"Pet" fish ideas, 29 gallon

[cee219]

This is my fourth fish tank I'm working on and it's 29 gallons with an eclipse hood (a wonderful second hand find that I couldn't resist from craigslist.com, it's a dieeeeeeease...).

I've always kept community and show fish and I really want a "pet" fish... a tank with just one long term commitment fish that I named Henry or Joe or whatever.

I love Oscars... my tank is WAY too small and I'm not going to be another Oscar owner trying to pawn off my 9 incher. So basically, I'm open to suggestions for ideas.

I guess I could just spoil my Betta ...

 

[QTOFFER]

A 29 gal centerpiece fish.... Sounds like you want a fish that is colorful, lively, and enthusiastically greets you when you get home. I'd suggest an angelfish or a fancy goldfish.

 

[DepotFish]

Maybe a smaller cichlid, or a gourami.

 

[7Enigma]

A dwarf puffer! (j/k), lol I just noticed your 10 is being set up for them!

Though another species of puffer would be very cool. Figure 8's only get to about 2.5" so that might not be too "cool" in your show tank, but a GSP (green-spotted puffer) would be really neat (max size ~6inches). The GSP requires varying levels of salt during its life, and its diet is more involved than other fish, but take it from me (a dwarf puffer owner), there really are no fish quite like them! Oh and similar to cichlids they live very long lives if taken care of well (>10years).

HTH

GSP profile (don't know how accurate this is): http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/brackish/gsp.html

 

[dvd_wightman]

You can try a puffer, goldfish, or a cichlid such as a convict or a firemouth.

 

[cee219]

7Enginna - yay fellow dwarf puffer owner! . Well I'm not one YET... I'm waiting for my tank to finish cycling fully to the proper load. Honestly, I saw them a year or two ago... I HAD to have them but didn't have the experience or the place. Now I'm probably less than a month away, yay . I actually saw a green puffer at the LFS the other day... and loved them. I thought about it and researched them and it looks like that would provide me with an adequte challenge . So I'm going to see how my dwarf puffs go and maybe I'll take you up on that advice.

Otherwise I'm looking at Angelfish/Small cichlid. Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

 

[7Enigma]

7Enginna - yay fellow dwarf puffer owner! . Well I'm not one YET... I'm waiting for my tank to finish cycling fully to the proper load. Honestly, I saw them a year or two ago... I HAD to have them but didn't have the experience or the place. Now I'm probably less than a month away, yay . I actually saw a green puffer at the LFS the other day... and loved them. I thought about it and researched them and it looks like that would provide me with an adequte challenge . So I'm going to see how my dwarf puffs go and maybe I'll take you up on that advice.

Otherwise I'm looking at Angelfish/Small cichlid. Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

Sounds good. I swear, I've been serious in the hobby now over 2 years and have never had the reaction to fish the way I do to this DP. The intelligence and personality is shocking. I only wish I could have a 50 or so gallon tank to house a larger puffer. I hear some of the larger salt water varieties have jaws strong enough to pulverize even the hardest of shells. Their naturally long lives (when properly maintained) only makes the decision easier since you know if you do your job right it will literally be like a family pet (dog/cat).

 

[Jarred Darque]

I am setting my 29 up for a green spot puffer. not exactly FW...but stil la cool fish, will be big enough to be noticable by itself in the tank.

 

[cee219]

Yes, honestly I think that a Green Puffer would be great, but I don't really want to deal with brackish/marine too much. Maybe when I'm done with school!

I'm actually thinking on settling on angelfish. Some may say boring... but I've never owned them and think they are magnificent. I'm tackling one of those DIY 3D backgrounds with foam board and cement for it to definitely make sure it stands out. It's... so much fun .. and by fun I mean frusterating.