Stocking my 29g Tank

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NicAine

AC Members
May 28, 2006
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Hallo.

I'm still relatively new to fish, but I've got a 29g tank with about 10-ish live plants in it and a pair of cherry barbs that I just added in last night. Well, I'm assuming I still have a pair as I can only see the female, the male tends to hide.

Ideally I would like to have a pair of dwarf gourami, some bronze cory cats, and a school or two of tetras or danios in addition to my little barbs. It was suggested I also add in 3 platys (1 male, 2 female).

I don't want to overstock my little tank though. Would that be too many fish?

And lastly, any suggestions for type of tetra or danio that plays well with the other planned fish? I've heard that danios might be a bit too much for the dwarf gourami.

Thanks.
 
The tank is fully cycled right?. if not don't add anymore fish.For danios or tetras, go with about 6-8, 2 is not a proper school, as for the type, neons have been realitively hardy in my expierience, please do not go with danios, they will really stress out your gouramis IME. The stocking should be good, but have 6-8 tetras, 3-5 corys, male female pair of gouramis (even though females are hard to find, 2 males does'nt really count as a pair) and 3 male platys (so they don't reproduce and infest your tank).I
 
Dorkfish said:
The tank is fully cycled right?. if not don't add anymore fish.For danios or tetras, go with about 6-8, 2 is not a proper school, as for the type, neons have been realitively hardy in my expierience, please do not go with danios, they will really stress out your gouramis IME. The stocking should be good, but have 6-8 tetras, 3-5 corys, male female pair of gouramis (even though females are hard to find, 2 males does'nt really count as a pair) and 3 male platys (so they don't reproduce and infest your tank).
Click to expand...

Yuppers, the tank is definately cycled. I couldn't just toss the poor little fishies in if it weren't. :-)

As for schooling fish, I meant 2 schools, not 2 individuals. Guess I could have worded that better. Is a 29g big enough to support 2 schools as well as the other fish? Also, if not danios, would harlequins be acceptable?

Lastly, platys seem to want more light than the rest of my fishes, so should I maybe scratch them off of the list so that there is more room for schooling fish? That'd leave:

2 cherry barbs (I thought these were antisocial and did best in pairs, researching more!)
2 dwarf gouramis
4 bronze cory cats
6 harlequin rasboras
6 of another tetra school (maybe black neon?)

I don't plan on adding any additional breeds of fish for about a week, and then stocking very slowly, so I'm not in a rush or whatnot. But I want to have the best possible tank for all my little fishies, ya know?
 
Well, from what I've always heard the ratio of fish to tank size is - one inch of fish to 1 gallon of water. So if you have smaller fish like neon tetras you could have 2 to a gallon. This is dependant on the type of fish though, because some just don't get along with each other. A planted tank helps also. I usually understock just to be on the safe side.
 
NicAine said:
2 cherry barbs (I thought these were antisocial and did best in pairs, researching more!)
Click to expand...
Good idea :) Always check and double check. Never take one person's word for it.

FWIW all barbs and tetras are schooling fish.

Roan
 
The inch per gallon rule is wrong so don't follow it just keep asking here.

I think you should be fine as long as you change at least 40% a week. If someone else says you're overstocked take their advice.
 
So I was researching my Cherry Barbs a bit more (as in obsessing over this for hours...) and about 1/3rd of the websites I've checked said that pairs are the way to go and then the other 2/3rds say that I want at least 6. So in the interest of fish welfare, we'll go with a school of barbs, and if they all hate each other horribly then I guess I'll have a legitimate excuse to buy a nice 10g tank for them to live in. :-)

That said, new stocking plan:

6 Cherry Barbs
4 Bronze Cory Cats
2 Dwarf Gourami
6-10 Black Neon Tetras OR Harlequin Rasbora

If I do that, which would be better? They both seem to be compatible, but my track record with seemingly obvious facts isn't all that great. :-(

Also, thanks for all the helpful advice. I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer my questions.
 
Hi all, I thought a school of fish was 12 or more and a shoal was about 6 fish in a group. Is this right or is there more to it? wouldn't she be better of with about 10+ barbs so they keep to themselves ? What about some Serpea tetra's?
 
well, in this size a tank, a shoal is good enough as thy can't be more than about 2 and a half feet away from each other at any given moment. The stocking list should be fine, but nevertheless will be fully stocked if yo go with 10 black neons/rasbora. Personally I'd go with the black neons, they should present some nice contrast with the ther fish in the tank and really stand out/make the other fish stand out.
 
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