29 Gallon Upgrade

[sharkweek178]

HI, please do research on the pencilfish. One of the pencilfish,(and if I am not mistaken) the marginatus, is a surface area fish that doesnt venture to mid level much. This combined with gourami may be stressful for both species. Other pencilfish, eques doesnt dwell on the surface and likes the mid area of the tank, which would be more suitable for the gourami, but it may be too boisterous. I would also be wary of the Harlequin rasboras, they chase each other vigorously and can nip at the gourami, they can turn into quite monsters if you dont have them in groups of at least 10. Other rasboras, like espei or hengeli may be not so crazy (from what I have read). My harlequins were all over the tank and stealing food from the bottom too, I read hengeli are more mid to top oriented.

That's good to know. I've really been looking at Rasbora sarawakensis. Do you have any suggestions for a mid level schooling/shoaling nano fish that I can put in the space between the gourami and the corys?

 

[Byron]

That's good to know. I've really been looking at Rasbora sarawakensis. Do you have any suggestions for a mid level schooling/shoaling nano fish that I can put in the space between the gourami and the corys?

Most of the small and medium rasbora do well with gourami, with a few exceptions. I've not personally kept R. sarawakensis but from the information on Seriously Fish they should be fine. The smaller species in Trigonostigma already mentioned work well with gourami. Depending upon the gourami, the Boraras species might work. Most rasbora are mid-level fish. A generality, but usually thee case.

 

[sharkweek178]

BTW not sure how it works in your area, but in here a lot of plants are given away by other aquarist when they are doing tank maintenance. It is all the fast growing plants that are needed in the beginning of the setup, frogbit, duckweed, hornwort, lot of mosses and so. Join some facebook groups and look for people giving these away or even ask for some. Lot of plants like java fern are also regularly cut, a lot of people have anubias cuttings too. If I were closer I could give you bucket (and I have often done so and I also received a lot of plants that I needed in the beginning), basically except one echinodorus, I have never purchased plants for my current three tanks in the past 3 years.
There are also people selling stuff due to move or upgrades, so marketplace or specific website exchanges for lights and used heaters or filters are not a bad option.
For a 29 gallon a large sponge and a simple airfilter are more than enough (provided you will do water changes regularly or get the fast growing plants), and the air filter itself costs like 16 euro tops, and you cab buy the sponge sold regularly, or check for shops that will cut the sponges with higher PPI (or what is it called, the how small a hole in the netting is) and you can buy a large cut sponge for lwe price than the commercial sold and packed one. I bought a 20x10x20cm sponge for 4 euros and it has the large space the bacteria needs. It doesnt look pretty though, so there is that, but it can be hidden by a large plant (example of not looking so pretty below from my tank)
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You can do a lot of things on a budget, you dont need to do everything at once and you can easily do a fishless cycle, add some plants in the upcoming weeks as you get them, wait some more weeks, move the platy you have, as it is a hardy fish, still wait, give the plants some more time, move some other fish and do this in a span of months rather than a weekend

I was scouring Facebook marketplace, Craigslist and OfferUp for deals on tanks and stands. I ended up getting new on sale. But I did see some great bargains. I actually tried to buy a stands that way but never got a response. It all worked out though.
I don't mind taking my time with this. It's better for me that way. I have ADHD so I can be impulsive and not make the best decisions sometimes. Taking my time with this is helping. I get to do research and talk to people here to get some great advice. I sometimes think that creating the tank is the fun part, which is why so many people get MTS. I'm finding that with this hobby, I can actually enjoy the process instead of just hurrying through to get to the result.

 

[sharkweek178]

Most of the small and medium rasbora do well with gourami, with a few exceptions. I've not personally kept R. sarawakensis but from the information on Seriously Fish they should be fine. The smaller species in Trigonostigma already mentioned work well with gourami. Depending upon the gourami, the Boraras species might work. Most rasbora are mid-level fish. A generality, but usually thee case.

You had mentioned tetras before. Which kind to you think would be good?

 

[Byron]

You had mentioned tetras before. Which kind to you think would be good?

Are the gourami the Honey Gourami? Or another species?

Are any other fish being included at this stage, with the gourami?

A community tank should begin with a specific fish like the gourami, and then be built around this fish's requirements. I made some general suggestions previously i this thread, I can expand when I know the above. And I know this is soft water, so no issues there.

 

[sharkweek178]

Are the gourami the Honey Gourami? Or another species?

Are any other fish being included at this stage, with the gourami?

A community tank should begin with a specific fish like the gourami, and then be built around this fish's requirements. I made some general suggestions previously i this thread, I can expand when I know the above. And I know this is soft water, so no issues there.

The honey gourami and the platy are the only sure things at this point. I might rehome the platy if I could find another fish keeper to take him.
I looked into cotys and the Corydoras hasbrosus seemed like a good fit since unlike most corys, they prefer less water flow.
I like the blue line rasboras for the mid level of the tank. But if I can't get a hold of them, I'm considering other options. Neon tetras would be a nice visual contrast to the honey gourami and area otherwise compatible, but I don't know about how much water flow they like.

