starting a tank

[asparagus]

You guys seem to really like giving opinions on stocking options. Im about to purchase a 29 gallon tank. Id like to stock it as follows: Please give your opinions!
3 platies to cycle (all female, I DO NOT WANT BABY FISH)
2 Mollies (obviously added later, both female)
3 cories (an albino, a panda and a leopard)
2 dwarf gourami (one honey, one dwarf, both males)
5 guppies. (all male)
I dont really want to deal with plants so I thought plastic plants would be acceptable.
As you can see, Im pretty adamant about not wanting to deal with babies.
How long should I wait before adding each new fish? (ie cycle for a week w/ the platies, then add the cories, wait a week then add the mollies etc?)
Ive done quite a bit of research and am having trouble limiting my selection (as I think you can probably tell- grin).
Thanks!
asparagus

 

[nino]

my guess is that you have to wait longer than a week before you add more fish after the platies.
maybe if you do fishless cycling (with ammonia) you could add more fish at the same time.

 

[bluefire]

if you don't want babies buy all male because most of the time they are pregnant when you buy them

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Like Bluefire said, if you don't want baby livebearers, only get males. Also, if you are cycling with fish, I'd put the platies or the molies in first, then the guppies, then the corries, then the gouramis. I put them in the order of what I think (I'm pretty sure, but hey, I screw up too) are the hardiest to the less sturdy of fish. This way you are less likely to have something die than if you stocked with the cories or gouramis first. I'd also find out if two male gouramis can go together in a tank like that, I'ver heard they fight, but I don't know for sure.

 

[enchanted]

Well, on a first scale they were right but even they missed one thing, guppys and platties and mollies will interbreed. Especially if you put male guppys in with females of the others.

Also, Corys should be in groups of their type, i.e. 3 of one kind. In that size tank you should be okay adding 6 total corys and could go with 3 of two types.


You might want to consider a few otos to clean up the algae.

 

[asparagus]

Ok, how about this:
start wth 3 male platys. wait 2 weeks (?) after cycling
add 2 male mollies. wait 2 weeks (or can I just wait one there?)
add 5 male guppies (after a week or two- please advise)
add 6 cories- 2 albino, 2 panda, 2 leopard.
I can skip the gouramis- I dont really want delicate fish- Im not known for my ability to keep things alive. grin.
Will a tank of all males be too agressive? I guess I could try to get all female cories...
Wont the cories eat the algae? Plus, if I only have plastic plants, there wont be as much, right?
thanks! nancy asparagus

 

[sylvia]

Ok, how about this:
start wth 3 male platys. wait 2 weeks (?) after cycling - you'll need to wait 6 weeks.
add 2 male mollies. wait 2 weeks (or can I just wait one there?) - you may wait one week here
add 5 male guppies (after a week or two- please advise) - add 2 at first, wait a week, add the other 3
add 6 cories- 2 albino, 2 panda, 2 leopard. - add 2 at a time, waiting a week between each new addition
I can skip the gouramis- I dont really want delicate fish- Im not known for my ability to keep things alive. grin. - dwarf gouramies are delicate due to mass production and in-breeding, you CAN keep 2 males together in a relatively large tank provided they have adequate space in the upper layers for territory and some cover
Will a tank of all males be too agressive? I guess I could try to get all female cories... - cories aren't the slightest bit aggressive and harder to sex than livebearers, adding all-female cories will make absolutely no difference. It is the mollies that will be most aggressive but you shouldn't have any serious problems
Wont the cories eat the algae? Plus, if I only have plastic plants, there wont be as much, right? - cories aren't algae-eaters, they eat ordinary fish food and live foods, adding plants actualy decreases the amount of algae as plants compete with algae for nutrients such as nitrates and kill-off the algae
thanks! nancy asparagus

 

[kev_kb]

I'd add that Honey Gouramis are fairly peaceful and not delicate in my experience, as long as the tank is cycled they should be fine if you get them from good stock. You shouldn't have problems with 2 in your size tank at all and they are great fish. If your near the tank they will come over and see what your doing and its like their really trying to figure it out rather than just begging for food! Plus their little feeler things (sorry not sure what they are really called) can provide hours of entertainment if you've not kept fish similar before. However they would prefer a planted tank, but this is easier than you think and needn't mean lots of maintenance.

 

[sylvia]

And to add to that , honey gouramies as in colisa chunae/sota NOT the honey dwarf gourami colisa lalia which is the same species as the dwarfs you were considering and even more fragile due to even more in-breeding for color. And yes, gouramies are GREAT!

