Advice: almost there

[zabak80]

Hey guys and girls:

Need some quick advice, I've done some research but keep getting conflicting views:

29 gallon cycled:

Currently have:

5 guppies
7 neon tetras

Want to add:

3 swordtails
3 dwarf rainbow
and either 5 black neon or 5 diamond tetra

So, too much fish? Would they all get along? Or can you suggest something else?

[Holly9937]

I would say its a little much, but some of them are very small fish, and will stay that way, especially if you keep up on maintenance I think it will be fine ;)

[zabak80]

Yes, I'm very good with maintenance.

My only concern was the nipping of the rainbows and possibly the diamond tetras. Is there any truth to that? I heard different things.

I know the tetras are pretty small fish, so I didn't think overcrowding would be too much of a problem. My tank has plenty of places to hide and swim. I've heard some people only count neons as .5 of an inch so right now I would only have 8.5. Being generous and counting the 3 dwarf rainbows as 3 inch = 9 inch and the 3 swordtails as 2 inch = 6 inch so in total without the black or diamond tetras yet I'm looking at 23.5 inches.

[Kissofthegorami]

I would do one school of one kind of tetra, they like at least 6, more is better. Rainbows can get 3 inches at least if not more. Sword tails too, up to 4". Swordtails like most livebearers are omnivores and are alwas eating... fish food, algae, plants, and poop a lot. The guppies and sword tails will both be having babies too.

[zabak80]

The guppies are all male and I will be keeping the swordtails all male as well, so no reproduction. I'll have to rethink the rainbow fish.

Is there a problem with keeping different schools of Tetras? Will the black neons or diamond not mix with the neons?

Any suggestions for a possible rainbowfish replacement? I'm particularly fond of blue colored fish.

[wunderkind]

With my experience there hasn't been problems with more than one type of schooling tetra's in one tank unless the tank is small.. with a 29G the thing I've found out its sometimes its hard to get all the fish to eat if you have more than one school as one school with dominate over the other. Neon tetra's are somewhat nervous fish from what i understand.. my friend has a school of tetra's and tiger barbs in the same tank and the tiger barbs dominated over the tetras..

i've been told and i've also seen this for myself... fin nipping can be reduced by added more fish of the same school. in my opinion i would add more neon tetras.. 6 or 7 is good but 10 or 12 is better..ect.. as you said they are small fish so they dont take up too much room.

[firefly]

Different schoolers don't typically school together, so you really need a large ammount of each type of schooler. (despite the name, black neons are no more closely related to neons than other tetras...) If you give up on the rainbows, you could do another school of say six or seven black neons, and increase the neon size to about ten. YOu could do ONE dwarf gourmi (in powder blue or neon blue) as well. That should work.

Emily

[zabak80]

I would LOVE to get a dwarf gourami! I've talked to seveal people at the local stores though and they all say that they would nip the guppies fins. Does anyone have any experience with them and guppies? So can I get a single dwarf gourami instead of the rainbows?

[zabak80]

So you are saying ditch the rainbows, add a gourami, the swordtails and another school of tetras?

[Boohoo]

Glowlight tetras go well with neons and sometimes they will all school together.

[firefly]

I would LOVE to get a dwarf gourami! I've talked to seveal people at the local stores though and they all say that they would nip the guppies fins. Does anyone have any experience with them and guppies? So can I get a single dwarf gourami instead of the rainbows?

THe larger gouramis would likely harass the guppies, but my experience with dwarfs is that they are fine. I would keep an eye on things though, to make sure. I also wouldn't mix a gourami of any kind with a betta, but that's not the issue here. And, yes it would be a single dwarf gourami, they do fight with eachother a bit. And, then you'd have room to either increase your neon school, or add another school of a small fish.... BUt, keep the school numbers largish... without totally overloading the tank. ALso, you will need to be very dilligent about waterchanges etc.

Emily

[Emg]

I have two dwarf neon gourami in a 29 and they do spar a bit, but nothing severe....no damage is ever done. They wave those ventral barbles at each other, it's pretty funny actually...lol... They seem to have plenty of room in the 29 to get away from each other when they want to.

If you like blue fish and you decide to go with dwarf gourami, I would get the powder blue dwarfs. They are a very pretty blue. I sometimes wish I had gotten those instead of the neons...but the neons are very pretty too ! ;)

[zabak80]

Back to the drawing board! I got 3 swordtails today and 5 neon black tetras. Everything was good for the most part, until I came home tonight and found my guppy missing half of its fin! THE SWORDTAILS ARE GOING BACK TOMORROW MORNING....

Any other suggestions?

[Boohoo]

from what I've heard swordtails can be nippy, if you want that "orange color " get a few platys.

[zabak80]

So platy's aren't nippy? I wouldn't mind platy's, although a little less interesting, as long as they are safe.

[sky.eyes.woman]

Welllll...sunburst platies are pretty... ;)