10g --> 29g upgrade!

[PerenGee]

Hey all!
So the time has finally come for me to upgrade my little 10g. I scored a 29g from my uncle and I plan on transferring everything over this Friday. Once everything is set up, I'll be using all the equipment that came with the 29g along with all the stuff I've been using with the 10g. That way, I'm hoping there will be no cycle, or at least, it'll be minimal. At the moment, here's the mess I have going on right now

Now on to the stocking issues and questions...
as my sig says, I currently have 3 glass fish, 1 male cherry barb, and 1 oto. I'm definitely going to add 2 or 3 more otos because the one I have now is really skittish on his own. I'm not sure what to do for the other fish though. I know they're all pretty stressed out (which is why I'm upgrading asap) because the cherry barb chases everything around whenever he can. One glass fish is sort of bullied by the other 2 on top of the harassment of the barb. Also, anytime I approach the tank, they all run and hide unless they're starving. I've added more hiding places and more plants, and although they seem to be a little more at ease, they still swim away in fear, especially the barb.
So I'm wondering what else I should stock. I was thinking that adding some female cherry barbs would mellow out the male that I have now, but I'm not sure how many to add. More glass fish are also an option. Oh and since the death of my good ole gourami, I'm lacking a centerpiece fish. Please, suggestions would be greatly appreciated! (also, keep in mind that I'm also working on a 55g so some can be transferred over there later too)

 

[jo3olous]

I definitely agree for adding 3-4 more ottos, and 5-6 more cherry barbs; a school of cherries should help your loner. more glass fish sounds cool too. What happen to your amano shrimp? you didnt mention them... Oh for your center piece, i'd say you could go either way with a midsize bottom feeder, or yet another gourami... my projects are put on hold today at work so ill try and come up with some more ideas

 

[BigFish9000]

29Gal tank upgrade

I'm usually not a fan of taking other people's used tank and equipment unless I know where it has been; I suppose your uncle can tell you that though so its probably OK. If your uncle's 29 gallon tank and equipment has been sitting around a while, you should probably take the extra effort and clean it out, using _only_ bleach that is diluted with water. The bleach will kill any fungus or other microbes that may have set up a home in there and could later affect your tank. The thing is that after rinsing everything with bleach water, you will need to rinse with clear water until the bleach smell goes away, then let everything air dry.... If after all that you can still smell bleach, keep rinsing with clear water and let it dry again. At least bleach degrades in sunlight.... This is the safe way to take someone else's used equipment. Its a lot of work and if you have the time great, but that is why I prefer new equipment.

One other point on the used equipment: What kind of filter are you inheriting? Can you sill get parts and/or replaceable media for it? If not, consider a new purchase.

Your stocking issue. I think that you are at a critical cross-roads and need to decide what 'kind' of aquarium you want. Here is why: If you want to keep the Tiger Barb, definetly get more of them, perhaps 2 to 6 additional Barbs. However, if you do this, you will have an 'aggressive' tank - lots of fast swimming action but the Barbs won't be as agressive in numbers. The problem is that an 'aggressive' tank will prevent you from getting many other kinds of fish like guppies, mollies, swordtails and so on as they will likely be nipped to death by the Tiger Barbs.

I don't recall how Glass Fish are compatible with Tiger Barbs and I've never kept Glass Fish; anyone else?

So, if you like color and a calm tank, now would be the best time to donate your single Tiger Barb to a more appropriate home. Many aquarium shops will take used fish and give them a better home and you might even get a bit of money toward a fish trade-in.

 

[PerenGee]

Thanks for the input jo3! How would you suggest I split up the new cherries in terms of male and female? And yeah, I totally forgot to mention the amanos. They're doing great, and actually they're the biggest inhabitants in my tank so far. For a while they disappeared and I couldn't find them, but since the death of my gourami, they've been out in force. They've exploded in size, it's pretty crazy. I even saw one steal a food pellet away from the cherry barb. I'm really loving the shrimp right now so I might get some more of those. I'm also looking into getting a flower shrimp either for this 29 or for the 55. I think they just look awesome with their little fans.

BigFish9000, the tank has been really well taken care of so far and it was up and running until I took it from them, so it's still pretty fresh. I've done the normal rinsing and cleaning though so no worries. I'm starting fresh with the media because they gave me a big box of replacements. Everything is in order so I'm not too worried about the tank in that respect. Now, I bought my 55 used and all the equipment used so I'll have to be more thorough about that tank. As for the barbs, I think you misread, I have one cherry barb not a tiger barb, which I'm aware would be much more aggressive.

And yes, I guess I totally left out the fact that I'm continuing the community type tank. I should have said that straight out.

 

[PerenGee]

Update! The 29 is more or less, set up. I still have to re-plan my plants because I sort of just threw them in so I could get the fish in. Anyway, I'd put up a picture but I don't have the good camera on me and the tank is not really set up in a pleasing way yet. Or at least, I think I could do better. Once I get my lighting system (130w pc) gets in from the mail, I'll rescape and take some pics.

