stocking suggestions

[Lakea]

I have a 29 gallon and I am trying to decide on a fish. I have always been in love with oscars, they are my favorites, but I hear its really hard to keep an oscar in a 29g. So I was looking for other suggestions for cichlids, I really don't know what's species are out there. I was given a suggestion of Convict cichlids? but I also here they are real easy to breed and I don't want to end up with a bunch of fry. Any suggestions and information you can give about any type of fish will greatly be appreciated.

 

[Katie217]

Definatly not an oscar! But for a 29g you could do some nice dwarfs, like rams, kribs, apistos etc

 

[sweetpickles7]

U could do some smaller species of mbuna.

 

[Katie217]

I wouldnt do any mbuna in there, the smallest tank mbuna should be in is a 33gal, and those should be Salousi or other small mbuna

 

[sweetpickles7]

Then do shellies.

 

[Katie217]

if you can get a hold of some shellies, then for sure. multies is what I'd do

 

[jessey]

i'm going to do saulosi [dwarf mbuna's] in my 29 gallon! i've gotten lots of positive feedback on this. it's a nice setup!

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I'd do dwarf Mbuna personally. Demonsoni would look great...10-12 of them.

 

[big54bob]

A pair of Firemouth Cichlids whould look awsome with 5 tiger barbs as dithers.

 

[Orion]

Some small shellies would be fun, but with the height of a 29 it would be difficult to find something to fill in the upper area's. A mini-Tang community is always a great way to go with some Altolamprologus, dwarf julies and possibly a neolamp species or large shell dweller.

Firemouths get a bit big for a 29.

Apisto's or some other New World dwarf's plus some tetra's would also make an attractive tank.

There are actualy a lot of different options with a 29 gallon tank if you take the time to set it up right from the start that will give you years of enjoyment.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

A pair of Firemouth Cichlids whould look awsome with 5 tiger barbs as dithers.

5 tiger barbsis not enough tiger barbs. If you have under 7-8, they will sometime pick on the other fish, but will mostly beat up on the weakest tiger barb til it kills it. I had many problems with tigers up until I boosted my count above 8, and now I have 39, and zero problems.

 

[Lakea]

Well thanks for all the great suggestions. I am still waiting for my tank to finish cycling, I hate waiting. What are some good algae eaters to pair with a cichlids, I would think a pleco but they just get so darn big. I plan to go with a dwarf, maybe a ram, they look pretty cool. I have a chinese algae eater, but he is aggressive and he would uproot all my plants.

 

[sweetpickles7]

Otos would be great with rams.They are the best algae eater i think u can find IMO.

 

[Lakea]

I thought I should mention my water test results. I am excited my nitrites have started to increase and ammonia is decreasing, so I'm getting closer to having fishes, yay. I do however have hard water that is slightly alkaline. I don't remember, but do rams usually need soft, slightly acidic water? Anyways I just thought that might be an important piece of info in my selection of fish.

I never had such a hard time picking out fish.

 

[skratikans]

i have had 3 tiger barbs in a ten gallon species tank and honestly they never picked on each other, and got along fine in their little school

i have even once had a single tiger barb with a male betta...i think it depends on the individual personality of the fish..