Can you help me stock new tank?

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Kelly

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I have really enjoyed reading this message board the last few days. I have learned quiet a bit and look forward to learning more!

I just purchased my first fish tank. I am really excited! :) I was wondering if I could get help and advice from you all? I know you probably get bored with answering the same questions all the time, LOL, but I would be greatful for some help.

here is what I have so far....

29 gallon freshwater tank
Penguin 170 Bio-Wheel Filter
Heater
gravel, decorations and fake plants

We just set it up last night and are in the process of cycling it, fishless. I am still learning about that too, but there is enough info here to read on.

What I need help with is what to stock our tank with when ready. I would prefer a peaceful community tank. We have a 3 year old son who will also be getting LOTS of enjoyment out of watching the 'fishies'. :D

I would like to do maybe some Rainbow fish, I love the looks of the Boeseman's Rainbow and the Jewel's.
Maybe some White Cloud Mountain Minnows
and then maybe some Cory's ?

Also, could I have some shrimp and snails in this tank too?

What do you all think of my choices and do you have reccomendations on other fish or how many of each of these I should get??

Thank you for any advice!!

Kelly
fish tank newbie :D
 
White clouds are a great choice. Colourful, hardy, peaceful. But they do prefer cooler water so not the greatest mix with some types of fis, like tetras, that want warmer water.

A large school of cory catfish for the bottom, white clouds, snails and shrimp would be great. Then find some sort of centerpiece fish. A betta might be a good choice. There is plenty of room for a betta to find a peaceful cornor. He would of course probably chase the white clouds around but I find that in the past that selection of fish has worked well for me.

In a 29 gallon you will be able to have rather nice large schools of minnows and cories.
 
Glad to see you are doing some planning first :).

Personally I prefer small rainbowfish like Dwarf Neon Rainbows or Threadfin Rainbows. They stay smaller so you can have a few more of them in a school and are nicely coloured. Also, they are easy to sex. Males usually have more intense colours and threadfin males have longer fins.
Here is a link if you want more info: Home of the Raindowfish

Cories are great fish, and so are loaches. Striated, yoyo, or dwarf loaches would all do well in a small group in your aquarium.

You still have room for more fish, and it's entirely up to you what you get. Shrimp would make an interesting addition to the tank too.

Best of luck,

Graeme
 
Thank you so much for your help and advice. I really appreciate it. :)

I went to the LFS to pick up a test kit and looked around at fish while I was there. Deciding on what to stock with is going to be hard!! I can see me wanting to get more tanks in the near future. LOL I am glad that I have a few weeks while my tank is cycling to decide.

I really loved the Dwarf Blue Neon Gourami's, but know nothing about them so I am off to do some research. I also really liked a Blood Parrotmouth that I saw. Hmmmmm, might not be sticking with the peaceful aquarium. Haha! I still really like the White Clouds and I looked at the Rainbows again too.

I hate descions! LOL

Thanks again for the help...and if anyone else wants to chime in with their 2 cents I would appreciate it! :)

Thanks,
Kelly
who is having a hard time choosing :D
 
A word about tetras too. If you end up trying to get a couple of different school of tetras they tend to end up schooling together and look a little messy. I would stick with one schooling mid level fish and then add things like the gourami and maybe some platies or sword tails.
 
Thanks TKOS, I appreciate you help. :)

So could I do a tank with White Clouds, Dwarf Gourami's, cory's or loaches, and then the shrimp and snails? Would they all do okay together?

If I decide on this, how many of each type could I have in my tank?

I am having so much fun looking around and reading about stuff. Now I am just patiently waiting for my tank to cycle. It has been up and running for 48 hours and is just showing some ammonia, no nitrites yet. :::::sigh::::: Patience, Patience, Patience. LOL

Thanks,
Kelly
 
General rule for freshwater community fish: 1 inch of fish per gallon. This is based on weight. Sooo... if you have a three inch fish it is going to need a lot more room than three one inch fishes. But generally, that rule works out the best since most fishes you will get will be in the 1-2 inch region, for small community tanks anyways.

Also remember that just because you have a 29 gallon tank doesn't mean that you can fit 29 inches of fish in there. Once you get all the gravel and plants and decorations in the tank, the amount of water in the tank drops dratically. You can loose around 5 gallons of water! Thus, now you can only have 24 inches of fish, and those extra 5 would make the tank overcrowded.

I also suggest only adding a few fish to start with... just to get the tank cycling. Dont add all your fishwishlist at once, and have them all die! :( If you are going to have a little school or coryies, add them first because they are pretty hardy fish. Mine is the sole survivor from the first load of fish that went in three years ago. :p That way they will help cycle the tank, even if you have already cycled, they will still help.

Snails are good at eating watse that accumulates in the rocks. Even if you have live plants, snails are ultimately beneficial. Having a clown loach to keep them in check is always good too. Err unless you buy the big snails specially from the pet store... then I dont know if you want them being eaten. :D
 
Since you are fishless cycling then you will be able to add a full load of fish all at once. And if you add live plants after the fishless cycle that will onlt help.

If you want more than one dwarf gourami then I suggest definatly have lots of hiding places like live or fake plants or a combination of the 2. They can get aggressive sometimes and need a place to run to. Live plants are also great as gouramis like to nibble at them.

Don't get any of the big loaches like a clown loach as it can get to be 12 inches long. If you want loaches I would suggest khulie loaches. They get about 4 inches long at most but have very thin bodies. They are rather shy and do hide a lot. If you want a fish that is constantly on the move then get a school of cories. In a tank that size 7 or 8 will do fine. They are super peaceful and very funny. Plus there are lots of varieties and they all tend to get along. Get at least 2 or a kind though. If you get 8 then get 4 or 1 kind and four of another.

As for White Clouds they do good if you get 7-8 of them as well.

Adding snails and shrimp will work fine and they do not add very much to the biomass of a tank. Occasionaly snails strat to overbreed but gouramis and shrimp will probably nibble the eggs and cories love it if you squish some small snails for them.

Make sure to have a nice test kit (as I am sure you do) and do your water changes on time and this tank should do great. I would keep the temp at 74F as the white clouds won't like it much higher and the gouramis won't liek it much cooler.
 
heres a little formula for finding out how many fish can be in your tank.

take the surface area of your tank( length times width), then divide that number by twelve for tropical freshwater, and that is the max inches of fish you can safely have in your tank.

The reason that the inche of fish to gallon formula doesnt work is because surface area determines the amount of oxygen that dissolves in the water.


so for example. My ten gallon tank has a length of 20 in, and a width of 10. So multiply 20 and 10 and you get 200, divide that by twelve and you get 16.999999999 rounded out thats about seventeen inches.

all freshwater fish need about 12 sq in of space
all coldwater need27 sq in
and all marine need 47 sq in

sertain fish though, like anabantids(gouramis and siamese fighter fish) can live in low oxygen conditions. The reason for this is that they have an auxillary breathing organ called a labyrinth. thats why siamese fighters can live in small cups and such.

i started my first tank out with gouramis glowlights cories and a black khuli loach. All of those i had no problem with
 
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