How Should I Stock A "restarted" 29 Gallon Aquarium?

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kelp

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Hey,
Recently, the last batch of my fish(from a couple of years ago) have died in my 29 gallon aquarium, so I decided to strip the tank of everything, and clean it all because the calcium deposits were getting hard to look at. I have thoroughly cleaned all of the equipment with water and vinegar, and they are drying as we speak. I kept the filter media to cycle the tank after everything is rinsed and dried. I need your help for stocking my 29 gallon tank. I haven't done this in a couple of years.

Does anybody have any suggestions? You can also suggest live plants, too. I like live plants. Speaking of live plants, I need to pick up a new bulb, what should the wattage be? Same with a heater, what should the wattage be for a heater(I cracked it, and water leaked into it when I was washing it)?
 
A 200w heater should do the job. As for lighting i'm guessing it will be a 25w but i would check that first. You should be able to find the wattage on your old lamp.

Regarding plants have a look at the pinned topic in the planted tank section.

Stocking wise i would go for something along these lines:

6 x Harlequin Rasbora
6 x Cardinal Tetra
6 x Corydoras
2 x German Blue Rams (M/F pair)
 
Can I mix and match cories? Like three species with two cories from each species, or 2 species with three cories from each species? Will they get along?
 
Yes, the corys will get along. Most people would say that you should have a group of 4 upwards of each type, but at the moment I only have 2 different corys and a brochis and they happily play together. I plan to get more once my upgraded tank has matured a little more.
 
i guess restarting a new tank is pretty difficult, i never tried it i usually get a new tank lol. I just changed my tank, coz it has been very dirty and never clean it was a 10 gal tank, i gave it to the LFS and bought a 32 gal tank in the place of it with the same stocking.
 
A 200w heater should do the job. As for lighting i'm guessing it will be a 25w but i would check that first. You should be able to find the wattage on your old lamp.

Regarding plants have a look at the pinned topic in the planted tank section.

Stocking wise i would go for something along these lines:

6 x Harlequin Rasbora
6 x Cardinal Tetra
6 x Corydoras
2 x German Blue Rams (M/F pair)

I'm just assuming that blue rams = cichlids, and cichlids = high ph. Don't cardinal tetras require an acidic ph, while blue rams require a harder ph?
 
Nevermind, I just looked up the stats for blue rams. They do like acidic ph.


I'm having trouble deciding if I want the tetras and rasboras. In the past, I've had littler fish like Zebra Danios, but it wasn't very spectacular to me. I've heard that large groups of tetras and rasboras looks really nice, but I'm going to need some convicing since I like larger fish.
 
Do you know if I could replace those cories with a couple kuhli loaches? Sorry for the three posts in a row. I'm very indecisive.
 
You haven't had fish for years but you have the media still?

I'm not sure I understand


I haven't had to choose fish for a couple of years. All of the fish I have chosen from a couple of years ago have all died. The last couple of fish just died yesterday. I still have the media from the filter.
 
OHHH I get it now.. my bad.

Are you thinking about cichlids or more peaceful fish like tetras.

I'm looking at peaceful, community fish. But, the blue rams, I think I'll definitely get. I just need some support for them.
 
get a few blue rams, like 8 corry cats (4 of 2 different species if you want doesn't matter) and like 2 angles! :lol: angles might be a bad idea if you put cardinals... also not sure if rams are as territorial as the angles... and if all else fails! Make it a Dwarf puffer species tank :D
 
I'd go with a school of tetras for sure, and maybe a smaller gourami species.. and cories like Fate said.

Not sure I'd go with angels.. they can be a pain at times.
 
I kept the filter media to cycle the tank after everything is rinsed and dried.
Where did you keep the filter media? As long as you had it in another cycled tank then you will be fine but if you just took it out and placed it in a bag or just a bucket of water then the good bacteria would only last a few hours.

I'm just assuming that blue rams = cichlids, and cichlids = high ph. Don't cardinal tetras require an acidic ph, while blue rams require a harder ph?
Fish can adapt quite easily to different pH ranges and most fish stores will not keep a tank a certain pH for fish that like it higher or lower, most have the same pH in all tanks. So enless the fish is REALLY picky then you don't have to worry about it, and in this case they aren't so tetras and the blue rams would go well together.

Do you know if I could replace those cories with a couple kuhli loaches? Sorry for the three posts in a row. I'm very indecisive.
Yep you could do that, however they really need to be kept in large groups, or else they will just hide all the time.

get a few blue rams, like 8 corry cats (4 of 2 different species if you want doesn't matter) and like 2 angles! angles might be a bad idea if you put cardinals... also not sure if rams are as territorial as the angles... and if all else fails! Make it a Dwarf puffer species tank
Actually it does matter. They will only properly shoal with the same species, however you may observe different species "hanging" out but they really should be kept in groups of atleast 3, more is better. Cardinals should be fine with angels, they will grow big enough to not be eaten, just make sure you start out with small angels.
 

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