New Aquarium Advice

[stormwarning]

My name's Mike, and i'm just about to start a new aquarium, having never kept fish before . I've done a bit of research, and have just bought a second hand tank L30 x H18 x W12, which i think comes to roughly 105 Litres, and which i'm hopefully going to go and pick up this weekend.

I've tried to do a bit of research, and read a lot of great posts and helpful advice on this site, so i've decided to start with a freshwater tank as I think it'd be best to start at the easier end of the scale!

Having had a look around one of my local LFS with my girlfriend, she's pretty much decided that we're going to have a couple of red orandas lol.

I think this should be okay with the size of the tank, but i was wondering whether anybody could give me any advice on what, if any, other types of fish would be okay to put in with them? I quite like the idea of a shoal of Tetras or something similar, but know these would probably be too aggresive to put in with the Orandas. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[allaboutfish]

you have a 29 us gallon aquarium. oranda as in goldfish? i dont know how big they get but if it's 12 inches like most goldfish then thats not gonna work, but if it gets smaller then try some minnowd as in white cloud minnows bc theyre also coldwater, and maybe some borneo suckers.

 

[stormwarning]

Thanks allabout, i was just looking for that conversion. everyone probably already has a way of working it out, but found a decent one you can get by typing thinkfish calculator in google if it helps.

Yep, we were looking at the red oranda goldfish, i think they get to a max of about 10 inches, but not absolutely sure. Cheers for the suggestion, i quite like the look of the white cloud minnows! are they a shoaling fish?

 

[allaboutfish]

look at aqadvisor that's a good start. and yea white clouds are schoolers they need atleast 6 and the borneo sucker i think needs like 3 (they'll help with cleanup). im really not sure if you can have a goldfish in a 29 gallon, but ill research it.oh and read up on fishless cycling before you start adding fish. you'll need a powerful filter sith the goldfish they poop ALOT.

 

[allaboutfish]

this stocking will work
1-oranda goldfish
6-white cloud mountain minnows (or any other minnnows)
3-borneo suckers
make sure to get a filter for 60 gallon or 2 filters that equal 60 gallons.
borneo sucker
Borneo Sucker at PETCO

my favorite minnows
Gold White Cloud at PETCO

Long Fin White Cloud at PETCO

 

[stormwarning]

great stuff, thanks for the advice. i don't want to overcrowd as i've read this is one of the basic mistakes, so i'll do a bit of research online before i stock the tank.

I've been having a bit of a look at cycling already, a month does seem like a long time to wait, but i don't mind doing it if it means that the fish'll be healthier. I don't like the idea of letting them die just because i'm not patient enough to do a proper job.

The person i'm getting the tank off tells me it comes with an undergravel filter and another filter/heater (they've been keeping tropical). I'll update when i pick it up

 

[allaboutfish]

cool

 

[ejaramillo01]

this stocking will work
1-oranda goldfish
6-white cloud mountain minnows (or any other minnnows)
3-borneo suckers
make sure to get a filter for 60 gallon or 2 filters that equal 60 gallons.
borneo sucker

IMO the Oranda will be to big to keep in a 29G tank....... think about it:

If is true that they can grow up to 10" (As you mentioned), the fish will barely be able to turn around in your tank based in the posted dimensions.... Not good

My suggestion is to go with a different smaller fish, maybe one Angelfish as a center piece, or if not, try some different groups of tetras and corys....

 

[stormwarning]

... good point. i've heard that 29 gallons should be okay for a single one, but i don't want it having trouble turning round if the width isn't right. I'll have to have a think.

From what i've been reading, goldfish put quite a heavy load on the tank anyway like allaboutfish mentioned before. I'm starting to think that i might be better going for either smaller (i.e. comet) goldfish, or switching to a few different types of smaller fish for variety.

Has anybody got any favourites or suggetions that they think would suit the tank dimensions? I think i have got a bit of a weakness for the idea of shoals and colour

 

[allaboutfish]

here's my 29
6-male guppies
6-emperor tetras
6-juli corys
2-apistogramma cichlids
1-bristlenose pleco

 

[stormwarning]

Thanks allabout, just had a quick check online, really like the look of the guppies and the apistogramma cichlids! Is this a tropical tank? I also really like the look of celestial pearl danios, but i've got the impression that these could be quite hard to track down. might be a bit ambitious for a first tank lol.

 

[allaboutfish]

it is tropical and the pearl danios would most likely get eatin by the cichlids. there is one place you can buy them ive seen. it's liveaquaria.com but there shipping is 30 dollars.

 

[Homedog98]

Here's my 29:
6 black skirt tetras
6 rummy nose tetras
6 orange laser cories
2 Bolivian rams
1 keyhole cichlid
1 starlight bristlenose pleco

 

[stormwarning]

like the look of the orange laser corries! would bolivian rams be less likely to eat cpds than the other cichlids? If so, are there any fish of around the same size that would look good and definitely wouldn't eat smaller fish?

i might have more luck than i thought in tracking cpds down when it comes to stocking than i thought apparently, as they were first bred in my home town. bit of luck!

 

[Homedog98]

like the look of the orange laser corries! would bolivian rams be less likely to eat cpds than the other cichlids? If so, are there any fish of around the same size that would look good and definitely wouldn't eat smaller fish?

i might have more luck than i thought in tracking cpds down when it comes to stocking than i thought apparently, as they were first bred in my home town. bit of luck!

Sorry, but what are cpds? I doubt rams will get them, unless they're just tiny. Rams only get to about 3 inches. You can always order the fish you can't find online!

 

[allaboutfish]

theyre the same size as the apistos so they'd probably eat them. now im not saying there's a 100% chance the'll eat them but they might

 

[allaboutfish]

there 1 inch celestiel pearl danios (severum mama advised me not to put them in my tank so i dont think they can be with cichids).

 

[Homedog98]

there 1 inch celestiel pearl danios (severum mama advised me not to put them in my tank so i dont think they can be with cichids.

Ah, ok cool. Ya, maybe no rams. Some may call me queen of stocking... But severum is the empress! She wins!

 

[stormwarning]

sorry homedog, celestial pearl danios. i think they grow to about half an inch, so maybe they would. i think they like quite planted tanks like the rams, but i'm not sure whether that would make a difference... more research needed i guess lol!

 

[allaboutfish]

you could probably try it or get some tetras instead. you can see that me and homedog have the same stocking just defferent kinds of fish. you could do the apistos or rams and find some other schooling fish. glofish are danios if you like the danios.