Also, today I went out and bought 5 more cherry barbs (1m, 4f). They seem to be fairly happy and inquisitive as they shoal around together. Even the glassfish seem to like to stick with them as a whole group. Very cute! I've also added a good sized flower shrimp. By my calculations, I still have a few more inches of fish to spare. Suggestions still welcome

 

[PerenGee]

Hey all! I have some pictures for you. Here's what it looked like a couple of days after I replanted.

And here's what it looked like right before I pruned the plants back.

EDIT: it didn't occur to me how much a background actually mattered visually until I finally put one on. Lesson learned!

All the livestock in my sig is still accurate for the 29g. I plan on adding a pair of GBRs after I get back from spring break. I'm loving this tank way more than my 10g. I've actually been spending a lot more time just sitting and enjoying my tank instead of worrying about things like I did with the 10. Anyway, enjoy!

 

[jo3olous]

beautifully done

 

[Whiskers]

very nice looking tank.the black background really makes the green plants with the brown of the driftwood really pop out.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Wow, it looks AWESOME! *thumbsup2

 

[LadyLail]

Beautiful!

 

[vahluree]

Wow, that's very nice lookin'!

 

[Ravenstar]

Impressive! I'm looking forward to starting my own community tank soon. How important is it to get a background, and what would you say are the benefits? And how does having one factor in to cleaning and maintenance (like if I need to bleach the tank)?

 

[DesignsOnYou]

The fish generally don't care whether you have a background or not. It just makes the tank look nicer. There aren't any benefits that I know of other than that. As far as maintenance, it doesn't make a bit of difference because the background goes on the outside of the tank (there are a few that are essentially sculpted and cured foam that go on the inside, but that's a relatively small percentage). But as far as the regular backgrounds that you can get at the store or make yourself, they get attached outside the glass behind the tank. Also, what are you planning on bleaching? You really shouldn't, unless you're trying to clean a used tank, and then you only want to use a very weak bleach solution (look it up for the proper proportion). You should never use bleach with fish in the tank.

 

[homebunnyj]

Impressive! I'm looking forward to starting my own community tank soon. How important is it to get a background, and what would you say are the benefits? And how does having one factor in to cleaning and maintenance (like if I need to bleach the tank)?

You can see the before and after pics. That's the only way it benefits your tank -- visually.

Why would you ever have to bleach the tank? unless your fish all died from a dread disease and you were preparing the tank for re-use, in which case you remove the backing for the disinfecting process.

Maybe in your thread re: ammonia you could tell us how you maintain your tank. If you're getting all bactericidal on it, you could be interfering with the establishment of your tank's nitrogen cycle.

 

[PerenGee]

wow I've neglected this thread and perhaps the whole forum during finals. Anyway, thanks for the more than generous praise everyone! I'm still thinking of moving things around and rescaping if I get my hands on some new plants. Also don't let the riccia stones on the bottom of the pic fool you. The pic is decieving and they're actually not that full and pretty. But I have some dwarf riccia on the way and hopefully that will take off a little better. In other news I'm tracking down a CO2 cylinder to replace the annoying DIY bottle that I've been using. I'll update more when I get that set up in a week or so.

 

[bmoraski]

Looks SWEET ! nice job

 

[PerenGee]

Here's another update:
So I went away for a week and a half for Spring break and when I came back, my tank had exploded with growth. I was so shocked that I didn't manage to take a picture of the actual inside of the tank. I did snag these though...

So I've always liked the look of duckweed, and I still do...but after seeing how it cut down my 4wpg down to what looked like less than 1wpg, NOT in my tank I don't like it. Anyway, I scooped the majority of it out but kept the bigger pieces, the name of which is unknown to me.

Then the other day, I went to my LFS and they just so happened to have a beautiful pair of GBR's that were already attempting to spawn or at least secure territory for it. Needless to say, I gave in and took them home. Here's some pics from RIGHT after letting them out of their bag after nearly an hour of drip acclimation.

the female

and her partner

And again, I apologize for the slight noisiness and blurriness of the pics. I was in a rush to snap them before they took off. Anyway, hopefully they'll be successful in makin' some babies!

 

[Whiskers]

nice look'n rams. i bet they look good in the tank.

 

[PerenGee]

Thanks! They do indeed look good in the tank, although a good bit smaller than I thought they would have looked. I set up a cave at the front left side of the tank for the female to lay eggs in. It would appear that they've claimed it along with the front right corner where they both have dug a little pit. As of this morning, they've up rooted 3 or 4 plants...grrr, but hey, it's alright if I end up with some baby rams right?

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Nice rams! Bolvians are even worse at uprooting plants... that's why the only plants I can keep as a foreground have been dwarf sag, e. tennellus micro, and dwarf haigrass. They've uprooted my elatine triandra and glosso, along with some hemianthus micranthemoides.

The 'larger duckweed' you have by the way is salvinia. I want to say salvinia minima, but I can't be too sure.