Ideas for my son's 29gal

[bassbonediva]

So, I had a 20gH tank in my son's room that ended up being the "Tank of Doom" (lost an angelfish, two rubberlip plecos, four male guppies, a male platy and an oto within the two weeks I had the tank set up...and yes, it was FULLY cycled before I put any of the fish in it), so I tore it down and put up a 29gal in its place. The 29gal has play sand substrate, river rocks, and a couple of live plants (will be adding more when I decide what direction I want to go with this tank). I also have a nice piece of DW soaking for this tank. I'm running a Penguin 170 filter on it, it is heated (with a 150W heater) and it has a 36" 60W T-8 fixture on it (leftover from my 46gal...the fixture that came with the 29gal SUCKS!).

As far as plants, there's an amazon sword, water wisteria, and micro sword in there right now. I will be adding some more swords (amazon and argentine), some frill/foxtail and some hygros at the very least to the tank, possibly even some ludwigia.

I want to change up the stocking in this tank. Right now it's kind of a hodge-podge of fish from other tanks who had to be "rehomed" due to my tank juggling in setting up my 55gal. Right now it's a bit overstocked (okay, that's a massive understatement) with 5 platies, 11 guppies (two of which are massive 3"+ females), two otos, a male betta and an upside down catfish. Five of the six female guppies are going to be shipped to a friend once the weather warms up and the other one is going into the 55gal (the one that's staying is a deformed female who is just too sweet to give up). The male betta is going into one of my divided 10gals since I just lost two of my males in there (one has already been "replaced" by a male I had temporarily in a small tank) and I have an open "apartment". One of the otos is going into my Hex5 (at least temporarily) and the other is going into the 55gal when I get a better filter on it. So, that leaves 5 platies and 5 male guppies. Since the platies were a Christmas present for my son, they have to stay (and I kinda like them). The guppies don't have to stay, although I do have some pretty boys. The USD cat is staying where he's at and he might eventually get friends, but he's actually quite content on his own.

So, I've got some play room in this tank. As long as his platies are in there, my son doesn't care what else is in there (I asked him already). I would LOVE to have a gourami in there, probably a flame dwarf or a neon dwarf (or even a powder blue dwarf, if I can find one). What else would look good? I don't want to repeat species in my two community tanks, so neon tetras, cardinal tetras, von rio/flame tetras, kuhli loaches, albino cories and german blue rams (or golden rams) are out. I want this tank to be colorful and fun for my son to enjoy when he comes to see me (he lives with his dad).

So, suggestions welcome, but they must be easily-obtainable (as in LFS or Petsmart/co carries them) fish because I can't order anything online!

 

[lauraf]

Hermm, Paige - I like to pretend that I'm a kid, so, thinking along that line. . . . Would you be able to put one of those blue lobster shrimp in there??? Cause that would be very cool and different.
Otherwise, in terms of entertainment value, dwarf cories are cute and active but not that colourful; I always love recommending yoyo (pakistani) loaches - and even two are okay together but not sure whether they might outgrow a 29g. A dwarf gourami will be lovely in terms of shape and colour, but perhaps a bit more stately than what you are thinking of. Is your tank too small for a couple of long-finned rainbow fish (I think that's what they are called)? They would be stunning and add lots of flashly movement. I'll look up what I'm thinking of.

 

[bassbonediva]

The only problems with the yoyo loaches and the blue lobster is that they aren't readily found around here (and I can't order them online because I don't have a debit/credit card). I live in a VERY small town. Also, I have Malaysian trumpet snails (MTS) in the 29gal because I have a somewhat deep sand bed and I'm pretty sure the yoyo loaches would eat all my MTS. Pygmy cories are fun, but again, not readily available.

I probably should mention that the "theme" of the tank is going to be a dino boneyard type thing. Black background and a couple of dino skull decorations among the river rocks.

Were you thinking of the threadfin rainbow fish? http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fre...hreadfin(Featherfin)RainbowfishWFRa_C1884.jpg

I will probably end up getting rid of the guppies (I'm not a huge fan, anyway), so if I did the dwarf gourami, I would get a school of *something* small and quick to make up for the gourami's lack of pep. Like glofish, but not (I don't think they'd fit with what I am thinking for the tank). If I can find one, though, the blue freshwater lobster would be freakin' cool!

