fish for 29g?

[Fuzz16]

i am thinking about using my christmas money on buying myself a gift this year. a 29g tank at petco. MARINELAND.COM - CONSUMER PRODUCTS

i KNOW that i will NOT be able to have all the fish below but these are some fish i am interested in. the pair of false clwonfish are mainly what im after. and ill be getting free frags to start me off with. and the coral beauty would be nice to have as well.

in your opinions and experiances, which fish do you recommend?
what ones do you think work best with reef and eachother?

-false percula clown pair(def.)
-coral beauty
-strawberry Pseudochromis
-purple firefish
-green/spotted manderin
-royal gramma basslet
-blue/green chromis
-chocolate chip starfish
-scooter blenny
-neon dottyback
-spotted hawkfish

-pencil urchin
-tuxedo urchin <3


ill say thank you now. i appreciate this site, its nearly my life.

and also, me and my dad were having a debate about this. do i need a skimmer for a 29g or not?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I would recommend the clowns definitely, and coral beauty. I would take the mandarin off the list because they need a really big, well established tank to do well in. In a 29g, I would think you're pretty much limited to the clowns, angel, and maybe one other fish, but you may want to wait for the real experts to help you on stocking limits. This is assuming you mean a tank with live rock in it...

I've heard that urchins will knock over live rock and will eat coraline algae if there isn't enough other algae for them, but those tuxedo urchins look great in a tank. You may also want to look into the cleaning crew... snails, hermits/other crabs, shrimp. Those would be fine with anything except the star and the hawkfish.

If you want totally reef safe fish, any fish on your list excluding the angel and mandarin would be fine. The angel can be done, I know there are articles on adding them to a reef tank. But, I doubt you'll be able to keep much in the way of corals with the light that comes with that tank.

If you do a reef, I think that you would do much better to get a skimmer. It will also help for fish only though, and I would recommend one either way.

 

[kaihonu82]

I have a 29g tank with about 18 pounds of live rock (in the process of slowly adding more) with two ocellaris clowns and a coral beauty...they're so fun to watch...and yes, i have a skimmer on my tank, it helps a lot

i've heard that there can be problems with pseudochromis and firefish.. I don't know this from personal experience, but I think i saw on a compatibility chart somewhere that this combo was questionable.

 

[Mushroomman]

Frags- what lighting will you have?

-false percula clown pair(def.)- well if you want
-coral beauty- I used to have my coral beauty in a 29, now Ive upgraded tanks but man that is one nice fish. Temperament and activity. Champion algae eater.
-strawberry Pseudochromis- ok, friedmanis pseudos look better though
-purple firefish- I had one, great looking fish but can be boring, likes to stand still and flick its fin
-green/spotted manderin- no, too hard to get eating most die in small tanks such as a 29
-royal gramma basslet- nice fish, can beat on other small fish though
-blue/green chromis- like to school... kinda dull in small tanks where you can only have so many fish
-chocolate chip starfish- you're planning on corals, these arent safe
-scooter blenny- so/so... kind of like mandarin, some hard to get eating but not bad fish, could be possible
-neon dottyback- can have dottyback aggression and beat on small fish but not a bad choice
-spotted hawkfish- will eat any mobile inverts it can fit in its mouth probably

-pencil urchin- as CAPSLOCK said, urchins have the tendancy to munch on lovely coraline, other algaes and knock over rocks... kinda get big to be in a 29 and have room to move
-tuxedo urchin <3- same as above but out of the two this is the more likely to be kept in your tank

I had a skimmer on my old 29 and let me tell you it did its job even though it was a fiddly red sea prizm. Id get one.

 

[Fuzz16]

thankyou so far with everything.
i will have to buy a 50/50 light to put in it.
and ya i always loved mandarins, the colors and all. main reason i wanted to try saltwater. but thats ok, a few years down the road maybe.
i like the tuxedo urchin and the idea of it creating a symbotic relationship with a crab...forget what kind of crab though.

i love the clownfish, specially the dark colors of the false.
im between the hawkfish and the coral beauty now. i do want a reef with corals and what not, because i will be getting free frags so ill take advantage of that. i heard if you have a lot of corals established the coral beauty wont be so apt to ruin them.

and i like the neon dottyback, but i dont know if i want to deal with an aggressive fish. i stress over my aggressive discus enough. maybe a watchman goby. i think thier heads are funky shaped. *shrug*


so ill be buying the tank...hopefully, near christmas. and then ill have it run for a month or so and get some LR and then do i add cleaning crew or corals first? or before both do i add a "guppy" like fish to make sure the water is ok?