 

[asparagus]

Ok, first of all thank you all for your replies- Im gettting an idea of what to do when AND how to do it!
So I can have all males in a tank (of all fish kinds) and there wont be aggression to the point of serious injury or death? I really really dont want to deal with baby fish. REALLY! But Ill get upset if the fish arent happy all being males. (except the cories who, I understand, dont really breed easily- is that correct?)
What is the easiest non/low maintenence plant I should go with?
I found an "all inclusive" 29 gallon AllGlass tank (tank, lid with light, filter, heater and some sample food) for $92.USD. Is this a reasonable amount to spend on a first tank (not including fish, plants, gravel etc)
I really think the gouramis are cute and was thinking about starting a second tank next year of gouramis and some other compatables (no research done there yet) so thats why I think I can skip the gourami's for now.
Thank you again! You guys are so great!
asparagus

 

[sylvia]

You shouldn't experience too much aggression. There deffinately shouldn't be any deaths as a result.

BTW, platies will not breed with guppies or mollies... mollies and guppies are both in the genus poecilia while platies and swordtails are xiphophorus so guppies and mollies will interbreed but platies and mollies/guppies wont. Platies may still be bought pregnant though.

Cories can be bred quite easily if you happen to have a male and female of the same species and in excellent condition. However, they are not livebearers so you will never get fry - all the eggs will be eaten up by your mollies/platies/guppies .

An easy plant is duckweed... incredibly easy in fact, and can become a pest. It floats though Another plant I think is easy to maintain is hornwort and it grows realy fast. You can use it both as a floating plant and rooted. You may need to weigh it down though. When it grows too big, just cut it and re-plant (or leave floating) the clippings. There are many other plants as well but these two are by far the easiest - especialy the duckweed

The tank deal sounds good to me...

 

[thapsus]

Could you maybe concider only two species of corys? Corys are quite dependant of shoal and they will be sad with out a proper one. 3+3 would be better and six of one species would be best solution. Could you get the third species when you start the gourami tank?

thapsus

 

[asparagus]

If its that important to them, Ill get 5-6 of the same species. It appears Im going to end up with more than one tank at this rate anyway. grin.
So I get 3 male platies to start. 6 weeks later I add my 2 male mollies. A week or so later, I throw in 2 male guppies, a week later 3 more male guppies. The next week Id add my cories 2 at a time waiting a week between new additions. This gives me about 32 inches of fish in a 29 gallon tank. Will this be ok? Im rounding each fish up to two inches so I think Ill be ok, no? Do oto's hang out alone or do they need schools too? What if I used 5 cories and added an oto? Is that too many bottom feeders? The guppies and platys are all level swimmers, correct? Do the mollies hang out at the top? I think thats why I originally wanted gouramis in there is because they're middle level swimmers. right?

asparagus
Im also thinking I really like the black mollies best and they're very succeptable to that ich disease (arent they?) I might do 5 platys instead. hmmmm. decisions decisions...

 

[MXPX4318]

otos also like to have more of their own kind (3 or more) I have them with cories and their fine in my 29 gallon. Otos are less of a "bottom" fish then you would think, they're all over the tank glass and rocks and plants (live or fake) so it won't be crowded on the bottom at all. I personally think that if you use fake plants you'll appreciate the otos as I have silk plants in both my tanks (29 and 20) and my 29 has otos and my 20 doesn't and there is much more algea on my fake plants in the 20 unfortunatly I think my 20 is already quite full (maybe a bit more then needed but with water changes twice a week they're all doing well)

ok now that I've gone off on a tangent I don't think it's very clear so here we go:

-otos 3 or more
-fake plants accmulate more algea and it looks ugly and otos will take care of this
-live plants less algea not as much of a need for the otos as long as you wipe the inside of the glass down when you see algea developing
-being so new I wouldn't suggest adding extra fish when you're already pretty stocked it sounds like so just wipe down your glass when algea forms and if you have fake plants when you do a water change (with a bucket) take out the fake plants and scrub them in the bucket of water to remove algea from them and you'll be ok.

Good luck

 

[Aquascaper]

As nobody has broached the subject of substrate I will

If you are looking to keep cories, otos, etc. you will need to use a small smooth grain gravel or sand as their barbels (feelers ) that they use for finding food are quite delicate. Large or rough grain gravel can damage these barbels and lead to problems with feeding.

HTH