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I have bought a 29 gallon aquarium and am semi-new to fish keeping. Currently I have a 55 gallon tank with 1 red devil cichlid in it. I have had him for around a month and he is 3 years old.. i received him from a friend who didn't want him. I became so fascinated with keeping fish I decided to have a 29gal community tank and need advice.

I have already bought the tank and decorated it and it is currently cycling. There is anacharis and moss in the tank with a few other shorter aquarium plants. My question starts with how long until i can begin to stock the tank and how many fish should I add?

I don't know how to layer the tank well. I need a bottomfeeder. My local petstore has all the fish I want minus the bottomfeeder. They don't have a real selection of bottomfeeders. They only have traditional catfish and i am skeptical about purchasing them because of their adult size.

My plan was a shoal of 6-7 Lemon Tetra, 8-10 neon Tetra, a pair of Honey gourami, and 3-4 Silver Hatchets, plus the bottom feeder.. The other big question I have is which species I should add to the tank first. Thank you much for help in advance!!!!

The length of a cycle varies from tank to tank. You are finished cycling when ammonia and nitrIte are both at zero and there are some nitrAtes in the tank.

Bottom feeders aren't necessary. Look in the phone book to see if you can find other fish stores in the area that may stock more variety. Stick with SMALL bottom feeders.

From what I know most 29 gallon tanks are taller than they are wide, meaning they only have a footprint of a 20 gallon tank. When it comes to stocking tanks the footprint, and therefore the surface area of the tank is more important than how many gallons it can hold. The surface of the tank is where the gas exchange happens. So in your case you should be stocking for a 20 gallon tank, not a 29.

Neon tetras tend to be frequently come down with NTD neon tetra disease. You might want to consider cardinal tetras instead, or simply go with a larger school of lemons. Bigger the school for schooling fish the better. If you do go with neons I'd add them last and only after a 3 week quarantine period. The important thing with adding new fish is to do it slowly when you bring them home. Leave them in a bucket and every half hour add a little of the water from your tank to the bucket, remove water from the bucket to the garden and never into the tank. You don't want water from the LFS getting into your tank. After 2-3 hours the fish should be fully acclimated to the conditions of your tank and you can add them. Be sure to watch them closely for signs of stress, and don't add more fish for at least a week. 2-3 weeks is a better bet.


^_^

Cycling is some thing you can never put a time to there are just too many variabilities.

How are you cycling the tank? Live plants does help in the cycling process.

Some like to use a product called Seachem Stability this is a live good bacteria. There are other brands around but the quality might not be the same.

Can you give us more about the tank, size, and filtration.

I have not had Neons for years because of the NTD but I have noticed lately "some" diseases are creeping into the Cardinals now.

With the smaller Tetras they always seem to be better in a bigger school 10++

As Babel suggested have a look for another LFS in your area.

Keith



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I am cycling the tank fishless, however the tank is heavily planted. I put some fish food (not much), and plant fertilizer to provide the plants and bacteria some nutrients. I also switched the filter cartridge with my established aquarium to provide some beneficial bacteria. The filtration system is a standard cartridge filter made by aqueon.

Babel is right, my 29gal tank is just 7in deeper than a 20gal. (In the future I will consider length before gallonage, my LFS had a 40long on sale ) Also I considered NTD when I thought of adding neons, and since I should stock the tank like a 20gal I will just add a larger school of lemons (8-10?) instead, along with the 3-4 silver hatchets and pair of gourami. I love pygmy cories... I wish I could find some.

Thanks for the help!

Sounds like you do have a good cycling plan started, just test your water every day and you should see the cycle finish in 3-4 weeks. You do have the heater running in the tank right? Cycling happens faster at the warmer temp range. Not saying to crank the heater, just have it set to whatever you'd have it for the fish.

Search google or the phone book for any aquarium clubs in your area. There's one here that does a big fish auction twice a year. You might get lucky and find someone who breeds.

^_^

I don't believe plant fertilizers normally contain ammonia/nitrites, which are the primary foods that the cycling bacteria need. What are the ammonia levels? I would up the ammonia input (either more food or put in some pure ammonia) if it's not very high. The bacteria will cycle and build up to a population only as high as your ammonia input. If the amount of food you are cycling with is less than the amount of food you are going to feed your fish, than there will not be enough bacteria to fully support the bioload of the added fish.

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