DebSills Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Hi everyone, I am getting back into fish keeping after about 15 years. I am starting with a 29 gallon and would love some advice...here's my plan (please no canister haters, I know I'm weird, but they make more sense to me) Fluval 207 (with sponge on intake) Sponge filter with airstone (I will keep in tank and use for quarantine tank setup as needed) Eheim heater Fluval Aquasky or Finnex Stingray 2 (leaning towards Fluval only because I am a tech nerd) Will start with silk plants until I am comfortable with taking care of the fish and then transition to live plants (Brother in law has a 55 and a breeder for his Cockatoo Apistos and will hook me up with some of his plants and is even giving me some of his cycled media to start!) Looking for a community style tank with some schooling fish, bottom feeders and a "centerpiece" fish - here's my current plan (end state): ~12 black neons ~12 ember tetras 4 panda corys 3 otos 3 Nerite snails 1 Honey Gourami (or other hopefully female Dwarf Gourami) I am not married to any of these choices, but I would like to stay with the general community tank feel with some color as well, please feel free to comment any suggestions you may have (quantities, anything not needed, need something else, etc...) - I am currently waiting for my house to get painted before I setup the tank, so it will be a bit before I actually have the tank setup and ready to go 🙂 So glad to have found this community and can't wait to get my tank back up and running!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 welcome. i'd try a live plants or two right from the start if you are going to get live plants down the road anyways. live plants do good things for new tanks. they are good filters, and coming from an established tank carry a good bacteria colony on them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) More Otos. Minimum 6. 🙂 Plus nothing wrong with mixin silk plants but get some easy plants which will help your tank, Anubias and Java glued to rocks or wood aren't hard at all and you can move them later. Edited June 15, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Hi DebSills! Welcome back to the hobby! I too am from the great state of Mass. While I don't have a community tank quite that large it sounds great. I am more into breeding fish and shrimp. It must be so exciting for you to be starting fresh. If I can be of any assistance with a question, I can assure you together we can find an answer. Good luck! Tedrock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebSills Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 So - if I "let" myself be talked into going straight to live plants (or some) - will the above lights work well, or would anyone suggest anything different? (please keep in mind that I have two kids about to go to college so try not to completely kill my bank account 🙂 ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne Brown Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 I know none of this stuff is on your list but its what I have in my 29 gallon. all of the fish get along well and its a good looking set up. 8 pristella tetras 1 Bolivian ram ( I might add one more) 7+ Endlers livebearers (they wont stop having babies) 4 peppered corydoras 1 sunset honey gourami 1 oriental rainbow goby (super cool) 3 mystery snails (1 black, 1 jade, and one yellow) and 1 java loach (essentially a black khuli loach) all in all its a pretty nice tank I have it heavily planted with lots of floating plants. I'm maybe thinking about adding some hachetfish still not 100% sure though. I would definitely check out the Bolivian ram they are pretty cool cichlids and very easy to care for. I had 2 apistos and they both died but the Bolivian ram is doing great. If you are looking at rams I would definitely avoid the German blues. They can be pretty territorial and are not really that hardy Hope this helps and welcome to the forum 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 I used fake plants for a while to fill in my look and I do like the color they can bring to a tank. If you look at it some silk plants are just as much as real plants! So it shouldn't break the bank and I'm sure that lighting is just fine for them- I started with an Aqueon kit and the tiny LEDs still let my plants grow. I've since changed my lights and hood. Anyway- if you want something that will fill in pretty quick (and I don't use ferts and no heater) get yourself an Aponogeton. Yesterday at Petsmart in the Betta section I got 3 bulbs that were already sprouting for under 10 bucks. You can nearly watch these grow. The one attached here is under 3 mos old. Like I said before Anubias or Java ferns can be attached to rock or wood and are easily moved and in my experience, easy plants, slower growing. They're around 6-15 in the big box store depending on their size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne Brown Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Quote So - if I "let" myself be talked into going straight to live plants (or some) - will the above lights work well, or would anyone suggest anything different? (please keep in mind that I have two kids about to go to college so try not to completely kill my bank account 🙂 ) Its all about proper plant selection. I have a 29 gallon kit from petco that was cheap and has a cheap led strip/tube for lighting. I chose low light plants for my aquarium such as water lettuce, duckweed, Pogostemon Sttelatus, java ferns, Ludwigia (which is a high light plant) and anubias plants. all of these I grow in sand. I would recommend you get some kind of fertilizer