Stocking My 29gal

I don't know too much about Syndontis but they do appear to get on the larger side. And catfish are very good at eating anything they can get their mouth on. I know that the cory catfish and the RTBS can get along as my brother has kept both together for over a year with no problems. He also kept the RTBS with some yoyo loaches and had no problems (then a freak CO2 accident killed the RTBS).
 
We just got back from the pet store and this is our updated stocking option.

2 or 4 Blue Rams
6 Serpae Tetras
6 Schooling fish (Glolites, Rasboras, Bloodfin Tetras, or Black Phantoms)
3 Cory cats
1 Otto

How would this look for our 29gal?
 
Ottos need groups of 3 or more so I would forgo them and just add another cory or 2 as they love groups and look and act much better in groups as well.

I would stick to 2 rams, a breeding pair. When they breed they get very territorial and the foot print of the 29 gallon isn't that large so there might be too many fights.

Serpaes are great but can be aggressive so be careful with your other schooling choice, it should be tough as well. Perhaps try a small barb instead. A cherry barb stays small and a group of 5 or 6 would look great. Tough guys as well.
 
while reading through the post's I kept thinking "Leave some room for some Oto's for later on". :)
Once the algae comes around you might add 3 of them?

Depending on the Cory (a few diff. size options) 3 - 5 sounds ok.
But then with the Pygmy's maybe 7?
 
I haven't had any luck with shrimp.... they keep disappearing.... even though I don't have any fish that I think would be big enough to eat them. We have a snail and so far I like him, but the jury is still out. Lots of people don't like snails because they will reproduce rather quickly from what I understand, but they are kind of neat to look at and help clean the tank. Many people here have had shrimp and had good luck with them. They are neat also and really are good at cleaning the bottom especially in the gravel. Either would IMO be a great addition to your tank.
 
I can never tell how many shrimp I have at a given moment. They are small and also good hiders. Just buy a dozen or so, as a few of them will die. Also, they have rather short life spans and are sensitive to a lot of medications. My LFS keeps them in a brackish tank, so I add a little salt to my betta/shrimp tank and they seem to do better than w/o salt.
 
AquariaCentral.com