CorydorasEthan

*nerms

Yeah I agree. The bigger the group, the less nipping and food aggression you will have.

I think that Yoyo loaches would eat the assassin snails, so I would advise against putting assassins in that tank.

Okay so it originally started when we got a couple of assassin snails to get rid of the MTS infestation in the 10 gallon. They did their job well and had a bunch of babies. When we moved the fish to the 29 gallon later, a couple of the assassin snails hitchhiked in. Eventually, we sold off over half, but kept the originals and a couple others. I think there are quite a few left, I just never see them because I have sand in the tank (they bury in the sand all the time). They mainly just eat the leftovers from the fish, but I recently have been feeding a bit more so that they get their food. I am thinking of adding in more "feeder" snails though.

Welcome to the forum! I really like all of your aquariums! I too am a big fan of Corydoras.

Mine is really mixed. I have a wide assortment of Corydoras species and otos (South America, Amazon Basin region), and a large group of Endler's livebearers/guppy hybrids (Central American region), a colony of assassin snails and a siamese algae eater (Southeast Asia, particularly Sumatra, Malaysia region), and some Amano shrimp (Japan). The plants add to the diversity: Most of my plants are from SE Asia, except for the Amazon sword.

@TresMiller Hmm that's odd. I just purchased three otos from my LFS and they were immediately active and outgoing as soon as I added them to my 29 gallon planted community tank. There are a lot of cories and guppies in there too, which might have made them more comfortable. Building your school to around 3-5 should help. And add some dither fish like tetras, livebearers, rasboras, danios, or cories.

Diamond tetras (Moenkhausia pittieri) are in the same genus as the red-eye tetra (Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae), which is a pretty peaceful fish and can be a tight schooler too. I saw a school of the red-eyes (like around 15 or 20 of them) at a PetSmart and they were perfectly healthy and schooling tightly from one end of the tank to the other. So I would assume diamond tetras show similar behavior. I don't know about hardiness and care requirements though.

@JamesB @Betsy @Maggie This is a little late, but great job you guys! Those CARE packages were well deserved!

I heard that these are sometimes not plant safe and kind of aggressive. Is this true? Or are they okay in a planted community tank?

@Colu The standard is my favorite. It is so colorful and has really nice fins. I hope to keep some someday when I get a bigger tank.

Wow I've never heard of the red-finned penguin before, but it does look cool! Currently, my favorites are the Congo tetra, the emperor tetra, and the black neon tetra.

