New 29 Gallon!

[sweeneyc]

Hello everyone! I am not a newbie when it comes to aquariums. I have kept marine reef tanks for about 6 years now and I've decided to "downgrade," and turn my 29gal into a freshwater planted tank. I work at PetSmart and have pretty good knowledge of fish, but I want to get others opinions on my choices before I jump in headlong, leaning on my own limited understanding =P.

I want to know what I can keep with German Blue Rams. I would like to get 2 of them. I am curious as to what else I should put in the tank. Here are my thoughts. Cardinal tetras, Angelfish, corydora catfish (Juliis), and probably a school of Otos. These are just possibilities, not the completely roster for my tank.

I do know that Angels and cardinals don't do very well together, as angels tend to nom nom on the cardinals. So I am hesitant to make that my final choice. But these others, are they okay?

[sweeneyc]

So I probably won't be doing angels, just rams and cardinals.

[Andra2000]

hi there.. welcome from a newbie :)

[fishmommie]

Hi and welcome. I've got a well established 30 gal with Colombian Tetras, serpaes and cory cats and am planning to introduce a pair of German Blue Rams soon. I asked the experts out here and they felt it would be a good mix.

so ... that's one option. good luck

[sweeneyc]

Colombian red blue tetras? Those are quite pretty.

What about this set up:

2 German blue rams
6-8 cardinal tetras
3-4 Julio corydora cats
4-6 otocinclus...es..... Otocinclii....
1 bristlenose pleco

Filter rated at 125gallons and fully planted, 15% water change once a week.

[mizzoutank]

Colombian red blue tetras? Those are quite pretty.

What about this set up:

2 German blue rams
6-8 cardinal tetras
3-4 Julio corydora cats
4-6 otocinclus...es..... Otocinclii....
1 bristlenose pleco

Filter rated at 125gallons and fully planted, 15% water change once a week.

Good job nix'n the idea of angels-they wont work in the tank that size.
your initial ideas are good. the cory's should be in at least 6 for a good school. I would do 6 cory's and the pleco and that would suffice for the bottom of the tank.
adding in those oto's would crowd the bottom of the tank.
Moreso because rams tend to stay at the bottom third of the tank.

other than that, great set up and personally I would increase your water change's to at least 50% weekly.
those GBR's are sensitive and everything will benefit from that pwc schedule.

[sweeneyc]

Okay thanks! I thought otos would be good for cleaning the leaves of the plant.

[IanR29]

Otos are very good for cleaning the leaves and glass among the other decorations. You may want to watch the bio load in that tank. That's a lot of catfish you are sticking into that tank. Corys, Otis and the pleco are going to be very messy and may cause more dirtiness than its worth. Try it and if it becomes a pain you can always take something back.

[fishmommie]

Quick ps to this. I did a lot of reading on GBR's before I bought mine last week. What I found was that they are very delicate and rarely do well in a new aquarium. They are reported to do much better in a well established tank that has had an opportunity to season as they like well established water conditions. So ... you might want to consider setting up your tank without the rams initially, letting it get some age to it, then add them later to give them a better chance.
My 30 gallon tank is 10 months old with very steady water perimeters and low nitrates. It's partially planted and has had the same fish for several months.
So far so good with the new rams but I'm still nervous that my tank might not be seasoned enough.

[sweeneyc]

Yeah I plan on adding the GBRs in a few months. So I am trying to figure out the pH situation for the Rams. I put a water softener pillow in there and realized it dropped my GH which makes my pH fluctuates. So I was wondering if it is good to keep pH low for the Rams or should I just acclimate them to a more neutral easier to keep pH?