29 Gallon Stocking

[Shayna]

My fishless cycle is closing in to an end in my 29 gallon so I've been thinking of what to stock it with. It will be quite heavily planted with black sandy substrate. So far I've thought of the following:

15 Cardinal Tetras
3m+7f Kerri Tetras (Inpaichthys kerri)
1m+3f Apistogramma cacatuoides
4 Otos

Does that look understocked, overstocked or just about right? Any suggestions what you would change/add is more than welcome as I'm still open to all ideas

 

[rich311k]

That seems like an awful lot of schooling fish. I would pick one tetra or the other.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Or if you want both schools, knock the cardinals down to 8-10. I have 2 schools of fish (neons and glowlights) in my 29g, but only 7 of each. I think 15 cardinals and 10 of the others will be really crowded.

 

[Shayna]

I can decrease the schools if you feel it's too many. Maybe 10 cardinals and 2m+5f kerri tetras will be better. I might also go with 2 cockatoo apisto females instead of 3. I hadn't thought of the number of species much other than deciding I want to have real schools and not just a few of each. I had even planned on a third school (black neons) but decided against that idea until I get a 5th tank. I'm running out of space to put more tanks though.. lol

Thanks for the input More comments are appreciated

 

[Tong]

Even with your new stocking list, I believe you are still overstocked using the normal guidelines (inch per gallon rule, surface area rule). If you further reduced the number of tetras by 12 or so (6 in each school or 1 school of 12 or so), I think you'll be within the guidelines.

Now, honestly I'm not a stickler for the guidelines and I don't think many people here are either. But I would start with the lower stocking levels the guidelines give. And then as your tank gets planted, established and you figure out how to handle your tank, you can try to add more fish.

 

[Shayna]

I don't really follow the 1 inch/gallon rule either. Using a bit of common sense works better IMO. I don't think a tank looks good if it's too crowded so I will definately start stocking slowly over several months. I'll start with the kerris and see if there's room for the cardinals later. If not, I'll just go with the kerri school even though I would've wanted the color the cardinals give. Thanks for the advice

Btw, do any of you have suggestions on another beautiful 'center-piece fish' instead of cockatoo apistos?

 

[Shayna]

Do anyone have any experiences to share with gold gouramis? I was thinking one gourami would be a better match than the cockatoo harem and especially the gold gourami is beautiful, but all sources say it's semi-aggressive (and possibly too big for a 29 gal?) and I'm worried it might be too aggressive to keep with peaceful tetras.

 

[Pleco]

Maybe use this as an example, I have a 40 Gallon Tall which is probably around the same surface area you have, but a good example i think.

Stock
8 Neon Tetras
8 Beacon Tetras
1 Austrailian Rainbow
2 Dwarf Neon Rainbows
1 Golden Nugget Pleco
1 Mystery Snail

I had 3 dwarf gouramis in the tank until one of them killed off the other two. Then he went mental on the other fish and the one invert in the tank and i had to sell him back to the fish store. Gouramis can be very territorial even with other fish. A non dwarf would eventually out grow the tank imo.

I may add a couple other smaller fish, we shall see. 3 more at the most, i dont like to overstock even though some may say im at or near it already Make sure your filtration is adequate

-Pleco

 

[RoK]

Do anyone have any experiences to share with gold gouramis? I was thinking one gourami would be a better match than the cockatoo harem and especially the gold gourami is beautiful, but all sources say it's semi-aggressive (and possibly too big for a 29 gal?) and I'm worried it might be too aggressive to keep with peaceful tetras.

One gold gourami should be fine in the tank.
None of my gouramis really bother tetras or other small fish. They mostly just bicker amongst one another.

 

[Shayna]

Thanks for the replies I think I'll just wait and see what I can find in the lfs when it's time to stock the tank. If I can find a honey gourami instead of the gold, I will go with that but honeys are quite rare here and I don't like the regular dwarf gouramis. If gold is the only one I can find, I'll try that and see how it works. I have other tanks I can move fish in between if necessary, or get an excuse to set up another larger tank based around the gold gourami.

 

[Tostada]

About your tetras:

I think since you said your tank is heavily planted, you can probably fit a pretty decent number of small fish in there. Obviously you shouldn't add them all at once, so just develop a flexible plan and see how it goes.

Most people would probably say my 30 gal. hex is pretty overstocked. It has 1 betta, 1 gold gourami, 5 ghost shrimp, 5 panda corys, 6 swords, and 7 rasboras. They all have their own space, though. The corys root all around the gravel. The shrimp stand on the plants or driftwood. The swords hang around the middle. The rasboras hang around the top. The betta and gourami wander around pretty slowly, and each have their own spots they like to sit. At times the tank actually looks really empty.

Your 29 gal. might end up being a little lopsided. If you've mostly just got tons of tetras, they might all be around the same area -- schools in thte upper/middle area who like to hide in your plants.

I'm certainly no expert, though.



About the gourami:

Even just looking at them in the store, I got the idea pretty quickly that they pick on each other but mostly leave other fish alone.

When I put 7 rasboras in my tank, the gourami chased them around a bit for the first two days I had them in there, but I never saw him do any damage. Someone also ate a lot of the tail off one of my panda corys, but I'm not sure if that was the gourami.

It really seems like my gold gourami is only aggressive towards other gouramis and fish he doesn't know well. Of course, I'm sure there are gouramis that have totally different personalities.

 

[Shayna]

Thanks Tostada. I also thought I could fit a pretty decent number of fish since it's going be heavily planted. I definately thought I'd have room for two tetra schools considering the tetra species I want both max out at 2". But I'll keep an eye on water params and stock accordingly.

I know the tetras are going to occupy the same tank space, that's why I'd like a gourami that swims a bit all over. I had initially wanted the tank to be south american themed, but I just can't think of a SA center-piece fish I'll be happy with that doesn't stick to just the bottom.

Gouramis are like bettas I suppose, all have different personalities. I've had dwarf gouramis in the past and my male was vicious towards all other fish, including his two females. I have two male pearls as well and they're like best friends. So I guess I will have to try and either move fish around between my tanks or take him back to the lfs if it doesn't work out well.

 

[Nicole29]

you could get a pair of Bolivian Rams for your centerpiece if you want to stick to an SA theme. They are very peaceful, and mine are very active.
Or if you want some more colour maybe a pair of Blue rams.

 

[Shayna]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't quite like the colours of Bolivian Rams, not to mention I haven't ever seen them in the lfs here. I do like Blue Rams, but healthy rams are very hard to find (I've been looking for a male to the female blue ram in my 80 gal since I bought her over six months ago..) So rams of any kind are unfortunately not possible.