach due to not having a large enough shoal. After giving away these three fish, I should get 4 black neon tetras due to a shoal of only three. There is one problem with this, the kuhlii loach has many caves and dashes into them when I try to net him. Instead of causing stress to my fish would I also be able to get 4 kuhlii loaches along with the 4 black neons? The stocking would then be, 7 BNT, 5 white clouds, 5 kuhlii loaches, and a goby.

 

[NickAu]

Good luck trying to catch the kuhli LOL,

5 kuhlii should be fine.

 

[LittleFry]

Sounds fine! That bioload might increase the necessary frequency of partial water changes but other than that you should have happy fish.

 

[King puff]

Thanks. Yes, the kuhlii is so much faster than I thought it would be! I tried to coax it out with the algae wafers that it goes nuts over and still could not catch it.

Would I be able to cut the BNT shoal to 5 or 4 instead of seven. I bought them from a tank together (just them three) which they were in for a few months. They have been breeding every so often. Yes, I know more fish for a species like this is recommended but 5 or 4 in my tank would be preffered by me. What are your preferences?

 

[NickAu]

I tried to coax it out with the algae wafers that it goes nuts over and still could not catch it.

what are you feeding it?

 

[King puff]

I mostly don't directly feed it. It has staid alive for more than two years so it is obviously eating something. I every so often use a turkey baster to direct brine shrimp and bloodworms into its cave. It also eats the algae pellets that I put in for the goby. The caves are also densly planted with Java moss so the loach also eats the decaying strands of that.

 

[Byron]

Before running out to acquire more kuhlii...what is the goby species?

 

[King puff]

It's a Rainbow stiphodon

 

[Byron]

It's a Rainbow stiphodon

Given the tank size here, I would not myself suggest other substrate fish like kuhlii loaches with the Stiphodon ornatus. For much the same reason that I do not recommend mixing loaches and catfish.

This goby also has specialized needs regarding water flow for oxygen, which will align it with the white clouds nicely.

 

[King puff]

I ended up not getting more kuhliis. I got 4 black neons.

 

[King puff]

I finally finished both tanks! I put the 4 BNT in the 29 gallon. they went right to the other three and seem to be doing quite well. They also were courageous enough to eat after about 30 minutes of me putting them in the tank.

I changed the substrate of the ram tank to fine grain sand. the other sand was very course and was scratching my fingers as I cleaned it. I also added some more plants to make the ram more comfortable.

I will post pictures of the 29 gallon. The ram tank is still cloudy.

 

[King puff]

This is the 29 gallon. It looks like the bottom of a lake. Im not very good at aquascaping.

 

[Byron]

This is the 29 gallon. It looks like the bottom of a lake. Im not very good at aquascaping.

Well, I like it.

 

[King puff]

Thanks!

 

[NickAu]

There is nothing wrong with it, once the plants grow in it will be great.