New and need some help

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fishkeeper55

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Feb 1, 2006
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hello everyone! I am new here. I have kept fish before and quit but I am now back to it. I will be setting up a 29 gallon aquarium that I recently purchased. I need some help picking out the fish to put in there. Last time I had fish I think I overstocked so I want to make sure this time. Please help me!

This is my list so far:

3 corys
3 mollies(2 female 1male)
4 platies(3 female 1 male)
5 guppies(3 females 2 males)
3 swordtail(2 female 1 male)

Is that too many fish? If so make me a list of new fish out of those and how many I can have. thanks. also I want to keep a community.
 
Hm. I'm pretty new to the hobby, so I can't say right off whether or not you'd be overstocked with that selection, but the vast number and variety of livebearers is setting off alarms in my head. The mollies, guppies, swords and platies will likely all breed with each other prolifically, and, even if you aren't overstocked at the beginning, you may find yourself over run with baby fish in a very short period of time. >_o
 
if i were you i'd go with a little more variety

the corys need a larger group ideally so how about this:

5 pygmy corys
a school of 6-10 tetras depending on adult size
and if i were you i'd pick 2 of the livebearers you talked about
remember swords and platies will cross breed too

what about 1 pair of swords for some size and the guppies
or like 4 mollies and the platies

upside down catfish are really interesting to watch and they're not bottom dwellers a few of those would be fun

or maybe a 4 dwarf loaches-great personalities lots of action in a little package

livebearers seem to me to be messier fish so they add more to the bioload than tetras so your list might be better with one less group
 
I could go:

3 otos?
4 platies
5 guppies
1 female betta

My mollies used to be mean so I can cut them I guess. Also I have never liked corys..ugly fish to me. What about otos? Do they grow very big? I really like platies and guppies. I also would like to put a female betta in there if possible. The reason I don't have tetras in there is beause I never had much luck with them. They always died but my livebearers didn't. Also not one of my livebeares ever had babies and I had both male and female...for certain. but that doesn't mean anything. I just need some help picking out!

If I decided not to do a community tank I would do this:

5 barbs(3 albino tigers, 2 regular tigers)
3 gouramis( 1 golden, blue, and a dwarf)
3 otos
 
I think your last list would be good. as for the other one, I would not mix barbs and gouramis, I think the gouramis would end up getting harrassed too much by the barbs. Personally, after I ended up with a mish-mash tank I would much rather have only a few species with larger numbers of each. I would go 8-10 tiger barbs and 5 or so otos.
 
otos platies guppies and betta will work

i agree with holly about the other stocking

bigger groups are always better
i'd even up your oto's to 5 in the first stocking
 
I like livebearers too. They are very hardy. Do you think that is why your tetras didn't do so well? They tend to be pretty sensitive to the tank sometimes. I've heard Oto's can be a little tough to keep for an extended period of time but I'm going to give them a try too once my tank is cycled. They are supposed to be great for algea and plants.
 
I will also have live plants. So you guys like:

3 otos
1 female betta
4 platies
5 guppies

is that all I can have in there or can I have more?

Also on the barbs 8 barbs would fit in a 29 gal.?
 
Maybe you could have more bottom dwellers. Maybe even a mid-dweller like a dwarf gourami? But I'm not sure how that would go with a female betta. For bottom dwellers you could probably add some shrimp or an African Dwarf Frog.

Are you going to do a fishy or fishless cycle?
 
Holly9937 said:
I think your last list would be good. as for the other one, I would not mix barbs and gouramis, I think the gouramis would end up getting harrassed too much by the barbs. Personally, after I ended up with a mish-mash tank I would much rather have only a few species with larger numbers of each. I would go 8-10 tiger barbs and 5 or so otos.
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Tiger barbs are an unusual fish I would suggest them as a single speies tank. They will sometimes just turn on certain fish and pick on the fish until it is dead they'll do this to pretty much any fish that isn't twice their size(they'll school with them though had it happen before). And gouramies don't seem to do well with tiger barbs usually what happens is the gourami kills the tiger barb. Then once in a while the tiger barbs will kill the gourami.Just my 2 dollars
 
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