New Aquarium Stocking

[ATL Jack]

My son and I are in the process of setting up our first aquarium. I am finding a some contradictory information on the internet and would love some comment from you all. We have not yet cycled our aquarium. It is a 29 gallon with artificial plants, sand substrate, and a Tidal 35 filter with a flow of 130 gallons per hour. We plan to cycle it with Tetra Safe Start and add 3 corys to build up some ammonia, then after 2 weeks we will start to slowly stock the remaining tank keeping a close eye on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

We plan to to stock it with 1 or 2 gourami's, shoal of tetras, and a shoal of corys, but I have a few questions about stocking:

1. We would like 1 or 2 pearl gourami's. Would it be okay to have a 2 males? Or a male and female? We dont want to breed, but we do want the more colorful male. Or, are we better off with only 1 male?
2. We would like a shoal or 15-18 neon or cardinal tetras. Is it okay to mix half neon and half tetra? Are we better of sticking with one? Are cardinals harder to care for?

Thanks! I appreciate any insight/assistance you may have to offer.

 

[Essjay]

Can I suggest that you don't use any fish to go through the cycle. Tetra Safe Start will not cycle the tank instantly and fish in the tank during the cycle will suffer from the effects of ammonia and nitrite poisoning.
Fishless cycling using ammonia is much safer for the fish

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

As regards stocking, how long is the tank? Pearl gouramis are quite big fish which need a tank at least 36 inches long. If your tank can provide this, only one male with one or perhaps 2 females. Like all gouramis, males are territorial. Earlier this year I bought 5 pearls, 1 male & 4 females - only one female turned out to be an immature male. I had to return one of the males to the shop and now the tank is nice and peaceful again.
If your tank is less than 36 inches long, perhaps look at another gourami species (avoid dwarf gouramis as they have health issues)

Neons/cardinals - I would get just one of them, whichever you prefer. A large shoal would look really good. A deciding factor may be the other species. Cardinals are a better match with pearl gouramis, which both like slightly warmer water; neons would be a better match with cories and both prefer slightly cooler water.

 

[ATL Jack]

Thanks for the reply. I will research a non fish cycle.

Regarding the gouramis, our tank is 30" long. We were also looking at honey's, which might be a little better since they are smaller.

 

[Essjay]

A group of honey gouramis would look nice

 

[Mick85]

If you know anyone with an already cycled aquarium see if you can borrow some media from their filter to help cycle your tank faster without using fish. What i did when i set up my 100L was took some gravel from my other tank that was already running for over a year and put it in a stocking then dropped it into the new tank. That made the tank cycle pretty quickly.

 

[ATL Jack]

If you know anyone with an already cycled aquarium see if you can borrow some media from their filter to help cycle your tank faster without using fish. What i did when i set up my 100L was took some gravel from my other tank that was already running for over a year and put it in a stocking then dropped it into the new tank. That made the tank cycle pretty quickly.

Unfortunately I dont know anyone with a cycled tank.

It seems odd to me that fish stores dont sell cycled media.

 

[Essjay]

I wouldn't use media from a shop because you never know what diseases it contains We always advise that shop water from the bag should not be put in the tank for the same reason.

 

[mcordelia]

They sell bacterial starters, which are probably easier to produce and more shelf stable. A product that many have had success with is called tetra safe start, but that does not eliminate your cycle, it just makes it go faster.