29g Stocking Advice

[Sentinel]

I'm planning on setting up a 29-gallon freshwater community tank and looking for some advice on my current stocking ideas. I'm currently considering:

2x dwarf gourami's
12x tetras (of some variety, heard neon's might not be the best)
12x chili rasbora's
2x German blue rams (this is where I'm not so sure)

Tank is filtered with an AquaClear 50 and has an adjustable 100w heater. I plant to add live plants and other natural decor for hiding places and to add depth to the tank. Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

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Avoid dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms. They are regularly infected with the gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis (TB). Neither of these diseases can be treated and once they are in your tank, they are there until to strip it and disinfect everything.

There are plenty of small gouramis that are less likely to carry these diseases. They aren't as bright and colourful but are generally much healthier fish. Look at Indian banded, sparkling, honey, and licorice gouramis.

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Neon tetras are poor quality and inbred, same as guppies and dwarf gouramis. There are lots of small tetras but it depends on what you like, as well as tank size and water chemistry.

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Blue rams can be good quality or bad. The German blue rams are simply blue rams bred in Germany. They are the same species of fish from Asian fish farms, just bred in a different country. The fish bred in Germany are usually better quality and have fewer diseases than those bred in Indonesia, China or other places.

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What filter media does the AquaClear have in it?
They used to have Ammogon/ Zeolite (white granules used to remove ammonia).
Carbon (black granules used to remove chemicals from the water).
White Ceramic beads designed to hold bacteria.
A sponge to trap gunk and hold bacteria.

If it has carbon or Ammogon in, take these out because they aren't needed. Replace them with another sponge.

Power filters should be cleaned at least once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wait until after that before you start cleaning it so you don't disturb the beneficial filter bacteria growing in the filter media/ materials. When you do clean the filter, simply wash/ squeeze out the filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

 

[Magaratz]

Before you start stocking, give some consideration to stocking fish of the same region. For example, check out fish from the Amazon basin before mixing in African area fish.

 

[Sentinel]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

---------------------

Avoid dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms. They are regularly infected with the gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis (TB). Neither of these diseases can be treated and once they are in your tank, they are there until to strip it and disinfect everything.

There are plenty of small gouramis that are less likely to carry these diseases. They aren't as bright and colourful but are generally much healthier fish. Look at Indian banded, sparkling, honey, and licorice gouramis.

------

Neon tetras are poor quality and inbred, same as guppies and dwarf gouramis. There are lots of small tetras but it depends on what you like, as well as tank size and water chemistry.

------

Blue rams can be good quality or bad. The German blue rams are simply blue rams bred in Germany. They are the same species of fish from Asian fish farms, just bred in a different country. The fish bred in Germany are usually better quality and have fewer diseases than those bred in Indonesia, China or other places.

---------------------

What filter media does the AquaClear have in it?
They used to have Ammogon/ Zeolite (white granules used to remove ammonia).
Carbon (black granules used to remove chemicals from the water).
White Ceramic beads designed to hold bacteria.
A sponge to trap gunk and hold bacteria.

If it has carbon or Ammogon in, take these out because they aren't needed. Replace them with another sponge.

Power filters should be cleaned at least once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wait until after that before you start cleaning it so you don't disturb the beneficial filter bacteria growing in the filter media/ materials. When you do clean the filter, simply wash/ squeeze out the filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Tank dimensions are 30.25" x 12.5" x 18.75". Water supply parameters are as follows:

pH: 8.2
KH: 4 dKH
GH: 8 dGH

My AquaClear filter currently has sponge/charcoal/ceramic biological media in it, the charcoal will be removed once the substrate murkiness is improved. This isn't my first tank so general aquarium maintenance is not new to me, however this is my first larger community tank, so stocking is where I struggle.

Seems like when looking at my waters pH level (although my betta tank runs slightly more acidic) it seems like tetras would not be a great idea with my more alkaline water, especially considering they aren't all that hardy to begin with. However, I think the 3 other species I've listed seems like they would be good selections and would keep the stocking levels good.

 

[Colin_T]

Tank dimensions are 30.25" x 12.5" x 18.75".

Water supply parameters are as follows:
pH: 8.2
KH: 4 dKH
GH: 8 dGH

Seems like when looking at my waters pH level (although my betta tank runs slightly more acidic) it seems like tetras would not be a great idea with my more alkaline water, especially considering they aren't all that hardy to begin with. However, I think the 3 other species I've listed seems like they would be good selections and would keep the stocking levels good.

You can drop the pH with peat or a pH reducing substance (usually sodium biphosphate). If you do reduce the pH, do it before adding the water to the tank and do it every water change so the pH in the tank remains stable.

KH 70ppm (4 dKH)
GH 140ppm (8 dGH)
is nice soft water and is ideal for small gouramis, most tetras, rasboras and blue rams. However, if the rams start breeding, the other fish might end up stuck in a corner. Having a single ram would prevent this, or just have any caves and flat rocks for the ram on one side of the tank so they have that half and the others can have the other half.

There are other types of tetra that resemble neon tetras but are much better quality. The green neon is commonly found in pet shops now and cardinal tetras are always nice. Although cardinals would like a bit more space (3 foot tank or more).

You could look at small rainbowfish like Pseudomugil gertrudae, P. luminatus or P. signifer (from soft water not brackish). Iriatherina werneri is another small rainbowfish that lives in soft water and is fine with the pH as long as they aren't wild caught. Peacock gudgeons are small and peaceful and could be used instead of blue rams. Crenicara filamentosa is an alternative for blue rams.

The following link has information and pictures on all the know rainbowfishes from Australia and New Guinea. You can look through the pictures of the Pseudomugils and see if they interest you.
Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

 

[Sentinel]

I will definitely consider rainbowfish as an option and the checkerboard cichlid does look like an interesting choice (considering that I found out that blue rams don't live very long). I just tested the pH in my betta tank and its slightly lower than my water supply (upper 7's) and they both have the same substrate (Seachem Fluorite, which is supposed to be pH neutral but it seems it makes a slight difference).

 

[Colin_T]

The pH of tap water can vary but it's usually above 7.0. The water companies add buffers to raise the pH so the chlorine, flouride and other chemicals in the water don't damage the water pipes as quickly. Chlorine also tends to raise the pH a bit.

When testing the pH of tap water, take a sample and test it straight away. Then leave the rest of the sample and test it 24 and 48 hours later. Write the results down each time so you can compare the first test with the second and third tests.

The pH can change due to oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas going into or coming out of the water sample. When the dissolved gasses in the water have stabilised, the pH should be accurate. Until it has stabilised, it can be higher or lower than it should be due to an imbalance in dissolved gasses in the water.

 

[Sentinel]

Do the samples need to be exposed to air before testing or can they be sealed in the test tubes? Regardless, it seems that ultimately the tank water will be slightly more neutral than the 8.2 straight from the tap. Also, when adding fish to the tank, besides temperature acclimation, what order should they be added? I've heard in general, the smaller schooling fish (rasboras and rainbows) should be added before more aggressive fish (gouramis), is this the way to go? Also, what would your opinion be on adding some bottom dwellers like panda cories?

 

[Colin_T]

The water sample can be a bucket of tap water left open to the air and sitting somewhere out the way. Then just test the pH of that as soon as you fill the bucket with water, and again 24 an 48 hours later. Don't have a lid on the bucket.

Try to add smaller or peaceful fishes first so they have a chance to settle in and get use to the tank. Then add slightly bigger species but try to get juveniles of the bigger species so they don't stress the other fish as much.

Small species of Corydoras would probably be ok. A group of 6 panda Corydoras would be borderline. They should be ok but would prefer more room.