 

[lauraf]

OMG, sorry - what I meant was congo tetras. They would be very active, colourful, and community-tank friendly.

 

[lauraf]

Oops, Paige, we're overlapping replies here.

 

[bassbonediva]

lol! It's okay. Congo tetras would be awesome...but again, not readily found here. Although, I know of a place that is relatively local that I could order them from (and I think they will take money orders). The problem with the congo tetras is that AqAdvisor says they'll get too big for my tank. Grrrr! They'll fit in my 46gal! lol But I'm not setting the 46gal up again for a while (not until I can do what I really want with it).

 

[BristlenosePleco]

Harlequin rasboras would be nice, or some balloon mollies there so goofy looking. lol

 

[lauraf]

Okay, then, instead of us guessing what's available, why don't you tell us what's there, and we can vote those fish species out, Survivor-style?
What a bummer to have such limited options.

 

[bassbonediva]

Oh, both of those would be cute. And since the balloon mollies don't have to be in schools (they can hang with the platies since they're about the same size), I wouldn't have to have as many of them. Hmmmmmmm...I could do the five platies, five harlequin rasboras, 2 balloon mollies (one black and one white...both female, of course), four peppered cories and a dwarf gourami. I like that...let's see what other suggestions I get.

 

[BristlenosePleco]

What kind of platies do you have?

 

[bassbonediva]

Okay, then, instead of us guessing what's available, why don't you tell us what's there, and we can vote those fish species out, Survivor-style?
What a bummer to have such limited options.

lol...well, generally speaking our Petsmart and Petco have the normal assortment of tetras (black skirt, von rio, neon, cardinal, bloodfin, buenos aires, glowlight, columbian, black neon, head and taillight), tons of mollies and platies, barbs (tiger, cherry, gold), silver dollars, angels, guppies, goldfish, plecos (usually just commons/albino commons/chocolate commons and rubberlip), various catfish (pictus, cories, otos), CAE (and gold CAE), sharks, clown loaches, black kuhli loaches, and cichlids of various kinds. Our LFSs suck and don't have a very good selection. About the only thing they carry that Petco/smart doesn't are penguin tetras and one of them has a whole bunch of blue rainbowfish that no one really knows what they are except me and the owner.

 

[bassbonediva]

What kind of platies do you have?

We have two female sunset coral dwarfs, one female marigold variatus, one female blue rainbow and one male parrot/dawn.

 

[BristlenosePleco]

If you can you should try to get your hands on some of what I was told are "Batman platies". Like the "Mickey mouse" platies except for where the ears are on "Mickey" there not round but pointed towards the tail giving it a bat ear look hence the term "Batman platies". I bet your son would like the sound of those. lol

 

[bassbonediva]

hehe...knowing him, he'd love them. I've heard of twin bar platies that have kind of that same type of look. I goggled them and only found one reference to them, though, and no place that sells them, so I doubt I'd be able to get them.

 

[BristlenosePleco]

Yeah they look almost identical to those, except there is a big round spot where ther "head" would be.

 

[Newman]

if you want something different in terms of crustaceans try a couple of dwarf crayfish. I hear they breed as readily as cherry shrimp Mexican Orange Dwarf Crayfish: Shrimp-n-it: The Freshwater Invert Place

once you get some baby crayfish going, you could probably give them to your LFS for credit
They are also much less harmful than actual blue lobsters and should be fish-compatible.

 

[BristlenosePleco]

Oh those look awesome! I agree with Newman.

 

[bassbonediva]

But then we come to the problem of having to order them. I like them, don't get me wrong. And if I had them, I don't think I'd have to have the cories. Alright, let me see how much they cost and I'll render a verdict (I didn't see where it said on that link you put up, Newman).

 

[Newman]

i never said order them from that site. you can find dwarf crayfish anywhere online really, and some fish-only LFS do carry them. I would not be surprised that if you searched, you could probably find a small family owned fish-only LFS near you! (or sometimes not near you but in the vicinity lol)

 

[bassbonediva]

I live in an area of four towns whose populations TOTAL under 50,000. The closest fish-only store "near" me is two hours away, and they don't sell tropical fish, they sell marine only. lol We only have two local pet stores who carry fish and neither one of them carry anything even remotely like those crayfish. I found them on another website, though, for $20 EACH! Yeah, I like them, but not that much.