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

nope, you buy a test kit to see if the water is ok

 

[kaihonu82]

add the cleaning crew first..and yea a test kit

 

[Fuzz16]

already have a test kit
i have discus, meh. test kits are a MUST with them.

also what about a flame clam? thier kinda spooky looking but would add some nice color to the tank i think.

 

[TheFool]

They tend to starve to death.... you're right on thelimit where I would say a good skimmer is money well spent. Lighting, get a load of PC's pr a single 150 W DE metal halide and there's almost nothing you can't keep...

-false percula clown pair(def.) - boring i.m.o., the worst of the clowns
-coral beauty - all dwarf angels are fantastic
-strawberry Pseudochromis - nasty, some of the captive bred dotty's origininating from the red sea are much more steady, suitable
-purple firefish - boring
-green/spotted manderin - tricky
-royal gramma basslet - nice
-blue/green chromis - pretty dull
-chocolate chip starfish - destructive, not reef safe
-scooter blenny - hohum
-neon dottyback - please, what species is this.... as above, I have a pair of coccinicauda rated as 'peaceful' for dorries, and they are both mean as heck
-spotted hawkfish - good fish, but will be a bully to anyithng smaller.




-pencil urchin -
-tuxedo urchin <3 - I would say yes, but noone else here likes them.

I would not have any tank w/out a swarf angel, so get the beauty and the hawk, and that;s it. I have a 20 long tank similar to that with some rarer species, it is very, very nice.

 

[Lorna]

Lighting will be your big issue as you state you want a reef.......you will need good lighting and unless you are putting a metal halide or t5's you will be limited in your choices.......

Your next highest expense is going to be your live rock of which you will need a minimum of 30lbs possibly more....and a skimmer should be on your list....get a good one....don't waste time or money on seaclones or such, look at a cpr bakpak or my choice would be an aqua remora hob......worth every cent.

Then once cycled with the rock and sand about 40lbs or so to give you a good 4" base.............you will then look at adding a cleanup crew of sand stirrers and snails and maybe hermits.....

finally you can add fish, slowly....say your least aggressive choice.....followed by your clowns and finally the angel......do not overstock this...

Get a good marine test kit, not the one you used for the discus as the measuring reagents are different for saltwater.

 

[Fuzz16]

i heard the hawkfish is a no-no. itll eat my inverts.
so i think ill just get a couple false perculas, coral beauty, some 30+ lbs of LR. frags and a couple corals.
then a cleanup crew
some sort of goby, maybe a watchman
and TADA!!!!

btw, thefool, why do you say the false are boring? and the worst of the clowns?

 

[Lorna]

If getting a watchman gobie look at getting a gobie/pistol shrimp pair....interesting to watch and quite the characters....here is a pic of my two

What kind of lighting? wattage etc......and what type of corals?

 

[eva]

In no way am I speaking for thefool but I think he may mean they are boring because they are, quite frankly, everywhere! Everyone has them. There are a great variety of other clowns out there but I think people are still caught up in the whole Nemo thing.

I do have two false percs myself named Fatty and Cowlick and they are very enjoyable to watch. They are also super friendly and will come to the surface to play with me!

But the worst of all clowns, I'm interested to know why he thinks this as well.

 

[Flowerkid]

i am thinking of getting the same setup as you. I hope it works for you because im doing the same.

 

[Fuzz16]

they look so cute! the expression is like "mur" or maybe its just how the fish looks...? my dads friend told me to stay away from pistol shrimps when i brought it up to him. Lorna, just to give me an idea. what do you keep in your 20g?

and clowns, its not about the nemo thing. thier compact fish that have an easy upkeep. i dont exactly have room or space for a much more time consuming diverse tank. though i wish i did and i think for me, a beginner to saltwater, its best i am able to keep a clown alive. and so far i favor the false-percs most, mainly cause thier black *lurks in a shadow*

and the lighting is another thing. with this 29presetup system it comes with the usual flourescent lighting for a FO tank and freshwater. 24inch light bulb. and the lightbulb could be replaced with im thinking id have to do a 50/50. but im not so sure what to do about that, which is why i question the setup. what do you all think? you have been extremely helpful so far and i really appreciate your kindness <3

 

[Lorna]

I have in my 20g the wheeler gobie/tiger pistol shrimp pair *I think your dad's friend may be confused with a mantis shrimp as the pistol shrimp is a perfect citizen* .. I also have a citron gobie and a pygmy angel. I have a 65w 50/50 light and have about 40lbs of live rock. 5" dsb and for corals I have pulsing xenia, frogspawn, mushrooms and green star polyps, 1 peppermint shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp and a bunch of hermits,nassarius, nerite and a few turbo snails....here is a couple of pics....

 

[Fuzz16]

your tank is so beautiful im still wondering what to do but i think ill just have a couple fish and a few mushrooms and poylps, nothing to fancy or expensive.