29 Gallon Tank

Bigd5482 · May 13, 2009

So currently still working on finishing the fish in cycle in the tank is :

5 Fancy Tail Guppies
pair of Blue German Rams
2 Black Neons

Once tank is cycled plan on having in total :

5 Black neons
3 male fancy tail guppies 5 female guppies (This is up in the air with how many females and if I want more males or not)
the 2 Blue German Rams
3 Honey Gouramis (1 male and 2 female)
Bristelnose Plec

Tank is planted. Now with that said first off will this set up work? Second can I add more fish to it if I can need some suggestions? Currently got my water at around 80F 81F. Thanks ahead of time for suggestions.

AdAndrews · May 13, 2009

you cant cycle with neons or rams, guppies neither for that matter, get them out soon as.. they will die. guarenteed

after that rosy start i would sugget a stocking of 1 inch per gallon, after displacement, thats 25 inches of fish:

8 neons- need mature tank
5 corys
pair of rams
6 all male guppies

that should look good, you may also want a bristlenose plec or 3 otto's to clean up

have fun

and get them fish out of the cycle if you want them to live

tenohfive · May 13, 2009

Seconded, Rams are fussy in a cycled tank - using them to cycle a tank could well prove lethal. None of those fish are hardy enough to be cycling a tank with.

Bigd5482 · May 13, 2009

Well I'm already 3 weeks in and haven't lost a single fish yet and my levels are starting to drop so they're fine. Not to mention the rams have already laid eggs. I take very good of the tank which is why I feel I can go a little bit more than 1 inch per gallon. Plus the filter i have is technically for a 40 gallon tank. Any other suggestions?

The numbers are now before I do a water change Amm between .25 and .50 and Nitrite .25 After changes and waiting 2 hours to check Amm .25 or below and Nitrite still at .25. Nitrates are at 5.0 and PH is 7.4

tenohfive · May 13, 2009

The inch per gallon rule can be broken once you know what you're doing, and once the tanks mature. You've demonstrated neither.

In time the inch per gallon rule can be exceeded, but not yet.

Take our advice or leave it, but don't be surprised if you put peoples noses out of joint by asking for advice and then totally ignoring it.

Bigd5482 · May 13, 2009

Well my friend I'm not totally new to this and I wouldn't be doing a fish in cycle if the tank was not given to me with fish already sorry for not putting that info in there earlier. I've had tanks in the past and have gone 2 inch per gallon with out any issues with water levels. If I was totally new I would be putting it in new to hobby not this thread. All I was asking for was suggestions for stocking not getting a lecture on cycling. I have already read that with the tank set up honey gouramis could go in it just fine was just seeing what others thought. Sorry for coming across as a jerk but when you're one to me I'm sure as hell going to be one back.

tenohfive · May 13, 2009

Lol. Each extra post shows how much you need help and advice, but you need to lose the attitude problem first.

I spend a fair amount of my time in this section of the forum sharing my knowledge and experiences with people (for what they're worth) and the fact that someone posts up in here does not mean they aren't new to the hobby. In fact the bulk of posts I reply to are from people who are new to the hobby, and nothing you've said so far suggests otherwise - even your last post. So I'm quite happy to make judgements on face value - you're talking like a new person who needs some help and advice, so I'm going to treat you like one. Don't like it? Ignore my posts.

Honey gourami shouldn't go into a new tank - whilst not as sensitive as GBR's, they're far from hardy. Give the tank a couple of months.

If you've got other tanks I strongly advise you to move the GBR's into another tank. I love GBR's (as you can tell by my avatar) and they are very fussy about water quality. Danios, WCCM's, barbs etc are all quite hardy - GBR's aren't and you're running an unnecessary risk.

I'd stick to male guppies too, unless you plan on feeding the fry to something bigger (or are happy trying to rehome young guppies endlessly.)
In a few months you might get away with 6 corys of some flavour.

**edited to add:

You'd probably get away with a shoal of pentazona or cherry barbs or some praecox rainbows for an impressive shoal, 8 to 10 of them.

Bigd5482 · May 13, 2009

tenohfive said:
Lol. Each extra post shows how much you need help and advice, but you need to lose the attitude problem first.

I spend a fair amount of my time in this section of the forum sharing my knowledge and experiences with people (for what they're worth) and the fact that someone posts up in here does not mean they aren't new to the hobby. In fact the bulk of posts I reply to are from people who are new to the hobby, and nothing you've said so far suggests otherwise - even your last post. So I'm quite happy to make judgements on face value - you're talking like a new person who needs some help and advice, so I'm going to treat you like one. Don't like it? Ignore my posts.

Honey gourami shouldn't go into a new tank - whilst not as sensitive as GBR's, they're far from hardy. Give the tank a couple of months.

If you've got other tanks I strongly advise you to move the GBR's into another tank. I love GBR's (as you can tell by my avatar) and they are very fussy about water quality. Danios, WCCM's, barbs etc are all quite hardy - GBR's aren't and you're running an unnecessary risk.

I'd stick to male guppies too, unless you plan on feeding the fry to something bigger (or are happy trying to rehome young guppies endlessly.)
In a few months you might get away with 6 corys of some flavour.

**edited to add:

You'd probably get away with a shoal of pentazona or cherry barbs or some praecox rainbows for an impressive shoal, 8 to 10 of them.

First off Teh sorry for me being an @$$ earlier I picked a bad time to be responding on the site as my in laws and wife were arguing back and forth and I got brought into which aggravated me so its no excuse but I do apologize.

Unfortuently I don't have another tank to move the fish to :unsure:

and the GBR's have laid their first eggs and are tending to them currently I've been doing up to 4 wc's a day to keep the amm and nitrite in check I know that doesn't really matter cause of the fish not being hardy but not sure what else I can do. Over the past 3 days the highest my amm went was .50 and today with the wc's it's stayed at .25. I love the GBR's as well it just sucks that I ended up in this situation and couldn't do a fishless cycle like I would want too. As for the guppies I actually have a few people who would take the young guppies and something bigger to feed some of the others too if I really needed. But I will take that into account I've had guppies before but it was strictly a guppy tank so I know how fast them suckers can breed.

Now you said to wait a few months before adding any gourami's in after the cycle is complete I assume? So am I also right in what I've read that they could go into the tank with the GBR's? Now you posted in your edit about adding a shoal of pentazona or cherry barbs now is this going with getting rid of the black neons or with what I posted up earlier on my orginal plan for stocking? Also could cherry shrimp go in or would they be eaten?

Thanks for the help and again sorry about earlier I had a chance to cool down and realized I was being a real jerk and taking my aggression out on a forum lol