29 Gallon Tank Stocking

[Anyak13]

I've been cycling a 29 gallon tank for over a month because I couldn't decide what to put in it. I think my final choices might be:
- 5 to 7 Tiger Barbs
- 2 Gouramis
- 4 Platy Fish
Would these fish work together peacefully and if they do, what should I feed them?

 

[Essjay]

I'm afraid that won't work.

Firstly there are soft water (barbs, gouramis) and hard water fish (platies) on your list. One group or other won't be happy. Can you find out your water hardness, please - if you are on mains water, your water provider's website should tell you. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several they could use).

Secondly, tiger barbs are one of the nippiest fish in the hobby and it is very difficult to find tank mates that can cope with them. The long 'feelers' of gouramis will probably be bitten off.
If it's the looks of them which appeal to you, five band barbs are similar but without the nippiness - provided you have soft water.


Lastly - how are you cycling the tank? Are you adding ammonia or have lots of fast growing live plants - or just letting it run?

 

[Anyak13]

I'm afraid that won't work.

Firstly there are soft water (barbs, gouramis) and hard water fish (platies) on your list. One group or other won't be happy. Can you find out your water hardness, please - if you are on mains water, your water provider's website should tell you. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several they could use).

Secondly, tiger barbs are one of the nippiest fish in the hobby and it is very difficult to find tank mates that can cope with them. The long 'feelers' of gouramis will probably be bitten off.
If it's the looks of them which appeal to you, five band barbs are similar but without the nippiness - provided you have soft water.


Lastly - how are you cycling the tank? Are you adding ammonia or have lots of fast growing live plants - or just letting it run?

Wow thank you for that much information.
Awww, I was really looking forward to the tiger barbs. I don't think any fish stores near me have five band barbs. Would 7-9 rasboras or skirt tetras work instead?
I'll have to ask my dad about the water provider later today, but I've been letting it run with the filter on and I have a few Anarchis/Brazilian Waterweed plants in there.

 

[Essjay]

Cycling first. This is the process of growing good bacteria which remove the ammonia excreted by fish. There are two ways to to do this, with fish and without. With fish - a fish-in cycle - means a lot of hard work as the water must be tested daily and water changed whenever either ammonia or nitrite (or both) read above zero. it could mean a daily water change for a few weeks. Cycling without fish is called a fishless cycle and involved adding ammonia to the tank to get the bacteria to grow so they are all there ready when fish are bought.
here is a link which goes into more detail about what cycling is, and how to do a fishless cycle. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
Adding a bacterial starter can help speed up both types of cycle, but none of them do it isntantly as some shops would have ypu believe.

The alternative is called a plant or silent cycle. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser. Fast growing plants take up more than slow growing plants but there still needs to be a lot of them to deal with all the ammonia made by a tankful of fish. Anacharis is a fast growing plant, but you'd need a lot of it for a silent cycle.



Tiger barbs. The best way to keep tiger barbs is in a species only tank. That way they squabble amongst themselves and no other fish get hurt. There are a few different colour variant so if your local shops stock more than one variety, it will look like you have different fish. I have seen standard tigers (orange with black stripes), albino tigers (pale orange with white stripes), green tigers (green with a red nose and red tips to the fins) and I've read of a platinum strain which has a whitish body and black fins. These varieties all know they are the same species even though they look different.
This is one option for you to consider.
And commercially bred tiger barbs will actually be happy in everything from very soft to very hard water - it's wild fish which need soft water.

 

[Callisto405]

Fish I would keep with Platties would be Mollies, Swordtails and Guppies

Fish I would keep with dwarf Gouramis would be Neon Tetras, Ember Tetras, Cardinal tetras, rummy nose tetras

Fish I would keep with Barbs would be Danios, Corydoras, Loaches, Serpae tetras, Red Eye tetras and other Barbs

 

[TallPaul]

Hijacking the thread. I'm in a similar spot except my tank is a 105 ltr Aquarius Leddy and is an existing tank. It has been rescaped and neon tetras housed in a 60 ltr so all is left are 6 amano shrimp.

I did enjoy the neon tetra but I found the supplier lights are just too bright and startle the fish. Moving them to a different tank with more subdued lighting has helped massively.

I'm looking at more tetra or some other schooling fish (rasbora?) that possibly would be marginally larger than neon tetra, more tolerant of the bright light (black neon?) and happy with the moderately high flow of the tank. I'm looking for one large school of fish to build up really and enjoy that swarming behaviour

My water lends itself to fish that prefer softer water rather than hard water species such as livebearers. Any ideas?

 

[Anyak13]

I'm afraid that won't work.

Firstly there are soft water (barbs, gouramis) and hard water fish (platies) on your list. One group or other won't be happy. Can you find out your water hardness, please - if you are on mains water, your water provider's website should tell you. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several they could use).

Secondly, tiger barbs are one of the nippiest fish in the hobby and it is very difficult to find tank mates that can cope with them. The long 'feelers' of gouramis will probably be bitten off.
If it's the looks of them which appeal to you, five band barbs are similar but without the nippiness - provided you have soft water.


Lastly - how are you cycling the tank? Are you adding ammonia or have lots of fast growing live plants - or just letting it run?

I finally found my water hardness (?) on the website. I'm not sure whether this means I have hard or soft water though.

 

[Essjay]

That table gives a huge range for your hardness - 90 to 222 ppm (that's the same as mg/l CaCO3). In other words they are saying your hardness is anywhere between soft, through middling, to hard.
You need to pin it down more accurately than that. You can either take some tap water to a fish store and ask them to test it for GH - make sure they give you a number; or buy a GH tester.

 

[Anyak13]

I went to a pet store yesterday with a sample of aquarium water and they said that the ph was 6.2 - 6.8.

 

[Anyak13]

I think my final decided tank stocking so far is:
- 5 Tiger Barbs
- 2 Green Barbs
- 5 Corydoras
Would this work?

 

[Essjay]

they said that the ph was 6.2 - 6.8.

It's GH you need not KH. But a low pH usually goes with soft water.

Assuming the green barbs are the green variety of tiger barbs, they would be OK with the normal tigers.

I would watch the cories carefully as tigers could decide to nip their fins. You also need at least 6 cories and there's plenty room in 29 gallons for more than 6.

 

[ITViking]

I'm looking at more tetra or some other schooling fish (rasbora?) that possibly would be marginally larger than neon tetra, more tolerant of the bright light (black neon?) and happy with the moderately high flow of the tank. I'm looking for one large school of fish to build up really and enjoy that swarming behaviour

My water lends itself to fish that prefer softer water rather than hard water species such as livebearers. Any ideas?

I've got both Harlequin Rasboras & Rummy Nose Tetras together. The Rummy Nose Tetras have reached a nice size. I love the combination of them because the Rummy Nose are true straight line 'end to end' shoaling fish when they school, and the Rasboras tend to shoal in more loose formation with 'up & down' tendencies, and not always from one end of the tank to the other.

Here's a pic from when the Rummy Nose were new to the tank & smaller. They are now substantially larger than the Rasboras. Also, much more vibrant colors since being more 'at home' to the tank.