Stocking a beginner aquarium

[Richalds]

I'm just starting to stock my first 29g tank. I've got 4 red velvet swords in there right now, just cycling the tank. After a trip to the LFS I've found some fish that I'd like to eventually stock the tank with.

My question is, will this setup be ok for a community tank?

I'd like to get some barbs, preferably albino's, tigers, or Clown. I was told the albino will be agressive if not kept in a school and therefore I should get about 10-12 or them. Is this true?

I'd like to get some platty's. A variety of tuxedo and others.

I'd also like a couple guppies, not sure exactly what type.

I'd like 1-2 red tailed sharks.

and last but not least I was wondering if it would be possible to get an Electric Yellow. I know these grow to be bigger then the other fish, so maybe 1-2 of them is fine. I've heard VERY mixed reports on these fish. Some say they are very aggressive, others say they are very docile..



Thanks so much, ANY input or suggestions would be much appreciated. If you wanna suggest more fish, or different fish altogether, im more then open to suggestions.

[rollie]

i would drops the albino barbs. electric yellow WHAT???? others wise look good. maybe some cherry barbs.

[Richalds]

it was some type of african fish, just called electric yellow...

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cichlid/electricyellow.php

[rollie]

if it a cichlid.no!

[William]

Thats simplifying it. There are a lot of Cichlids that he can keep in a community tanks such as Kribs as an example. I would however not recommend putting Labidochromis caeruleus, Electric yellow in that setup.

[rollie]

i had kribs with swordtails once. guess what. swordtails got killed, wonder why. big tank to.

[William]

Strange. I often have had kribs with just about any fish. Have kept and breed them in small aquariums with swordtails, bettas, platys, guppys etc and never had any problem.

[kimmers318]

My husbands yellow labs (electric yellow labichromis--spelled right? don't know) are very docile, but they are in an african only tank.
My kribs are good with tetras, but not so with dwarf gourami...although, Demon, my blue ram could have had something to do with it to!

[Richalds]

hmm ok thanks for the info guys. id like 1-2 medium size fish (4-7 inches) what can you recommend as a good community fish?

[NorthernBoy]

my sister has a yellow lab...he barks alot when you are tryijng to sleep!

[Full3R]

you mean labrador dont you northern boy

[William]

Yes He did.

[CoryCat]

I wouldn't keep the barbs, or the yellow lab in a community setup - yes the Kribs can be ok, but wtach the space if you have a breeding pair as several peeps I know have had communitys wiped out at breeding time (and that is most of the time) with by the Kribs, they take ove a part of the tank and will not let anything into the territory that they have choosen, Corys usually suffer the worst at the hands of breeding Kribs in the community tank.

A general rule for stocking is 1" of adult fish size per gallon of water, although I know that a well maintained and clean tank can cope with a little more depending on the type of fish, for example a pleco of the same size as a guppy would equate to more fish space used as plecos are messy fish (no dissrespect to the little blighters - I love em), but they are classed as more fish per inch thena guppy or tetra of the same size.

You can get really bogged down with all the do's and don'ts and of course everyone has their own 2 pennies worth of info and sometimes it can be conflicting.

Remember to add slowly, whatever fish you chose, no more then 1 or 2 a week, give the tank time to settle in between and keep an eye on water stats.

POs, if you really want to have a type of barb, the Cherry barb is great in the community setup - I have 5 of the little darlings (try not to have less then 3 as they like to shoal and are very nice when they do), and they get along great with everyone else :) Sadly I lost my female Krib, but she was cool on her own too :)

[William]

Cherry barbs are as Corycat says a good choice for a barb. Just wanted to add that it is best to have more females than males when keeping cherry barbs.

[rollie]

most peoples want all males because they more redder in color. i sell 5 males to every, one females.

[William]

Unfortunatly yes. But its their lost. They should only now how much better the males look with more females around to flare for ;-)

[rollie]

i known, but tell some peoples that.

[William]

I Know ;-)

[Richalds]

alright thaks I'll look into the cherry barbs :) hopefully my LFS has them in stock.

[CoryCat]

Cherry barbs are as Corycat says a good choice for a barb. Just wanted to add that it is best to have more females than males when keeping cherry barbs.

oops yes sorry forgot the mention that! Lol, I have 1 male and 4 girlies :) He looks great with them, little showoff :)

[William]

Don't say your sorry. You are just giving me a chance to feel useful ;-)

[CoryCat]

Donät say your sorry. You are just giving me a chance to feel useful ;-)

With me around mate the chances never end :P

[Richalds]

William if you were to suggest fish to setup in my 29g tank, what would you put in? I'd just like something with some nice colours and fish that get along.

I'd like to have a school of some type of fish, i like seeing them swim together

and then whatever else!


What do you think?

[William]

I think I would go for a simple well planted setup without to many species present.

You can click many of the species name (the blue ones) for more pics.

One such setup would be the following.
10 - 20 Cardinal tetra (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/encyclopedia-361-cardinal.html)
10 Marbled Hatchet fish (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/encyclopedia-331-hatchetfish.html)
4 Blue rams (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/ftopict-815.html)
1 pair Brostlenosed catfish (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/encyclopedia-210.html) or Farowella catfish.

This will give you a peaceful, colorful and beautiful setup. The 4 rams can be substituted for a pair of kribs or African Butterfly fish (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/encyclopedia-248.html)

Some will tell you that the kribs are to aggressive but you won't have any problems in a well planted tank and ou buy them when they are small. I have kept them in similar setups (fish and size) many times without a setup.

[Richalds]

thanks alot william, really appreciaite it :D


are most of those fish pretty common and available at most fish stores?

[William]

Yes. Except for the Farowella catfish that are a bit more rare. The Marbled Hatchet fish can also be hard to find sometimes but you should be able to find some type of hatchet fish.

[Richalds]

William i will be getting the cardinal tetras soon and was wondeirng how many do i buy first?

like 3-4 then let the tank settle in for a week, or get all 10 at first?

[William]

I know that some people don't agree with me but I always think it's best to get all the fish you are going to get of the species at once. It helps avoid aggression within the population. So i'll say get all 10 at once.

But if that is the first fish you but in the tank I recommend you get 2 guppies or something similar first to hel the tank cycle and than wait a little longer before getting the cardinal tetras. or perhaps the bristlenosed catfish.

[Richalds]

ive currently got 4 red velvet swordtails in there right now that have been cycling the tank for over a week now.

when should i buy the cardinals?

[William]

I would wait untill it had been two weeks since you added the swordtails.

[Richalds]

thanks again william!