29 Gallon Journal

ok so ill do
6-columbian tetras
6-juli corys
1-female cockatoo apisto
4-male platys or 1-dwarf gourami or 1-angelfish
3-ottos or 1-bristlenose(bristlenose if i decide on the dwarf gourami)
 
I have, IME. My beautiful male ABN is only 4.5" and he is 1.5 years old, and adult BNs in my LFS are 6"s.

fish grow throughout their entire lives. your ABN may only be about 1.5 years old, but the ones you saw in the LFS could be much older than that...3 or 4 years old.

so would
6-columbian tetras
6-julii corys
1-female cockatoo apisto
1-dwarf gourami OR 4- male platies
3-ottos (i dont even know how easy it would be to find a bristlenose anyway)
would be ok with a tetra 30-60 filter, an aquaclear 40, and 50% water changes every week?

i am a fan of both of those top-dwelling fish. I have had more luck with platies than dwarf gouramis, BUT you already have two other groups of fish in your tank. adding another group might make it seem busy, especially since platies tend to roam everywhere around the tank (at least mine do). dwarf gouramis tend to stay near the top of the tank IME.

do rummynose tetras or zebra danios stay at the top of the tank?

zebra danios definitely will, but rummynoses are mid-bottom dwellers.
 
At feeding time nearly all fish are top dwellers...:)

Overstocking is one of the worst things you can do for a tank...means more filteration needed and more frequent/larger water changes. I'd not add another group of 6 fish to the list you have above. I think having dedicated top dwellers is overrated...especially in a well stocked tank. Midwater fish will spend more time higher up than you expect with lots of plants/driftwood/rocks.
 
all of my fish are at the bottom and low middle of the tank. i do 50% water changes weekly (i dont even need to do more then 25 %) i am heavily planting the tank and am running a tetra 30-60 along with an aquaclear 40. so..... is there a possibility i can add hatchets? or harlequins?
 
You probably can with lots of plants and all that filtration. I'd go with hatches or maybe dwarf pencilfish if you can find them. My harlequins are not primarily top dwellers...they're all over all the layers of the tank. Actually...even my kuhlis are all over the tank as well. Heavy planting and decorations, for me at least, lead to fish all over the place.
 
i heard hatchets stay at the top and barely go to the middle or bottom. ok so lets do a little pole on the people who are commenting. which would you choose that stay mostly at the top?
harlequin rasboras
silver hatchets
or
zebra danios
 
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