Stocking Ideas for a 29 Gallon tank

[nellykast1219]

Hello Everybody,

I’m rebuilding my 29 Gallon fish tank. I wanted to get a pair of German blue Rams. I know these fish are very hard to keep, but I was wondering what type fish will get along with these fish. I like platies and tetras will they get along. Should the tank be Heavily or moderately planted, or should i skip the idea of the german blue rams.

Thank You

 

[misterking]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Good choice on fish there, german blue rams are gorgeous and would be great in that size tank. I would however add them LAST out of your fish, they like a well established aquarium which is why they often can be hard to keep.

I'd go with well-planted so there's lots of cover, and their colours will come out well then. Tetras would be great and platies would work, they're not so much my cup of tea coz they tend to breed like mad and keeping control of fry can be difficult, but they're peaceful enough to make good tank mates.

Other good tankmates would be corydoras catfish, otocinclus (if you can keep blue rams alive you can keep this little guys alive no problem) and any of the small plecos, such as bulldog plecos, rubberlip plecos or bristlenose plecos.

I take it from the rebuild you have a bit of experience with fish? Do you know about cycling a tank?

 

[nellykast1219]

I had this fish tank for a couple of years. My fish had all died except for a couple. I had platies and tetras and like them alot. i had ottos and catfish and i did a pretty good job with them. the only problem my tank is one of those fish tank set up from petsmart I plan on buying a new heater and filiter but i more worry about the lighting and keeping the plants alive. My tank still have its gravel inside of it and plan on using it if i can

 

[lauraf]

Hi, welcome!
You can use the gravel you already have, but you should still rinse it very well if it has been sitting for a while. You will also need to cycle your newly set-up tank, of course. Are you familiar with doing a fishless cycle?
German blue rams are lovely. I had trouble with them at first myself - I agree completely with misterking about adding them last. As you can see in my signature, I have platies, cardinal tetras, and cories, so those are fine tankmates for rams. Moderately/heavily planted and lots of hidey-holes would be ideal.
Cheers,
Laura

 

[nellykast1219]

Which cycle is better doing a fishless cycle or cycle it with fish in it. When I first started this tank I cycle it with platies and only had put three of them in it and none of them had died.

 

[bassbonediva]

Fishless is the way to go...

A fish-in cycle is EXTREMELY stressful for the fish and they'll suffer from ammonia poisoning until your tank gets cycled. Just because your poor platies didn't die doesn't mean they didn't suffer.

 

[nellykast1219]

I finally finish setting up my tank everything is working good now i got to decide if i want to cycle with fish or without. im leaning more towards a fish cycle but dont know when to start the cycle with fish. should i let the tank run for a week then put them in or wait a couple of days then put them in.

 

[bassbonediva]

There won't be any difference in waiting to start a fish-in cycle.

 

[nellykast1219]

ok but how many fish do start off with i have a 29 gallon tank i was thinking 3 platies is that ok or should i make it two.

 

[bassbonediva]

Doesn't really matter, to be honest. You could do it with just one, it just might take a little longer because there isn't as much waste being produced to keep your cycle going (fish waste breaks down and produces ammonia, which feeds the beneficial bacteria, which turns it into nitrItes, which feed a different kind of beneficial bacteria, which turns that into nitrAtes).

 

[nellykast1219]

ok thanks alot i probably will do it with 3 platies

 

[blue_ram]

The most difficult part of the cycle is the initial conversions from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Once a bcterial colony has been established, it will double every 8 hours if there is enough waste in the tank.

I have read some insanely stupid stuff about fishless cycling where people waste months trying to accumulate enough bacteria to consume 5ppm of ammonia which will then simply die off and cause a mini ammonia spike and so on.

If you do fishless cycling, just feed the tank whatever you would feed one or two fish for about 2 weeks.