The 29-gallon question--HELP

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momnatur

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Oct 8, 2003
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Up until today, I've had a 20-gal with one angel and one clown pleco. This morning, my 4yo daughter (:Angel:)dumped enough food in the tank to feed an entire school of fish. :jaw-dropping: This stepped up my plans to move our fish into a 29-gal tall, as the water turned yellow and was very murky--in other words, I didn't want the fish to die.

I removed the fish to a small container, removed the plants (plastic) and decor, and let the water settle. Then I scooped out as much as I could (about 5 gallons?) and poured it into the setup 29. I filled the rest with tap water treated with AmQuel, NovAqua, and StressZyme. I kept the same filter in the the pump. We have a well, so it isn't city water.

Here are my questions:
1. Are my fish going to croak/is there anything else I can do to help them at the moment?

2. The reason for wanting to move to the 29 in the first place was to get more fish. With the two we have, and the situation caused by my DD:
A. How long should we wait to get more fish?
B. How many/what kind would be compatible with the needs of our existing fish? I know the 1-inch per gallon rule, and I know I should add a little at a time rather than a big change. But I'd be happy to get some further advice.

3. I've heard that angels only live 5 years or so, and we've had this one for about a year. It isn't terribly big, maybe 2-3 inches in circumference. Is it going to have enough room, especially with other fish in the tank?

Thanks for any answers. My daughter is really anxious to spend some money she got from her grandparents on fish (or a crab--any advice on fiddlers?), so I'd like to be able to give her some sort of timeline. ;)

Thanks.
 
As long as the filter that was on the 20 gal is cycled and is moved to the 29 gal, you should be fine. There was no need to transfer any of the dirty water to the new tank. The filter and surface areas of a tank is what carries the bacteria that breaks down ammonia and nitrite.

The one inch per gallon rule, is bunkus, unless you are talking about 1 square inch (L X W X H). Then it is a general guideline as many fish require much more water than that allows due to bioload. A better strategy is to research the fish which interest you to see if they can happily live in the size of tank you have and to research your filter's capabilities to handle the bioload of the fish you choose. If you decide to overstock your tank, extra water changes will be needed each week. If you understock, the less water changes needed. Water changes are always needed on a tank to resupply the water with necessary minerals and trace that the fish need to survive, as well as remove nitrates and other impurities.

As far as when to add fish, I would suggest one species of fish at a time with a couple of weeks minimum in between.

The first thing I would purchase before adding any other livestock is to invest in an API Freshwater Liquid Master Test Kit. This kit is vital in that it allows you to always know what the parameters of your tank are. It will tell you when your tank is stable enough to add more fish. It will also tell you if there is a problem and is a starting point to determine what needs to be done to fix it.
 
Agreed. I'd wait a week or so and provided you have the established media in the new tank and your ammonia reads zero you can add some more fish. A group of small schoolers would be a nice addition.
 
The clown pleco will be compatible with a wide range of typical community fish, so might as well try and match them with your angelfish.
 
i agree

Eupterus said:
The clown pleco will be compatible with a wide range of typical community fish, so might as well try and match them with your angelfish.
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they will most likely be ok. the only thing i could see happening is the angels possibly nipping at the pleco but it wouldnt happen THAT much if at all because angels arent very aggresive. the fact is, that the pleco will probably just find a cave and stay there all day
 
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