the aquarium coop sells a great all in one. That you can find on their website. I could have probably done more moderate to high light plants but I'm happy with what I have. The pogostemon grows like crazy and you can snip off portions and plant them in nice looking clumps 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonourWest Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 On 6/16/2021 at 2:38 AM, DebSills said: Hi everyone, I am getting back into fish keeping after about 15 years. I am starting with a 29 gallon and would love some advice...here's my plan (please no canister haters, I know I'm weird, but they make more sense to me) Fluval 207 (with sponge on intake) Sponge filter with airstone (I will keep in tank and use for quarantine tank setup as needed) Eheim heater Fluval Aquasky or Finnex Stingray 2 (leaning towards Fluval only because I am a tech nerd) Will start with silk plants until I am comfortable with taking care of the fish and then transition to live plants (Brother in law has a 55 and a breeder for his Cockatoo Apistos and will hook me up with some of his plants and is even giving me some of his cycled media to start!) Looking for a community style tank with some schooling fish, bottom feeders and a "centerpiece" fish - here's my current plan (end state): ~12 black neons ~12 ember tetras 4 panda corys 3 otos 3 Nerite snails 1 Honey Gourami (or other hopefully female Dwarf Gourami) I am not married to any of these choices, but I would like to stay with the general community tank feel with some color as well, please feel free to comment any suggestions you may have (quantities, anything not needed, need something else, etc...) - I am currently waiting for my house to get painted before I setup the tank, so it will be a bit before I actually have the tank setup and ready to go 🙂 So glad to have found this community and can't wait to get my tank back up and running!! Welcome, and hi from Australia! In my opinion having easy-to-care-for live plants from the beginning will be a great motivator. I'm by no means a green thumb, but knowing I had something living in my tank gives me an instant connection to it, even if it's just a plant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebSills Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 So, this is my brother in law's 55g tank...what plant(s) should I ask for a piece of? He has offered, but I need something easy...he is a gardener in water and out...me, not so much 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BriannesFishFam Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 Welcome!! I would ask for a piece of each of the red plants, they draw your eyes to the tank. And then ask for a piece of the anubius, the are really nice plants (that is the plant in the front left of the picture) Just a suggestion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) Hi from New Hampshire (and used to live in MA!) 29’s are great tanks, I think your stock list looks great and second the advice to start with plants right from the beginning - they’re not as difficult to keep as you might think, especially some of the hardier species, and they’ll help keep the system healthier overall and make keeping the fish easier in the long term. Plants like anubias, cryptocoryne, some mosses, Java fern, dwarf lilies, vallisneria, sagittaria, some of the rotala/Ludwigia/bacopa species, some of the echinodorus sword plants, and a variety of others are typically pretty easy to take care of and IMO with a quality substrate, lighting (which it sounds like you’ve got figured out already) and plants right from the beginning you’re setting yourself up for a nice looking and healthy tank. Personally I use canisters as well, I just love them and think the 207 is a good choice. I tend to diverge from Cory’s methodologies in that sense, and with substrate - personally I’ve had the best luck with a nutritious substrate instead of gravel + root tabs but that’s probably just with my personal style because I forget to add tabs as often as they’re needed and like heavily planted tanks. I like to use commercial aqua soils, or dirt from the yard + an aqua soil cap even for easier plants with added fertilizer dosing in the water. It sounds like a lot to absorb & take on all at once but it ultimately boils down to keeping nutrients available via both the substrate and the water, and with some practice you’ll figure it out in no time. Even if you kill a few plants it’s all part of the learning curve, and you’ll figure out what plants do well for you and which ones are trickier. I attached a pic of my own 29g, it’s a few years old now and used to run injected co2 but for the past year it’s been no co2 with all slower growing plants like Java fern, Anubias, crypts, bucephalandra, mosses, Crinum calamastratum, and a few others. It’s an aqua soil substrate, two small canisters and a small sponge filter, a cheap beamswork LED, and it gets weekly light doses of nutrients to the water. It’s a little messy these days because I don’t ever gravel vac, but the fish have been going strong for a few years and some of them have been spawning like clockwork. A lot of this hobby is just time and a willingness to experiment and learn, so jump on in and have some fun figuring it out as you go! Edited June 21, 2021 by Dark River Aquatics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark River Aquatics Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Oh, and depending on how far you are from the Nashua area, I will gladly hook you up with some plants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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