Stocked 29 gallon

[plantgirl02]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to ask about stocking for my 29 gallon tank. Keep in mind it is heavily planted and I change 50% of the water out once a week. So far I have:

6 swordtails (3 red wags, 2 albino pineapple, 1 dual band)
5 bloodfin tetras
3 glowlight tetras (waiting for fish store to be in stock to complete this school)
1 glowlight rasbora (he was in the tank with the glowlight tetras and I didn't notice he was different til I got him home.. I would also like to complete this school)
5 ghost shrimp
4 cherry red shrimp

So all in all, I would like to get 2 more glowlight tetras and 4 more glowlight rasboras, maybe 1 more swordtail. Is that going to be possible? What else could I fit into this tank?

 

[missileman]

Its possible but you are pretty close to fully stocked now.
With all the platy's you will likely have babies before long as well.
(I love the pineapples, I have a male and 2 females, both are pregnant)

 

[bs6749]

You can add lots more to your tank in my opinion. The ghost shrimp and the red cherry shrimp shouldn't even be figured into the bioload of your tank because it is so minimal. The "rule of thumb" I use in my shrimp breeding tanks is ~300 per 10 gallons. I've successfully kept more than that in m 10g tanks with just java moss and low lighting.

According to the "inch per gallon rule", which is only an estimate, you have about 10" more of fish that you can add to your tank. Something along the lines of smaller schooling fish, apistos, dwarf cichlids, a pair of angelfish (which would also help to curb your swordtail population), etc. would all do well in your tank. You can easily add all that you want to at this point. Because your tank is heavily planted and since you do 50% water changes per week I wouldn't be afraid to add 24" of the same type of fish to the tank.

I had around 175 Endlers (like guppies) of various sizes in a 29g tank along with 6 adult GBR's and over 20 young GBR's that I was growing out. All I had in the tank was Java moss and low lighting. Snails were a cleanup crew for any uneaten food that remained. I had no problems at all and I can tell you that your tank is far more suited for that volume of fish than mine was. I did water changes of 50% about 2 times per week.

 

[plantgirl02]

I see.. I figured the shrimp wouldn't do anything to do the bioload, but good to know. I will fill out my schools then. FYI - I tested my nitrates after my water change today and they were 0. I had to add nitrogen... so I think I would be fine with adding more bioload.

Of course when the lights turned on today I thought I saw 2 specks of ich on one of my new swordtails, but she wasn't flashing and didn't look sick. I took her back to the store today anyway and as a precaution I have now changed about 60% of the water (had to today anyway), turned the lights off, and raised the temp a little. The guy at my LFS said to add 1 tbsp of aquarium salt per 10 gallons, but now I am reading everywhere that aquarium salt will kill plants. I don't know what to do. I think I am just going to skip the aquarium salt... argh..

 

[plantgirl02]

oh and missileman: i live in SE michigan too. where are you at? i am in wyandotte.

 

[missileman]

oh and missileman: i live in SE michigan too. where are you at? i am in wyandotte.

Always glad to meet a fellow Michigander, I live in Algonac.

 

[bs6749]

You didn't really accomplish anything by taking the fish back to the store because your tank is infected anyway. My recommendation to you is to purchase QuickCure of ick or to use the temperature elevation method to kill it. Temperature may be better if you don't want the silicone to get stained blue. QuickCure is highly effective and I've used it many times with 100% success and recovery. It's a combination of malachite green and formalin.

 

[joy13]

Some plants don't like any salt at all others don't mind the amount you put in.

 

[missileman]

You didn't really accomplish anything by taking the fish back to the store because your tank is infected anyway.

Maybe, maybe not.
My daughter bought some fish a while back. The next morning I noticed one was infected and I removed it right away and returned it. There never was an outbreak in that tank. If you got lucky and got the fish out before any of the imbedded Ich erupted you could be OK, but certainly watch the tank like a hawk for any sign.
If you want a much milder Ich treatment That I highly recommend I suggest Ich-Attack by Kordon. Works like a charm and does not contain Malachite Green.

 

[plantgirl02]

Hmm.. well, right now I am just really hoping it didn't erupt. She had 2 spots, which I THINK was ich - I wasn't even sure. She was acting totally normal but that could be because the disease just started. When I put her in the plastic bag I couldn't find the spots anymore. It could have been because she wasn't under bright light anymore, not sure.

Anyway, I raised my temp only 2 degrees, to 79 degrees since my LFS said I don't want to do it any more than that b/c of my plants. I will keep the lights off tomorrow too... also hoping the water change will help. I didn't put any salt in the tank because I don't want to hurt the plants...

In case I do have an outbreak, I looked into Ich-Attack and it looks like a good choice. Thanks very much for that suggestion. I am mad at myself for not having a quarantine tank but I have nowhere to put one.

Gonna turn the lights on in the morning and hopefully I don't see any spots!

 

[bs6749]

It is a certainty that the tank will have Ick present. It is always there. Whether or not you notice it (i.e. white spots on your fish) depends on the health of the fish and how stressed they are. Ick is an opportunistic parasite that waits to take hold in a sick or stressed fish. Being opportunistic means that it may stay dormant for a long time before you see it on your fish but it's a certainty that it's in the tank.

I have my 55g discus tank (bare bottom high lighting) up to 94 degrees and I had some rotala rotundifolia in there for a week at that temp before transferring it to my 29g tank (with poor lighting). I didn't notice any signs of the rotala deteriorating. Actually, it seemed to be thriving since there was no more duckweed to stop most of the light coming through. Near the ends of the stems there are thick and bushy growths. For the most part I think your plants will be fine at 87 degrees for a week or so. If not, you can always put them into a 5g bucket and wait for your tank to recover from the heat treatment. Still, I recommend chemicals.

 

[plantgirl02]

Didn't see any spots this morning... I read that the tomites will live for 48 hours at a temp of 78-80 degrees, so I am going to leave my lights off until Tuesday morning, meaning my plants will be without light for 3 1/2 days but my LFS said they can go 5 days max. By then hopefully the tomites would be dead, hoping they do not attach to any fish, if there are any at all...

 

[plantgirl02]

Oh, I just read your post bs6749.. I think I am going to wait until I see any spots before going to get chemicals.. I think most of my fish are in really good health so I would hope the ich wouldn't take them over.. such a hard decision to make..

 

[plantgirl02]

Alright, still no ich spots on any of the fish.. my light has been off since Saturday morning and I just turned it on and am leaving it on for the day. Do you guys think I'm in the clear?

Thanks in advance..