Hi @jessi1701. Welcome to the forum! I also have a 29 gallon planted community aquarium, so I'd like to share some of the advice I had for you: Filters: I understand the confusion coming along with the filters. I struggled with this as well as a novice. An ideal filter for your setup would be the sponge filter like many people suggested. Although stores like PetSmart and PetCo do not carry them, you can find them on the Aquarium Co-Op website here: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/sponge-filters/products/aquarium-co-op-coarse-sponge-filter. In my experience, these filters are great. They provide plenty of space for beneficial bacteria while also not sucking up any fish and also only requiring an airstone and air pump to work. Go with the medium size for the 29 gallon aquarium. But you also might need something more to keep the water clear. Go with a hang-on-back filter as well (any brand will work honestly, but I would recommend AquaClear or Marineland Penguins, just because I've had experience with these kinds of filters), but *IMPORTANT* make sure to cover the intake of filter with an pre-filter/intake filter sponge, also available at Aquarium Co-Op.com here: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/sponge-filters/products/medium-pre-filter-sponge. This sponge will prevent small fish, food, and debris from going up the intake. This would be especially useful for kuhli loaches, as I heard they like to squeeze into every opening they can get into. I would not recommend an undergravel filter, because kuhli loaches could get into the bottom and possibly get stuck (I heard). Planting: For plants, Java fern, Anubias species, water sprite, water lettuce, guppy grass, dwarf aquarium lily, and Cryptocoryne wendtii are a few of my choice ones for a beginner (I am a beginner with plants too, and these work pretty well for me). They are readily available and easy to grow. I would plant the tank after cycling for a couple of days. After adding the plants, add the fish in a week or so. I'm not too experienced with cycling a tank, so I would wait for a more experienced aquarist to verify what to do before proceeding with my advice. Substrate: If you are planning on plants, sand might not be the best choice, as gravel provides much more nutriets, but then again, kuhli loaches love sand to bury in. So what I would recommend is a layer of gravel underneath the areas where you want plants, and then a slight covering of sand over the top and in other areas for the loaches to burrow under. The other main difference from gravel (besides the nutrients thing I mentioned earlier) is that waste settles on top of the sand, so gravel vacuuming on sand is basically running the vacuuming just over the top of the sand to suck up the debris that has settled there. It is not necessary to dig into the sand when vacuuming, as you will likely just suck up sand this way. Maintenence: Gravel vacuuming gets rid of waste in the gravel like uneaten fish food and fish feces. This stuff is actually beneficial for plants, as they use it as food for themselves. Water changing helps to get rid of nitrates, nitrities, and ammonia present in the water. Cleaning the filter is mostly to get rid of all the gunk-y stuff that forms in the filter. The purpose is mainly to un-clog the filter, so that the filter can continue to perform at its best. Stocking: Your tank would definitely not be overstocked or too busy. I think 6 kuhli loaches and 6 cherry barbs is a great start to building a good planted community aquarium. You could add a lot more fish as your tank gets established. Other fish I would recommend would be smaller tetras (like you mentioned), rasboras (harlequins, espeis, or chilis), endler's livebearers, guppies, or platies. Another choice (my favorite) would be Corydoras catfish. If you haven't heard of them, they are cute little schooling catfish that won't harm a soul. Get a group of around 6 of the same species. For a smaller variety in case you don't want ones that get a tad too large, go for pygmy cories (Corydoras pygmaeus). They are a tiny silver catfish that get only about 1 inch at most. They would go perfectly with your loaches and barbs. Here are a couple of Corydoras (albino cory, and some peppered cory babies). Also, I don't think you are over-thinking this. It is perfectly normal for aquarists like us to consider every little detail about what they are going to be doing about their aquariums! Plus, goldfish might even be harder in the 29, as they produce a lot of waste and some can grow over a foot long. Hope this helps. If you're not interested in buying stuff from the Co-Op, Amazon also carries sponge filters and things, but they don't seem to be up quite near the same level as the Co-Op ones (at least in my experience). Anyway, I look forward to seeing how your tank progresses. Good luck!

Is it safe for shrimp?

This must be what my guppies are doing. I've always noticed a group of mostly males hanging around the airstone...

There is nothing in the tank that is aggressive or chases them. The only in inhabitants are them (really they are guppy/endler hybrids), a wide assortment of cory cats, a very peaceful siamese algae eater, a group of tiny newly introduced otos, some assassin snails, and a pair of amano shrimp. The male guppies chase the females sometimes, but I have only found one female jumped (she was the one on the lid) and the other two were males, who ended up on the floor. The water level is pretty high, which might be the cause. In addition, the area where they seem to jump out has an airstone/bubble curtain directly under it, which might be pushing them upward when they swim there, although I doubt it would push them all the way out of the aquarium without them actually jumping away from something.

Hello everyone, I was looking for a netting suggestion for my 29 gallon aquarium. I already have a glass lid, but it has an open area towards the back to make room for equipment. I inquire about the netting because I now have had three guppies that jumped out and dried up on the floor/on top of the lid (jumped from the opening to the top of the lid), and I need something to keep them from doing this. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

I've had my Vallisneria for several months now (since mid-December) and it still hasn't grown much at all. I expected it to grow up to the top of the tank (29 gallon tank, so 18 inches tall) and to send out runners all the time. But mine is only about four inches tall with a one inch runner. Any ideas of improving the growth of my vallisneria? I use pool filter sand, with plently of fish waste in the sand, so I thought that should provide good plant food. I don't dose any fertilizers, so I am thinking of getting some easy green or root tabs. Which of these would you recommend? I also have a 30 inch Nicrew light. Other plants include Java fern, crypt wendtii, dwarf hairgrass, water sprite (huge), and dwarf aquarium lily (also huge). Do you think that the bigger plants might be sucking up all of the nutrients? Thanks.

