Stocking A 29 Gallon

[fishlover101]

 
I just purchased a 29 gallon last night. I set it up this morning and its looking excellent. I have a fake wood center piece, and 3 clumps of some sort of grass that I forgot the name of. I'm having a really hard time deciding on stocking options. At first I was thinking a community tank, with zebra danios, neon tetras, pink tetras, ect... now im not so sure. I am interested in blood parrots but I'm not sure how much room they need. I am also interested in angels, gouramis, ect. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fishlover101]

At the moment these are my tank set ups;
1 gallon -1 male betta
1 gallon- 1 male betta
5 gallon -1 gold fish ( feeder)
5 gallon - empty at the moment
10 gallon - 2 mollies, 3 neon tetras, 2 zebra danios, 5 platties, algae eater
29 gallon- 2 zebra danios ( just starter fish) 3 clumps of grass

 

[Ninjouzata]

Your 29 looks lovely, be sure to cycle it following THIS article. Nevermind since you have danios in there. I'd move them to another tank though and still do it fishless, or return them.
 
It is not big enough for the zebra danios (they should be kept in a 4ft tank due to activity levels), blood parrots (55g), and angelfish would depend on the height. Can you post dimensions?
 
You may want to have a read of THIS on betta care.
 
When are you going to feed the feeder goldie to something? I wouldn't recommend feeding it to anything but it certainly shouldn't be in the 5g. The feeders are comets usually so should be kept in a 75g+.
 
The mollies should be kept in a 30g+ tank, tetras and danios are schooling fish so groups of 6+.
 
I am not trying to attack you just letting you know some info on your current tanks and how to help your fish be happy

 

to TFF btw! Hope you enjoy it here.
 
Oh, forgot to add, are you going to put a background on the tank? A solid black one would be nice, and makes the color of the fish and plants pop

 
Perhaps you could do a trio of honey gourami, and a school of neon tetras? I'd suggest bottom dwellers but generally sand is better for them and I think you have gravel.

 

[fishlover101]

Thank you for the suggestions. And the feeder goldfish isn't being fed to anything, unfortunately my sister fell in love with it at the store and I had no room to store it anywhere except for the 5 gallon. it now has a heater and filter and seems relatively happy. I went and looked at the box and I can not find the dimensions, all I know is that it is 30 inches long. I really like the sharks, the small ones of course. I'm very new to this, as you can probably tell, I got my first tank at the beginning of summer and now have 4. although I have to say, I must be doing something right because the only fish I lost were a few guppies. I'm not sure what sharks, or if any can be housed in a 29 gallon. also, I want to make sure it is something that I can find at my LFS. I am really interested in the angels as well, can sharks and angels go together?

 

[Ninjouzata]

It won't be happy for long, unfortunately. It can get over a foot, easily.
 
The main dimension we need to know for angelfish is the height, though length and width are important too.
 
The smallest shark I can think of still needs a 55g. So would recommend against those :c
 
I'm not sure if they can go together or not even in a bigger tank..they occupy different levels of the tank but still not sure I'd trust the shark with an angel.
 
Is your LFS a chain like petsmart or petco?
 
All of us have been new (ofcourse), nothing wrong with that

I actually started just a month or two before you, so I'm quite new to fishkeeping as well. Still so much to learn! That's the fun part though

 
*Edit* Instead of getting new fish, I do think you should better accommodate some of your other fish.
Perhaps move the fish in the 10g to the 29g, and divide the 10g for the two bettas?
 
Something I forgot to ask about is the algae eater..is it a pleco or a chinese algae eater or..? If you don't know you can post a pic and someone should be able to ID it for you

 

[Wildbetta]

At the moment these are my tank set ups;
1 gallon -1 male betta
1 gallon- 1 male betta
5 gallon -1 gold fish ( feeder)
5 gallon - empty at the moment
10 gallon - 2 mollies, 3 neon tetras, 2 zebra danios, 5 platties, algae eater
29 gallon- 2 zebra danios ( just starter fish) 3 clumps of grass

 
 
At this point you would be better off moving your current fish around than getting new fish for this tank.  
 
I would move all the fish that are in the 10 gallon to the new 29 gallon and up the numbers of the neon tetras.  I would also work on rehoming the zebra danios as they need a bigger tank.
I would then take the 10 gallon and divide it in half for your male bettas and get them out of those 1 gallons.
 
What type of algae eater do you have? You might have something that will work out nicely for the 29 gallon or it could be something that is way to big and would need to be rehomed.
 
Lastly -- the goldfish really needs a MUCH bigger tank.  A 5 gallon will not work for that fish as they get very large quite quickly and they are big mess producers.  Also goldies do not need a heater and prefer cooler water.

