29 Gallon Aquarium, lots of questions and advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!

dani_starr

dani_starr

AC Members
Aug 6, 2011
661
4
18
California
Real Name
Dani :)
Hi,

So I have a 29 gal that I got off of craigslist about a month ago (it has a Marineland Penguin BioWheel 200 external power filter, and some sort of red iron rich sharp substrate), it had 1 shubunkin goldfish and 3 live plants, I found the goldy a home in a koi pond, and transferred the 3 plants (1x anubias sp. and 2x sword sp.) into my other 29 gallon tank low light plant tank (has lots of driftwood, eco complete w/ sand on top, getting more plants) so now I am left with an empty tank.

So far I've decided I want at least 1 of the following species (I know they all can't go together due to different water chemistry, temp or compatibility needs)
-Balloon mollies, only male (I'd have a molly only brackish tank)
-Betta, male or female sorority (I've had a sorority before, and always feel so bad for bettas so I feel as if I have to include them in EVERY tank set up, which limits what fish I can have obviously)
-1 pair Pearl or pref. Opaline Gouramis
-Ram cichlids (pref Longfin Blue ram if I can find them! They are GORGEOUS http://www.livefishdirect.com/images/fish/thumbs/Microgeophagus Ramirezi.jpg)
-Male guppies
-Cardinal Tetras
-Cherry shrimp or some sort of fairly cheap shrimp

:help: My questions
1) Is it cruel to keep balloon mollies? I hate all other ballooned fish, but I had a male balloon sailfin molly that I loved, he had a fun personality

2) What would be the perfect tank for rams, I would love to have them over all the other fish, but I know they are fragile and can die easily

3) Is a 29 gallon too small for a pair of Blue/Opaline Gouramis?

4) Any other fish that you think have fun personalities that would be good for a 29 gallon?

5) Basically any stocking ideas/lists you have, if I get sand to put on top then I will probably get some panda cories as well

I prefer to have fish that I can name and identify from one another, my boyfriend loves tetras (well when I make him go through fish stores with me and point out what he likes, that's what he chooses, namely black skirts, which I just don't like :wall:) and nothing would make him happier then a tetra tank, but I just have never liked them that much, except cardinals, pristella, and blue emperor. And given we just moved in together, I want to try to make him happy as well, but I will ultimately choose the fish. ;)

And I will make it a low light planted tank, just want to figure out what fish first.

Thanks for all answers!
 
dani_starr said:
Hi,

So I have a 29 gal that I got off of craigslist about a month ago (it has a Marineland Penguin BioWheel 200 external power filter, and some sort of red iron rich sharp substrate), it had 1 shubunkin goldfish and 3 live plants, I found the goldy a home in a koi pond, and transferred the 3 plants (1x anubias sp. and 2x sword sp.) into my other 29 gallon tank low light plant tank (has lots of driftwood, eco complete w/ sand on top, getting more plants) so now I am left with an empty tank.

So far I've decided I want at least 1 of the following species (I know they all can't go together due to different water chemistry, temp or compatibility needs)
-Balloon mollies, only male (I'd have a molly only brackish tank)
-Betta, male or female sorority (I've had a sorority before, and always feel so bad for bettas so I feel as if I have to include them in EVERY tank set up, which limits what fish I can have obviously)
-1 pair Pearl or pref. Opaline Gouramis
-Ram cichlids (pref Longfin Blue ram if I can find them! They are GORGEOUS http://www.livefishdirect.com/images/fish/thumbs/Microgeophagus Ramirezi.jpg)
-Male guppies
-Cardinal Tetras
-Cherry shrimp or some sort of fairly cheap shrimp

:help: My questions
1) Is it cruel to keep balloon mollies? I hate all other ballooned fish, but I had a male balloon sailfin molly that I loved, he had a fun personality
yes bc they are breed to be deformed.
2) What would be the perfect tank for rams, I would love to have them over all the other fish, but I know they are fragile and can die easily
heavily planted with loads of filteration.
3) Is a 29 gallon too small for a pair of Blue/Opaline Gouramis?
IMO yes it is unless thats all you wanna keep in there. a 40 gallon or 55 gallon is better.

4) Any other fish that you think have fun personalities that would be good for a 29 gallon?
killifish. alot like bettas with better coloration and wayyy more peacefull. i recomend any gardneri species.

5) Basically any stocking ideas/lists you have, if I get sand to put on top then I will probably get some panda cories as well
my 29 gallon is
5-harlequin rasboras
6-red/blue columbian tetras
3-julii corys
3-peppered corys
2-platies
1-female cockatoo apisto
1-male betta
I prefer to have fish that I can name and identify from one another, my boyfriend loves tetras (well when I make him go through fish stores with me and point out what he likes, that's what he chooses, namely black skirts, which I just don't like :wall:) and nothing would make him happier then a tetra tank, but I just have never liked them that much, except cardinals, pristella, and blue emperor. And given we just moved in together, I want to try to make him happy as well, but I will ultimately choose the fish. ;)

And I will make it a low light planted tank, just want to figure out what fish first.

Thanks for all answers!
Click to expand...
my response is in red
 
I see nothing wrong with keeping balloon mollies. It's all in what you like. No different than fancy goldfish IMO.

I think any of you dwarf cichlids species will give you some personality. I had a pair of rainbow cichlids that were really neat.

I also think a sorority of vetted would be cool and personable. Killis do better in species tanks than community tanks IME.
 
