New Tank, Thinking About Stocking

[bordercollie05]

Just wanting to shoot around my stocking ideas for my new tank. I'll be moving the fish I have in my ten gallon into the new tank and hopefully adding a few others too. In my ten I have 3 Guppies (F), 1 Molly (M), 1 lone Lemon Tetra. I started with more lemons in my angel tank, but they didn't prove to be too hardy and since I'm in college the poor things get moved about every 4-6 months. I'm not sure what to do about the lemon. Either put it back in the Angel tank and up the numbers to 5-6 or do the same in my new tank, or try to get my LFS to give it a proper home.


Anyway, here's my ideas as of now:

I'm definitely planning on:

Add a Male guppy, so it'll be 3F,1M
Add 2 female mollies so it'll be 2F,1M
Some sort of bottom feeder, I'm thinking either Khuli Loach, Zebra Loach, or some type of cory



Some other fish I'm thinking about:

A school of Zebra Danios, Neon Tetra, or Cherry Barbs
A school of Neon Rainbows
1 Pearl Gourami (or a pair?)
Trio of Honey Gourami (Not sure I can find females though)
1-2 Keyhole Cichlids (Don't know a lot about this fish, just have seen it in my LFS and have done a little reading)
Pair of Rams
Shrimp
Also maybe the lemons...but not my first pick

Obviously, wouldn't do all of these but one or two on the list. Any information anyone has about these fish would be great, especially the cichlids and loaches...I don't know much about them. Also, would shrimp be a possibility with the fish I have currently and the bottom level fish I'm interested in? I'm really interested in shrimp, but want to be successful when I get them.

Also, I don't have a filter yet, but I'm looking at the Penguin Bio-wheel 200 which is meant for a 50 gallon. Mostly this is so that I can use it on a 50 gallon someday, but hopefully will help to improve filtration in this tank too.

The tank will be planted, but will be all low-light plants and probably no CO2 or ferts, just a good substrate.

Thanks so much!

Laura

 

[drobbyb]

I would say no to the neon rainbows. I know they are dwarf but they still need alot of room to swim and a 29 gallon is taller than it is long.

 

[bordercollie05]

I would say no to the neon rainbows. I know they are dwarf but they still need alot of room to swim and a 29 gallon is taller than it is long.

Mk, no neon rainbows then. Thanks for the tip.

Laura

 

[bordercollie05]

Any other tips on which fish would go best with what I've got, what I've got room for, what works for a 29 Gal, etc?

Laura

 

[murphyk32]

just a comment, i love gouramis.. so definitely consider them.. i would suggest corys for the bottom maybe? and i have zebra danios, very nice fish, but cherry barbs are also a good idea to consider, would add a nice color aswell

 

[bordercollie05]

just a comment, i love gouramis.. so definitely consider them.. i would suggest corys for the bottom maybe? and i have zebra danios, very nice fish, but cherry barbs are also a good idea to consider, would add a nice color aswell

I'm really interested in the Pearl Gourami, but my LFS has a great selection of gourami. Would another option be better? Also, would they do better in a trio or pair? I know for angel fish you have to get six and let em pair and then return the others if you want a pair. Are gouramis similar? Or can I just pick out a male and a female or two? Or, would it be best to just have one?


Thanks!

Laura

 

[murphyk32]

i dont know very much about pearl gouramis, somebody else may have an answer, but just check out the web, search some, check this site.. and see what u like.. then if itll work

 

[bordercollie05]

i dont know very much about pearl gouramis, somebody else may have an answer, but just check out the web, search some, check this site.. and see what u like.. then if itll work

Thanks, I'll look around.


Right now for stocking I'm thinking:

3 Mollies (1M,2F)
4 Guppies (1M,2F)
Pair of gourami or keyhole cichlids or rams
5 Kuhli loach or zebra loach
School of cherry barbs or zebra danios or smallish tetra (rummynose, blue, black neon, etc)

I guess that doesn't really change much, but that's what I've got it down to so far. Does that sound like too much? Obviously won't be stocking it full right away...will start with the guppies and mollies, then ad gradually.

Thanks!

Laura

 

[bordercollie05]

Any Thoughts?

 

[Corleone]

I highly recommend keyhole cichlids if you're into something a bit more subtle. They aren't visually stunning fish, but the colors they do have shift almost constantly with their mood, surroundings, etc. They're very fun to watch in a community tank as they interact with their tankmates.

If you want a more visual centerpiece, keyholes really aren't it, though. A gold gourami with can be very stunning. They are a variety of the same species as opaline gouramis, and they do sometimes have the black pattern that opaline gouramis have, which IMO is a bit ugly on them, but some of them are almost pure, bright gold, with just a couple spots, and are actually my favorite gourami.

 

[minxfishy]

Yep Keyholes are very nice and peaceful, I wouldnt add gouramis but then Im not a fan of them, rummynoses in a large shoal would look great.

Personal preference would be for a nice group of corydoras for the bottom, lively little things and great for scavaging those leftovers (although you do need to feed them specifically as well).

 

[kevinthecow]

What're your dimensions?

 

[tenohfive]

Aye, whats the dimensions? I wouldn't rule out the dwarf neon rainbows just yet...I've got mine in a tank 101cm long along with a mix of danio's and they have more swimming room than they actually use.

Post up dimensions pls

 

[Pleccy]

Regarding gouramis I wouldn't go with pearls, they can grow to 15cm in length so they would ideally need a 120cm tank. The honey gouramis would be a lot better. Also the loaches would also be a little too big, however Pygmy chain loaches would be suitable.

 

[bordercollie05]

Regarding gouramis I wouldn't go with pearls, they can grow to 15cm in length so they would ideally need a 120cm tank. The honey gouramis would be a lot better. Also the loaches would also be a little too big, however Pygmy chain loaches would be suitable.

Dimensions are 30"Lx12"Wx16"H (76cmx30cmx40cm) I think, the height might be wrong.... I did see pygmy chain loaches at my lfs the other day...The others would really be too big? I had another thread where both of those were said to be okay. I don't want to get fish that would be unhappy though. Also haven't ruled out cories yet, it's just that I have some in m other tank and kind of wanted something different.

I'm really liking the keyholes, but I'm a little worried about getting a pair. I don't want any issues with two males or something. The ones my lfs had were about 2-2.5". Whats the best way to get a pair with these guys? I've read they're hard to sex.

Gouramis aren't ruled out yet either though. Sounds like the pearls will get too big, but like I said, there's lots of gouramis at the lfs. I'm not sure I saw gold ones though.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'm excited about this tank.

Laura