29G Cycled And Ready

[Shelby]

Ok, so I've upgraded from a 10g aquarium to a 29g aquarium. It currently has:
1 platy (2 died awhile back before I switched tanks)
2 swordtails
2 mollies
4 guppies
2 dojo loaches
1 pleco

My boyfriend is dying to put in 2 small angels. We know they will get big (6 inches at least) but figured we could trade them in when they got too big. Are they going to be compatible with the smaller fish or are they too agressive?

 

[boeingtech]

angel's would try to eat your guppies when they are older they would try to eat anything that will fit in their mouth's

 

[Shelby]

Any advice on what would be a nice "middle of the tank" fish that could go in there. I'd like something a little bigger than the others kind of like a "main attraction" kind of fish.

 

[boeingtech]

As long as your tank stat's are good why don't you try some gourami's like the neon dwarf's they have some really nice colour's and are quite active.

 

[waterdrop]

A 29G tall with 17" of height or so is what I consider to be the "starter" tank for angels, despite what some feel. I think you could get away with starting a young pair (no more than 2) if you really wanted to. Personally I wouldn't mind taking the risk with the guppies since angels will be somewhat unpredictable about eating fish they've grown up with, there's a chance that if particular of the small fish have just always been there, the angels will choose to ignore them later on when they've grown big. Can't rule out that they will go the other way and eat them but at least guppies might be somewhat easily replaced or just left off the list after that happened.

So you have a good liquid-reagent based test kit now and feel you understand maintenance and good test numbers?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Shelby]

Well, I was busy so I sent him to pick up the kids from daycare. I should know better considering the lfs is 2 blocks from my daycare *sigh* What we have ended up with is:

2 powder blue guouramis
2 mollies (both male)
1 platy (male)(as 2 died a while back)
1 neon tetra (scooped up by accident and free from the lfs)
2 swordtails (male and female)
2 scissortail rasboros
2 dojo loaches (love the big one he's very active the smaller one is shy)
2 angels (smallish about an inch or so)
3 guppies (something ate the baby I think or she's hiding very well)
1 pleco

so far so good. The angels and the guouramis can't decide who gets what corner. They both want the corner by the castle and air stone. All of the fish are fairly small right now so even though it seems like a lot the tank seems to have a lot of room left and I've put my foot down and took away their gift cards so no more fish! The lfs said if the angels get too big they will trade for smaller ones. We will see how it goes.

I do not have a liquid test kit as they are fairly expensive (unemployment only pays so many bills right now!). I did get the strips even though I know they are not exactly accurate. I figure they will give me somewhat of a clue for now. I am not sure I totally understand the water parameters either so matching color is pretty easy. I am still in the process of looking up everything and composing a spreadsheet so I can get a good idea. It seems like when I think I am done they bring home more!!!

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds like an awfully rapid increase in bioload (too many fish too fast!) Without good ammonia and nitrite tests you may not know until you start losing fish. If you see any traces of ammonia or nitrite(NO2) on your strip tests you should begin performing 50% daily water changes with good technique. With no traces showing, I'd perform 25% daily changes for 3 days and then every other day for a bit. A liquid test kit, for beginners, is almost more important than any other piece of equipment.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Shelby]

That is what I was thinking to about the bioload. I have an aquaclear 200 filter running on high which is supposed to process 200 gallons an hour. I think my filtration should be ok. All of the fish seem fairly happy. I watch them constantly (mostly I look at them and then lose track of time staring at them swimming around) for any odd behavior. Hanging at the top too much, fins tucked in, rapid gill movement etc. I lose about an inch of water every 2 days (evaporation it's winter here)I will start water changes though just in case. I always did water changes in my 10g aquarium weekly about 1/2 because I felt it was over loaded. I should be able to pick up a liquid test kit next week (hopefully)

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlxMCpex0Fo

The mollies and the guppies at the top of the tank are looking for more food.

 

[drobbyb]

Yeah, that's a lot to add at once. Just be sure to check for ammonia and nitrite when you get the test kit, and cut back on the feedings over the next week.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, a large AquaClear should be fine in terms of flow rate for a 29G, that should give you about 7x turnover, which shouldn't be lower than 5x when all realities are taken into account, so should be excellent. Of course the state to which the biofilter has advanced may be another story but as soon as you can get the kit home and post up those tap and tank numbers for us we can figure out more about that. I suggest logging morning and evening test results for your ammonia, nitrite(NO2) and pH into your aquarium notebook so that we can take a look at them later.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Shelby]

Ahh.. see I put in a new filter to cycle the new tank and I had the exact same filter in the 10g which ran for 6 months on low. So when I put the fish in the new tank I swapped filters and used the one from the 10g tank so it should be prettu good? I actually have 4 of those filters from a 50g tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Oh you should be fine then! Obviously not the typical beginner type situation we're on the watch for here.. BUT you'd learn some valuable background hobbyist knowledge if you've not done it before and if you're going to have a test kit, just by confirming that your stats are good. My feeling is that hobbyists can get pretty far down the road and still have vague notions of the bacteria and the toxins and not have a real hands-on feel for what the test results look like when they're bad or good and that feel can be so valuable later when something odd -does- happen to you. Plus of course, just the confirmation that the various filter swapping, startup things all actually -did- go properly with respect to you biofilter is just a good thing.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Shelby]

This is actually my third aquarium. I've read a lot of posts on here and try to get something from them. I had a 10g about 10 years ago with guppies. That didn't go so well. Big mess with no clue that keeping fish was so difficult! Then about 6 months ago I got another 10g. That ran fairly well except for a major case of Ich. I had no idea what it was and didn't catch it near soon enough to save my fish except for 3. As sometime after that I found this site which has been a world of help!

I've read many times on here a mature filter is the best so it was kind of a guess that if I was to switch out the filters and use the oldest one that would be the best option. I'm still a total beginner at keeping aquariums and I know I'll be back again and again!

Monday I go for my liquid test kit I will post results and ask how to fix it! lol