 

[Byron]

This is a 29g so water flow will not be excessive and it is easy to find something suited to cories and gourami. You could have a dual sponge filter connected to an air pump which is pretty much minimal water current, or a step up with an Aqueon Quiet Flow which would allow placement in a rear corner and current thus directed across the back to the opposite end and back again, and by the time it reaches the front it is pretty low flow. I used this well in my cory tank. And the honey gourami is OK, some more sensitive gourami might not be, but not here. Pictures below.

Neons, or cardinal tetra or the green neon tetra are all good (not mixed, better with a single species), you want 12-15 of whichever. The species (some of them) in the "Rosy" clade in Hyphessobrycon, such as the Rosy Tetra, in a group of 10-12 would work. Just avoid the troublemakers in this genus, esp Serpae Tetra (fin nippers) and the too large Bleeding Heart Tetra. The two phantoms, Black and Red, are in this clade. With most all of these you want at least 10-12. None are active swimmers.

 

[sharkweek178]

I cleaned and added a bag of play sand and filled the tank. Sand is about 2-3 inches deep, depending on where in the tank. Filter is coming tonight by Amazon so I'll put that in tonight or maybe tomorrow. I'll start cycling and add bag of bio beads I've had sitting in my old tank top seed it. While that's going on, I'll be purchasing equipment and decor over the next several weeks.

 

[Byron]

I cleaned and added a bag of play sand and filled the tank. Sand is about 2-3 inches deep, depending on where in the tank. Filter is coming tonight by Amazon so I'll put that in tonight or maybe tomorrow. I'll start cycling and add bag of bio beads I've had sitting in my old tank top seed it. While that's going on, I'll be purchasing equipment and decor over the next several weeks.

You intend plants if I remember correctly, so get those in and forget "cycling." Not needed, and it could cause more issues. There is another thread ongoing about problems, you don't need to make things more complicated.

 

[sharkweek178]

You intend plants if I remember correctly, so get those in and forget "cycling." Not needed, and it could cause more issues. There is another thread ongoing about problems, you don't need to make things more complicated.

Here's the one thing about that. Something I read on the thread about silent/planted cycling...

Please note, that with both a planted/silent cycle and a fish-in cycle, inhabitants must be added gradually (no more than 1-3 at a time) to the tank. If you want to take an approach where you get most of your fish in one fell swoop (if you are ordering stock online for example) then a fishless cycle is recommended.

I'd like to be able to add fish at a faster pace.

 

[Essjay]

To be honest, that thread does need to be rewritten. If the tank is around 10 to 15 gallons, then yes only a few fish at a time, but larger tanks can have more than 3 fish added at any one time. And the more fast growing plants, the safer it is to add more fish in a batch.

 

[Beastije]

I cleaned and added a bag of play sand and filled the tank. Sand is about 2-3 inches deep, depending on where in the tank. Filter is coming tonight by Amazon so I'll put that in tonight or maybe tomorrow. I'll start cycling and add bag of bio beads I've had sitting in my old tank top seed it. While that's going on, I'll be purchasing equipment and decor over the next several weeks.

Did you wash the sand? If not, fill extra extra slowly over a plate or a box or smth, not on the sand directly, otherwise you will have cloudy water for days. Best to always wash, saves on the issues

 

[sharkweek178]

Did you wash the sand? If not, fill extra extra slowly over a plate or a box or smth, not on the sand directly, otherwise you will have cloudy water for days. Best to always wash, saves on the issues

I washed it. I did the old put some in a bucket and fill it with water, stir it up and then dump out the dusty water wash, rinse, repeat until it's clear. I spent a couple of hours doing that. It was tedious. But that's one of those jobs I figure that the more time you put in up front, the less work and aggravation there is later. The sand got stirred up when I filled the tank but it cleared right back up.

 

[sharkweek178]

To be honest, that thread does need to be rewritten. If the tank is around 10 to 15 gallons, then yes only a few fish at a time, but larger tanks can have more than 3 fish added at any one time. And the more fast growing plants, the safer it is to add more fish in a batch.

This is a little down the road, but for now my plan is after I get the plants in the tank and the tank is established, to then transfer my current fish from the current 10 gallon to the new tank. Then add some Malaysian Trumpet snails. After that, I'll add the new fish using the old 10 gallon as an isolation tank. I'll keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels in the new tank and if there are any spikes, I can transfer some to the ten gallon until it stabilizes.

 

[Byron]

I did read the "silent cycle" post but it was some years ago and I do not remember what it said. If @Essjay thinks it needs revision, it does, and if allowed I might take a look at it. This is without question the easiest and safest method for new tanks and I have been doing it for 30 years. There are some provisos though, namely the plant species and numbers, which is why I always ask for a photo of the entire tank so I can assess these.

There is no reason to be adding two or three fish at a time, that can cause more trouble for the fish. Shoaling species must be added together, the entire intended group, for various reasons. If the tank is adequately sized, with sufficient fast-growing plants, this is not going to cause any issues. Quite the reverse.