 

[fishlover101]

It's a pleco. I plan on moving him to the 29 gallon, as I think he would be a lot happier there, and I don't plan on getting one for the 10 gallon. I did a lot more research and a lot more thinking and I think im going to go with about 3 small schools of 5-10 community fish, 2-3 goaurmis, the ghost shrimp, and a few frogs. as well as my pleco. The only thing I am wondering is can the goaurmis be housed in a 29 gallon? and will they eat the shrimp and hurt the frogs? ive never had goaurmis before, or know of anyone who has, so this is new to me. are they aggressive? As for the goldfish, im not sure what to do, if it out grows the 5 gallon I will put it in the 29 gallon, although I really do not what to do so. As for the 5 gallon that is empty, my plan is to buy small plants and a few ghost shrimp. as the plants get bigger I will move them into the 10 gallon and the 29 gallon. as far as the schools go, what fish do you suggest? I have two LFS that I go to, petsmart, and one that is known as corbets, I believe there is only 1 or 2 of them. I am considering getting rid of my bettas, or keeping them until I move out and then I will be able to give them each their own large tanks. Only problem with getting rid of them would be that if I bring them back to corbets, someone who buys them may put them in a smaller tank than they are already in. I understand that the zebras and platties and mollies ect need more space, however in about a year I plan on upgrading to a much larger tank and they will all have the room that they need. for now I am mainly concerned about how to stock this 29 gallon and the empty 5 gallon.

also, how long should I wait before moving the pleco to the 29 gallon, could I do that now?

 

[Wildbetta]

What kind of pleco do you have?  That is the biggest question since most plecos grow way too large for even your 29 gallon.  If you were to move your fish around the way I explained in my earlier post all your current fish will be in much better living arrangements and that is really what you need to be looking at first before getting more fish.  
 
Fish that get too large for a tank may never seem to "outgrow" the tank because their body will start stunting which is incredibly painful for the fish.  The goldfish will not do well in the 29 gallon either since the fish you want to put in there will be tropical fish and the goldfish needs cooler water.  Plus the goldfish you have is going to be way too big for that tank anyway.
 
If you move the fish around how it would be better for the fish, you can then move them to a bigger tank once you are able to get one and THEN stock the 29 gallon the way you are thinking about now.  Except I would go with only 1 school of community fish in a school of around 10, no more than 2 gourmanis (watch the size on the ones you decide you want as some get very large) and do not get the frogs (depending on what type of frog the tank might be too tall for them or the frogs will eat the fish)

 

[fishlover101]

ok so here is what ive decided to do.
2 1 gallons- 2 male bettas ( no room for them anywhere else)
5 gallon- goldfish ( until I can find it a better home)
5 gallon - 5 ghost shrimp to start and plants
10 gallon- 5 platties , 2 mollies, female betta
29 gallon- pleco (which I was told could be in my 10 gallon so he should be okay in the 29), 5 neons (3 of which I already have now) , 5 zebras (4 of which I already have now) , and another school of a community fish (ex. tetras)
 
My question is ; when can I move the pleco into the 29 gallon? I really do not want him dying, ive had him for a few months and have become very attached.

and also 2-3 gouramis in the 29 g

 

[sawickib]

Once again what pleco do you have? A common one or a bushy nose pleco? No pleco is ok in a 10 gallon tank btw.
The 5 gallon can have more than 5 ghost shrimp and should have quite a few plants and mosses.
The goldfish i strongly recommend taking back to one of your fish stores.
I would suggest not getting any zebra danios because they prefer 4 ft tanks.
I would suggest moving the 5 platties to the 29 gallon as well, and maybe 2-3 dwarf gouramis would work with them, but i wouldnt buy any more fish until you fix the current stocking yo have now

Wait until your tank is cycled to move fish to the 29 gallon though.

 

[fishlover101]

thank you for the advice and does the 5 gallon have to be heated?

 

[sawickib]

For he goldfish atm no, they are coldwater fish.
Once again what pleco do you have? A common pleco? or a bushy nose pleco?

 

[fishlover101]

its not a bushy nose, that's about all I know. and I meant for the plants and shrimp, does that have to be heated?

 

[Wildbetta]

If it is not a bushy nose pleco you need to get rid of it.  99% positive it is a common pleco that will reach the size of 2 feet long when full grown and needs a tank bigger than 200 gallons which you do not have.  
 
 
Ok once again, the zebra danios need to come off of your list of fish to get since you do not have a tank big enough for them.  Also you really need to work on getting the bettas out of the 1 gallon tanks.  I find it highly irresponsible for you to be keeping fish like the bettas in living arrangements like that and the goldfish in bad living arrangements and still get even more fish without fixing the problems you have already.
 
I highly suggest you look into fixing the current arrangement of the fish you have at this minute before adding anything else to your tanks.

 

[sawickib]

Rehoming the goldfish like tomorrow would be best, and then moving both bettas to the 5 gallons would be excellent.
The 10 gallon can hold the shrimp and snails and the female betta would be best.
Trashing the one gallon would be best unless you wanna grow little plants or algae.
The 29 gallon you should move the mollies and platies over and rehome the pleco to a LFS, rehome the danios as well, up the neon school and move them over to the 29 gallon, if you really like plecos you can look into a smaller breed like bushy nose plecos.