Hello! I am pretty new to fish keeping. When I was a kid I attempted it, but not being knowledgeable my fish died and frustration led to giving up.
I have recently decided to try my hand at it again and, after having done much research, have settled on a 29 gallon tank. I am currently doing a fishless cycle with pure ammonia (the ace hardware brand) and it looks as if I just have 2-3 weeks left. I hope
I currently have an aquaclear 70 filter with bioballs instead of carbon and a 200 watt heater. I don't mind adding another filter if I have to.
Anyways, I have put a lot of thought into how I would like to stock my aquarium. The list as of now is:
6 albino corydoras aeneus
6 cardinal tetra
6 marble hatchetfish
5 or so ghost shrimp
1 bolivian ram
1 koi swordtail
Originally, I had wanted corydoras habrosus but they have proved impossible to find. I can only find pygmaeus and hastatus. I have read, however, that these two species spend a good deal of time in the middle of the water and I would like to keep my aquarium as evenly stocked as possible.
Also, I prefer harlequin rasboras to the hatchetfish, but my tap water is 7.8ph. Although the piece of driftwood I have in my tank seems to bring it down to 7.6 or 7.4. I am not sure that the rasboras would fair well in such high ph. As it is, the ph is in the higher acceptable ranges of the other fish I have chosen.
I have chosen to keep only one ram so that my cories would not have to deal with aggression when the rams were spawning, if I were to keep a mated pair. Will the single ram be lonely?
And then of course, there is the single swordtail. Will the one swordtail do well by itself? I would not mind keeping 1 male and 2 females, but I think I am already pushing the stocking level of my tank.
I would also love to keep a dwarf african frog or two in the tank, but am concerned that they will not do well with so many fish. Thoughts?
I am attaching a photo of my tank as it is set up currently. There are a couple hidden terra cotta pots for hiding spots and before I stock the tank I will add two more so the ram has lots of hiding spots. I also plan to add some floating plants for the hatchetfish if I go with them. All the plants are fake.
I mostly would like to know if this is an acceptable stocking level or if I could add a fish or two to each school I have.
Thank you very much for any help/advise!
I have recently decided to try my hand at it again and, after having done much research, have settled on a 29 gallon tank. I am currently doing a fishless cycle with pure ammonia (the ace hardware brand) and it looks as if I just have 2-3 weeks left. I hope
I currently have an aquaclear 70 filter with bioballs instead of carbon and a 200 watt heater. I don't mind adding another filter if I have to.
Anyways, I have put a lot of thought into how I would like to stock my aquarium. The list as of now is:
6 albino corydoras aeneus
6 cardinal tetra
6 marble hatchetfish
5 or so ghost shrimp
1 bolivian ram
1 koi swordtail
Originally, I had wanted corydoras habrosus but they have proved impossible to find. I can only find pygmaeus and hastatus. I have read, however, that these two species spend a good deal of time in the middle of the water and I would like to keep my aquarium as evenly stocked as possible.
Also, I prefer harlequin rasboras to the hatchetfish, but my tap water is 7.8ph. Although the piece of driftwood I have in my tank seems to bring it down to 7.6 or 7.4. I am not sure that the rasboras would fair well in such high ph. As it is, the ph is in the higher acceptable ranges of the other fish I have chosen.
I have chosen to keep only one ram so that my cories would not have to deal with aggression when the rams were spawning, if I were to keep a mated pair. Will the single ram be lonely?
And then of course, there is the single swordtail. Will the one swordtail do well by itself? I would not mind keeping 1 male and 2 females, but I think I am already pushing the stocking level of my tank.
I would also love to keep a dwarf african frog or two in the tank, but am concerned that they will not do well with so many fish. Thoughts?
I am attaching a photo of my tank as it is set up currently. There are a couple hidden terra cotta pots for hiding spots and before I stock the tank I will add two more so the ram has lots of hiding spots. I also plan to add some floating plants for the hatchetfish if I go with them. All the plants are fake.
I mostly would like to know if this is an acceptable stocking level or if I could add a fish or two to each school I have.
Thank you very much for any help/advise!