1) I agree with Blue, it's really your choice. I personally am not a fan but it's not my tank.

2) Planted is better but not necessary by any means so long as there is enough other cover.

3) Yes, blue/opaline/golds are fairly large for a 29g and are not exactly the best community fish.
 
I like the idea of a pair of rams (not a fan of the long fins, but this isn't my tank ;) ), a school of cardinal tetras and maybe some panda cories, but if your rams decide to spawn, they might beat up on the cories quite a bit, and also possibly a few otos
 
dani_starr said:
Hi,

So I have a 29 gal that I got off of craigslist about a month ago (it has a Marineland Penguin BioWheel 200 external power filter, and some sort of red iron rich sharp substrate), it had 1 shubunkin goldfish and 3 live plants, I found the goldy a home in a koi pond, and transferred the 3 plants (1x anubias sp. and 2x sword sp.) into my other 29 gallon tank low light plant tank (has lots of driftwood, eco complete w/ sand on top, getting more plants) so now I am left with an empty tank.

So far I've decided I want at least 1 of the following species (I know they all can't go together due to different water chemistry, temp or compatibility needs)
-Balloon mollies, only male (I'd have a molly only brackish tank)
-Betta, male or female sorority (I've had a sorority before, and always feel so bad for bettas so I feel as if I have to include them in EVERY tank set up, which limits what fish I can have obviously)
-1 pair Pearl or pref. Opaline Gouramis
-Ram cichlids (pref Longfin Blue ram if I can find them! They are GORGEOUS http://www.livefishdirect.com/images/fish/thumbs/Microgeophagus Ramirezi.jpg)
-Male guppies
-Cardinal Tetras
-Cherry shrimp or some sort of fairly cheap shrimp

:help: My questions
1) Is it cruel to keep balloon mollies? I hate all other ballooned fish, but I had a male balloon sailfin molly that I loved, he had a fun personality
cruel? no. personally, I dont really like the look of them. if you do though go for it.

2) What would be the perfect tank for rams, I would love to have them over all the other fish, but I know they are fragile and can die easily
rams are not as fragile as people think. most are captive-bred now and will readily adjust to a wide variety of conditions. most pairs that I have had have spawned within a week of introducing them. all were from different sources.

3) Is a 29 gallon too small for a pair of Blue/Opaline Gouramis?
a pair? I wouldnt keep them in a pair. in fact, with the other fish you have mentioned, I wouldnt keep them at all. they can be real bullies to other tankmates and especially other gouramis. they look great and can be very personable and are also VERY hardy fish, but I wouldnt keep them with anything that is smaller than they are or any other sort of gourami. only exception is after being conditioned to breed, but even then the female can be beat up pretty bad in some cases.

4) Any other fish that you think have fun personalities that would be good for a 29 gallon?
i really like platies. mine seem to like swimming around all care-free and come up to the tank when i walk up. also consider an angelfish or pearl gouramis. unlike opalines, pearls are pretty peaceful. still would not keep more than one in a 29, though.

5) Basically any stocking ideas/lists you have, if I get sand to put on top then I will probably get some panda cories as well
I'm sure I have some sort of thread around here somewhere with a whole list of 29 gallon lists...but here's one based on what you seem to want

2 GBR's (breeding pair)
10 cardinal tetras
3 platies (either 1m/2fm or 3 fm)

I prefer to have fish that I can name and identify from one another, my boyfriend loves tetras (well when I make him go through fish stores with me and point out what he likes, that's what he chooses, namely black skirts, which I just don't like :wall:) and nothing would make him happier then a tetra tank, but I just have never liked them that much, except cardinals, pristella, and blue emperor. And given we just moved in together, I want to try to make him happy as well, but I will ultimately choose the fish. ;)

And I will make it a low light planted tank, just want to figure out what fish first.

Thanks for all answers!
Click to expand...

answers in blue
 
Thanks everyone, so gouramis are off the list then, I kinda figured they would be.

Blue2fyre, what did you mean by vetted? :confused:

So for rams, do I have to have a breeding pair? I really don't want to breed my fish, I don't want to worry about rearing/rehoming the babies, I'd more likely buy more tanks before giving them to someone else! (And that goes with basically any species of fish)
Could I just have a tank of male or just female rams?

And after looking at prices, killifish are def out!

I'm contemplating just a tank full of pretty male guppies, male guppies aren't aggressive like swordtails when no females are present, right? If I did just all guppies and some shrimp, how many guppies should I do?
 
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dani_starr said:
Thanks, so by deformed, do you mean ill? Are they more suspectable to disease/illness then other mollies?

And okay on the gouramis, I kinda figured it would be a tight squeeze, at least I can cross one species off.

Killifish are peaceful? I though they were aggressive.. I def. need to research them more! Do they need a species only tank?

And I don't want my fish to breed if possible, I really would like to NOT have any babies.
Click to expand...
by deformed i mean a molly was deformed so they started breeding it with other mollys to keep that balloon feature. i dont know if theyre more suspectable to disease or not. killifish dont NEED a species tank. get non anuals bc annuals die very quick bc thats what they do in the wild. if you do killifish i recomend any gardneri species. they will breed but the eggs or fry will get gobbled up. also some recomendations for tankmates are rasboras, small tetras (1.5 inches or less), corys, and other small peaceful fish.you can see my male killifish as my avatar.
 
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