Stocking Suggestions - 29 Gallon

[Valerie Adams]

I have a freshwater 29 gallon that is lightly planted with ludwigia, crypt wendtii, java fern, buce, and dwarf sag. It also has driftwood, stone and a sand substrate. Currently it only has 1 panda cory (two others died from columnaris), a mystery snail, MTS and pond snails. I have 22 ember tetras and two nerites coming. I obviously plan on adding more cories, at least 7 more. KH is 3-4, GH is 7-8, pH is around 7, it stays at 74F. What else do you all think I should put in it?

 

[Byron]

I prefer not suggestion individual species because I think you will be happier selecting what you like, providing they work obviously and we can certainly deal with that if it arises. But in general terms, if you want to stay with South America, many of the tetras could work, some pencilfish species could work, some hatchetfish from the genus Carnegiella like the popular Marble Hatchetfish C. strigata. And "oddball" catfish perhaps, like a whiptail (Rineloricaria parva is the normal smaller species, as opposed to the "Royal" species that get large)?

With the tetras you want relatively quiet fish as opposed to active swimmers; this suits what you already have, and the tank dimensions which I assume are 30 inches length and 12 inches width. I can go further if asked with any of these.

 

[TallPaul]

Good advice from Byron. I am always most impressed by large shoals of one species than by a mixed bag of different tetra species.

22 Ember tetra should already display some impressive behaviour but if you have room for even more they would look awesome.

Pencil fish regularly swim in the same waters, I think Serpae and rummy nose tetra do and I'm not sure about Black Phantoms but they are super pretty in my opinion.

Large groups of pygmy or dwarf Corydora will also display some interesting schooling behaviour if you get a few of them.

 

[Valerie Adams]

I prefer not suggestion individual species because I think you will be happier selecting what you like, providing they work obviously and we can certainly deal with that if it arises. But in general terms, if you want to stay with South America, many of the tetras could work, some pencilfish species could work, some hatchetfish from the genus Carnegiella like the popular Marble Hatchetfish C. strigata. And "oddball" catfish perhaps, like a whiptail (Rineloricaria parva is the normal smaller species, as opposed to the "Royal" species that get large)?

With the tetras you want relatively quiet fish as opposed to active swimmers; this suits what you already have, and the tank dimensions which I assume are 30 inches length and 12 inches width. I can go further if asked with any of these.

So you would do another school even with the embers?

 

[Byron]

So you would do another school even with the embers?

Absolutely, and depending upon the species, several shoals of other species.

Thinking of the space occupied by each species, you could have the 8-9 cories for the substrate level, the Ember Tetra mid-level (you have 22), for the upper/surface area 8-9 Marble Hatchets and/or 8-9 Rocket Pencilfish (Nannostomus eques, a very peaceful and quiet species), and mid-level with the Embers a group of 8-9 false/green neons or cardinals for colour, or maybe a group of 7-9 Rosy Tetra for some nice mauve colour instead of the blue/red. The options are almost endless.

I had one of my 29g tanks running as a blackwater Amazon tank for a year before I moved the fish and plants into a 40g, and I had something like 21 false neons, 11 Embers, 10 hatchetfish, 9 Rocket pencilfish, a pair of Characidiuym fasciatum (instead of cories), and I think a couple Twig catfish fry growing out. I think the last 5 or 6 of my dwarf pencilfish were in this too, initially. Here's a photo of this tank in March 2015.

 

[Valerie Adams]

Oh that looks neat! I already have the 22 embers on their way though, I like bigger schools vs. small anyway. I planned on doing 8-10 panda cories. But other than that I don't have any ideas at all

 

[Byron]

Oh that looks neat! I already have the 22 embers on their way though, I like bigger schools vs. small anyway. I planned on doing 8-10 panda cories. But other than that I don't have any ideas at all

The only issue to keep in mind with just two or three species, is filling the tank space. Getting fish that tend to remain at different levels usually looks more appealing, and provides more interest. In that photo I posted there are close to 60 fish, and as can be seen, the species tend to remain more together like this.