A Few Huge Huge Questions.

[freshwaterfishlover]

1) Here are the fish I want or wanted for my 29 Gallon tank.

2- Silver Tetras
2- Peral Gouramis
2- Stripped Gourami
4- Giant Danio
6- Swordtail Green
4- Red Helleri
1- Bronze Catfish
1- Micro Catfish
1- Cory Rabauti
1- Cory Nattereri

The owner of my Local Fish Store(in bussiness 38 years) Told me you can never find green Swordtail anymore. Also he told me he never heard of a stripped Gourami or Silver Tetra.

Here are my questions for my first part.

1. Does anyone own Green Swordtail fish?
2. Has Anyone heard of or own a Stripped Gourami? Does it go by another name?
3. Doea anyone own a silver Tetra or heard of one? Does it go by another name?

Second part.

I told the owner, the reason why I do not buy all my fish at once is because it is the worst thing to do. He told me no it's not. He showed me tanks in the store that he had put around 30 fish in at once . Second thing is I asked do they sell Stress Zyme(I knew they stold Cycle)? I told the owner I heard Stress Zyme Is better then Cycle he told me no( i think he said it because he only sells Cycle).

Here my questions

Is it bad to put more then 6 fish in a tank at one time?
Is Stress Zyme realy better then Cycle?

[CJ1]

If your tank is new, start with a light bio load. You also need to rethink your choice of fish. Tetras should be kept in groups of around 6 or more. Cory cats also should be kept in groups. Your LFS will say anything to get you to buy the most fish at a time.

[Lady Hobbs]

1. Does anyone own Green Swordtail fish?
Never heard of them
2. Has Anyone heard of or own a Stripped Gourami? Does it go by another name?
Never seen one and have had several
3. Doea anyone own a silver Tetra or heard of one? Does it go by another name?
There are many tetra species and I supposed some could be silver. I have hi-fin whites, black skirts that are silver and black, white tips and neons but no all silver.

You are planning on putting way too many fish in that tank! One catfish is enough and it should be a small variety such as a Bristlenose. You should have more than one cory of a particular species. They like to be with their own so I would suggest maybe 4 or 5 of one kind.

You don't want a giant danio but possible several of the zebras or long-finned variety.

Tetra's do not belong alone either as they are skoalers. Best to have 6.

I would also suggest instead of getting a whole bunch of varities and only get one or two or each and having them always unhappy, to get what your really want and get them company.

Danios will stay on the top, coreys on the bottom so you can put maybe 3 swordtails and maybe 3 DRAWF gourami's for the middle or forget the gouramis and get some tetras.

Do not have more than a very few fish in the tank until it cycles. Danios are a good fish for cycling.

I have used Cycle and Stress Zyme. I figure one is as good as the other but I prefer the Stress Zyme.

[Fishguy2727]

I do not use stress zyme or cycle (or any other equivalent products), the tank will cycle without them. There are only a few ways that a tank can be fully stocked all at once. The first is when it is being setup from another tank and you take the filtration, water, and substrate from the other tank. The other way is if the tank was fishless cycled, which should be done if you have not added any fish yet. As said tetras and cories are schoolers so they need 6 or more of each species. Sound sliek you need to start to nod and smile at the owner of your LFS. Just because they have been around a long time does not mean they have kept up with the times and accumulated knowledge, just that they have managed to not go under for a long time. Stocking depends on a lot of things. What filtration do you have on there? What water change schedule do you plan on having? It sounds like you may have developed a dream stocking scheme based on the pictures in books. Try to see what you like that you can actually get at the LFS and then look them up to see what you can do.

[freshwaterfishlover]

I have Cycled the tank a month ago without fish. I own 3 tanks. 10,20 and 29 Gallon. I put 4 Gold Giant Diano in the tank last Sunday and 6 Velvet Swordtails in the tank today.

My tank has a large Amazon Sword plant, 3 bunches of Anhacharis,1 Cabomba and 1 Ludwigia plant

I have a a 150W heater,a 50-70 Gallon Aquatic Filter and white Gravel.

I clean out the Filter every other weekend and do a Gravel stir up water change every other Weekend.