Tank up and running.....now what?

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Overstocker

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 29, 2004
Messages
215
Location
Virginia
Got my 29 gallon up and running. Did the cycle excitement, stocked it with fish and plants. Put a few rocks and cave thangs in it.... Everything is running good.

What's left to do?????
 
Umm.....kick back and enjoy a beer...

....post some pics....

Besides that, just do partial water changes (10 - 20%) every week or so and keep an eye on the nitrate levels.
 
Water testing! If the tank is newly established I'd test for ammonia. nitrites and nitrates every day for the first coupla weeks. How long have you had it up n running with all the fish now?

Did you do a fishless cycle? Or use the product called Cycle? Not quite sure. If you used the product, know its useless IMHO, and will likely do nothing. Consequently, you're in for a lot of water changes and a lot of ammonia and nitrite problems. If you already cycled the tank, and added the fish in steps, that shouldn't be as much of a prob. If you used Bio-Spira, the tank is probably cycled as I type, but you still need to water test regularly.

Do know tho, your tank is kinda overstocked. Not sure what a Fire Gromie is (a gourami? If so, is it a dwarf? Never heard of a Fire one), but the clowns will top out around a foot long, and the African Ghost (I'm assuming you mean a knifefish) will likely top out over 2 feet long and will eat any fish it can fit in his mouth, which means most of the tetras.

Lastly, the cory needs some buddies! Corys are schoolers, and a minimum of 3 is really needed for them to be happy, although more is obviously better. I'd return the knifefish, and pick up 5 more corys. As for the clowns, you have about a year or so before they'll need more room (they won't be a foot long yet, but with good care may reach 5-6 inches or so and will need a lot more room to swim).
 
Tank has been up since Christmas. I used the black skirts and gourami to cycle with, but ran out of patience and used BIO-SPIRA to get it finished in about a week.
The Fire gourami (vice gromie) is red with a blue top fin and is a dwarf. Maybe a sunset gourami but with better color?
The african ghost is the same as the ghost knifefish but brown instead of black. Has the tan line up the spine but does not have the white band on the tip of his body.
The plants seem to help the most in keeping the tank in spec. I've been pretty fanatical about testing the tank and do weekly 20% water changes with gravel vacuuming.

Ifn the fish get to big I will trade out. The Clowns and the Bumblebee cat tend to hide all day and come out at night, not alot of fun to watch...lol

The most fun is setting up the tank! Arranging it and deciding on fish types. I like an active tank (Tiger Barbs) but the black skirts and hatchets can be a calming show too. Now that it is set up I can only think of starting a newer/bigger/different one......
 
Well your tank is almost as bad as one of mine, as far as being stocked till it busts. I have a 20gal that is heavily planted, but I have 5 gouramis(three opaline and two pearl), 10 tiger barbs, 5 rainbow(or red tailed black)sharks, and a pleco plus the assorted snails I have sliming their way around the tank.
 
If i'm not mistaken, rainbow sharks and red-tailed sharks are different. Quite the amount of fish in that tank, I thought I was overstocked with 6 tiger barbs, 6 serpae tetras and on red-tailed shark in my 20 gal.
 
*giggles*

Wait till you decide you want to breed fish. I have spent the last week (my angelfish layed eggs again last Tues, but this time we are going to raise fry) watching the eggs hatch, watching the wigglers (most cichlids have a stage between egg and fry), watching em start to swim, watching em eat (TOO funny!) and watching the parents guard and take care of em. And I thought I was obsessed before ;)

Whew ok; a dwarf gourami. Was worried it was one of the big ones. And the African Knifefish don't get as large as the Black Ghosts; still they reach around 8 inches long. You may want to check with the lfs now to see if they take returns; some don't. Best to be prepared now rather then surprised later. I didn't breed my fish until I knew there was a market for em (otherwise I'd be stuck with 50-100 angelfish LOL).

Keep a close eye on your water parameters with that kinda bio-load, keep up the frequent water changes and enjoy :)
 
Yeah the true red tailed shark can get quite large. The reason I listed it like that, is around here, the same thing is listed as either a rainbow shark or a red tailed black shark. These only get to be around 5 or 6 inches.
 
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