Many beers later...

**umm_bacon** · 11-10-2007, 08:17 AM

Hello all. I find myself basically a noob in the fish racket again. Before moving out to college, I won a free 55 gallon tank from the local shop and had an oscar and pleco and enjoyed that for many years...well...seven years later I find myself trying to start a new tank. I now have a 29 gallon setup with a H.O.T. Magnum canister filter sans the bio wheel attachment (evidently one cannot get one of those in Wichita, Kansas now a days) that has sat by itself for a few weeks. At the suggestion of a few local pet stores, I ended up trying the live biological serum stuff in a bottle to encourage the cycling process. Aside from any potential fallacies with that, what would you recommend for a small 29 gallon. I would really like to have a larger cichlid and some sort of "non-standard" pleco. I was thinking of a severum of some sort. I understand that many would say that is too small of a tank, however, I figure that I would add more filteration to the beast and stay on top of water changes and testing. My goal is a large fish with some sort of personality and another to suck on the glass. Is this reasonable? I have managed to keep fish alive for some time, but that was probably sheer luck. I am now at a point where I am able to understand more of the biological aspects of having fish and willing to spend the time ensuring things go well. I say now that I wish to buy a larger tank to better realize my wishes of larger, more aggressive fish, but until that point, where do you all think I stand. I have been considering this for about a month now, and well...as the title suggests, I have imbibed (in doing so decided that I should make a purchase within the next few days), and am getting antsy. Advice??? By the way, hello to the forum. I have learned much from reading around, and I thank you for your efforts to inform those like myself. By the way, I saw one or two folks from Wichita (and as much as I hate asking those younger for advice) on the forum, and wondered which shops you would recommend the most. Again, thanks and happy trails.

There seem to be many Aussies on here. I had a chance to booze down under and wanted to thank those that made it fun and encourage others to make the trip...to expand upon their knowledge and appreciation of fish of course, booze is just a perk.

**mitcore** · 11-10-2007, 08:30 AM

howdy and welcome
i dont house the big fish but rest assured you will get great advice here
sounds like you have it all worked out though

welcome

LOL
i am an aussie
and yes we do like to party hard

**Nautilus29** · 11-10-2007, 09:40 AM

Severums grow to be 8 inches long. Even if you kept up with your water changes a 29 g tank is too small for a severum and even a pleco. a stank that size will stunt there growth which isnt good for your fish. May I suggest a pair of convicts or a couple of firemouths. They both stay small around 4 to 6 inches and a 29g would be a nice tank for them. Also if you want a pleco there are some that stay small.

Welcome to the forum

**~Erik3.8.07~** · 11-10-2007, 01:44 PM

welcome to the forums, i agree with nautilus about the severums, they will get to large for the tank, a pair of firemouths would look great in that size tank

**Lady Hobbs** · 11-10-2007, 01:45 PM

Welcome to AC. You will get more answers to your questions in the general forum rather than in the introduction thread but I know what the answers will be already........tank is too small for large cichlids.

But come on it and post away.