Beth could be acting this way for several reasons. First of all, she might be stressed, so that she stays in one place and doesn't move as much. If you're other fish in the tank are peaceful and not aggressive, I don't think this could be the case. Another cause could be stress from fluctuating water parameters/temperature, so I would check those as well just in case. Another reason why Beth might be acting like this is because she may have some sort of disease/parasite. My pearl gourami stayed still for an entire day and did not eat or interact at all with me when he had internal parasites. A day later, he showed signs of eating and interaction a lot more, so you might want to treat them with API General Cure or something similar if you find something is wrong (if you see parasites, fish doesn't eat, fish is flashing/rubbing against the sides/gravel, etc.). I am a newer fishkeeper, so I don't really know too much about what could be causing this. Honestly, it could really be any disease or illness, so I would wait for a more experienced hobbyist to come around this post. Anyway, I hope my advice could help, and I hope Beth gets better!

@Yari Nice looking tank! What kinds of fish do you have?

@DCT Welcome to the forum! Nice tanks you have! Though I did have one question: What kind of bottom dwellers are you referring to?

Okay then I think that you could add the peppered cories in any time to be honest, as long as they are healthy. Also, I don't quarantine either, which led to an ich outbreak in my first aquarium, killing everyone. Then again, the fish was from an unreliable PetSmart, and since I have bought fish from my LFS instead. I haven't done it yet, but I plan on setting up quarantine soon once I get more fish. So given that I don't have any experience with quarantine, I don't really have an answer to your last two questions, so if I were you, I'd check with other, more experienced nerms. But in my opinion, I would just watch them to see how they do. Deworming would be a good idea though, because I think that might be common in cories (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway, I hope this helps. Good luck!

It really depends on how many you want, and how many you can fit. Albinos, bronzes, and peppered cories, although certainly not the largest Corydoras species, are fairly large, the females reaching almost three inches, and really wide as well. Below is a picture of a fully grown (pregnant) female, compared to the fully grown male, with some juvenile guppies as well. The female is about two-and-a-half to three inches long, and the male is about two inches long. So I would recommend (assuming your tank doesn't have any other fishes yet) around three or four of each species. This means three to four albinos/bronze, and three to four peppered cories. The reason for the lower number is again, because the females of these species get larger than expected by most aquarists. If you get a good mix of males and females of each type, there is the possibility of breeding them and producing more babies, which it is very fun to raise them and watch them grow. Of course, the other levels of the aquarium would not be impacted much by the amount of cories you choose, so you could still probably fit in a school of guppies, tetras, rasboras, or something similar if you wanted to. With live plants and good filtration it makes this stocking a lot easier. Hope this helps.

Corydoras Question: It is not an issue at all with mixing different Corydoras species. Although I do agree that they need the company of others of the same species. Peppered cories are likely going to be coming into the shop sooner or later, as they are very common in the trade/hobby, so I think it would be fine if you put it into the tank you have right now. It will get used to the other albino and bronze cories as friends as well. They won't school much together, but they definitely will provide each other company. Also, I think the bronze cory would be fine to add into the tank too. I also saw an albino cory in that picture you posted, behind a lot of the other fish, so I would consider adding/buying that one as well if you can't seem to get ahold of cories. My Experience: I have two adult peppered cories (they bred so now there are 6), two female albino cories, a male venzuelan cory, and five pygmy cories in my 29 gallon. They are all very peaceful with one another. The reason I have only a few of each type is because my LFS I bought from usually doesn't carry many cories, similar to yours, so I got as many as I could each time I went. I plan on getting more albinos and venzuelans later on. Sorry if my explanations were a little confusing. If you need to I can reword it. Hope this helps, and good luck! PS Pea Puffers: Sorry, I don't know anything about pea puffers.

This obviously does not include enough faces, so those of you who would like to add something/someone who would fit, feel free to download a copy of this and post it as well.