# Stock list for a 29 gallon tall tank



## Reun (Apr 4, 2007)

Hello! I am new to this forum, I have been asking this question on a few differant sites to try and get some ideas on stock lists for a 29 gallon tall tank.

I currently have in the tank:

1 Bolivian Ram
1 Male Cherry Barb
2 Female Cherry Barbs
5 Lemon Tetras

I am going to add 2-3 more lemon tetras, after that I am unsure what to add to the tank. I would like some non aggressive fish that like mostly the upper level of the tank. My tank is extremely tall making it difficult to stock with fish that will stay in all levels of the tank. 

Right now the only fish that will occasionally go to the upper levels of the tank other than at feeding times are the cherry barbs, the ram stays on the bottom 5 inches of the tank and the tetras never got above 15" of the tank, and the tank is a whopping 20" tall! Here is a link to the picture of the tank as it is currently decorated:










The corys in the picture are no longer in the tank, there just wasn't enough bottom room with the ram in there.

As you can see, there is alot of height to try and fill. Now, on to the tank specs. The water is 78 degrees, PH a flat 7.0, the water is slightly on the soft side. I use two aquaclear 50's(50 gallon over-the-back filters) and dual air stones to help compensate for the lack of gas exchange the tall tank creates. I also do 30% water changes once a week when I gravel vac. I would never have bought this tall of a tank, but, it was free so I didn't complain, but I have been fighting with stocking and decor ever since.

So, any thoughts on whats peacefull that will hang out near the surface?

P.S. I used to have a dwarf gourami in there, added it when i added the ram, they were both babies, but when they grew above 2" they both started harrassing eachother and nipping, very territorial, even though the gourami would hang out at the surface and the ram at the bottom, they would make a point to either go up or down to pick a fight, I finally had to move the gourami to another tank. I also tried a beta in the tank, it tried to kill the lemon tetras and I removed it.[/img]


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Welcome.:wave:

Adding lemon tetras is never a bad idea. Cherry barbs and tetras are mid dwellers. If you have any more fish to think of, try to post them here. As for surface dwellers, try some hatchetfish or white cloud mountain minnows.

I had bad luck with bettas.:shake: Every time I placed one in my tank, it will ambush my tetras and kill them one by one.

Otos would be a good addition for bottom dwellers.


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## Reun (Apr 4, 2007)

I am still new to aquaria and I have heard ottos are sensative, so I worry about adding them to my tank while I am still adjusting to the "chemistry" involved in keeping a good tank.

How many white cloud minnows would you recomend? How many can I safely add with my current set up without over crowding the tank? I know there is a "inch per gallon" rule of some sort but I can not remember what it is. My desired load out without minnows would be:

8 Lemons
1 Ram
3 cherry barbs

then what ever else would fit safely. I would prefer to have a under populated tank to be honest with you. I can drop the temperature in the tank a little bit, it is a little on the warm side as it sits now, I think 75 degrees would be aggreable to all the stock list.

P.S. Hatchets are out of the question, because from what I have read they are jumpers, and my over the back filters have a couple large openings they could squeeze out of.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Tetras and cherry barbs hardly ever poo so you can get away with 6 cherry barbs and 10 lemon tetras.

As for white clouds, 6-8 isn't a bad number. It was indeed 'inch per gallon' rule but it is too much of a bother without considering spaces and bioload capacity.


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

I can imagine that aquascaping a tank that shape must be quite difficult, but you've done a lovely job of it. It looks really good!


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## Reun (Apr 4, 2007)

Thank you! yes, this tank is tough to aquascape, I think I like how it is right now though.

I am debating on getting some neon tetras. The reason is because after some research white clouds occupy all regions of the tank, so there is no garuntee that they wouldn't hang out in the middle where the lemons are. With the neons at least they are flashy and colorfull enough I am sure that no one would notice the top half of the tank is empty. I am also planning to add some floating plants to the tank, and the lemons will definatly spend alot more of their time up there(they already play up there now, they just spend most of the time in the middle). So, here are my proposed load outs:

load 1:

8 Lemon Tetras
3 Cherry Barbs
8 Neon Tetras
1 Bolivian Ram

Load 2:

8 Lemon Tetras
3 Cherry Barbs
8 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
1 Bolivian Ram

What do you think would be better? The reason I am only thinking of 3 cherry barbs is because from what I have read, they do better in bigger, heavily planted tanks when keeping larger numbers of them. I think my 2 female and one male is good, as it gives the male two to chase after, while still keeping my bioload down.

P.S. I just cleaned out one of the filters, so I will only be adding the lemon tetras first, so I have time to figure out what I wish to add next, I am thinking that a week or two should be enough to get bacteria back up in the second filter.


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## Reun (Apr 4, 2007)

Oh, another question...do you think a dwarf gourami could be added to the tank? I am just curious because I know that people said it would be fine, but when I introduced a sunset dwarf gourami my bolivian ram at the same time in my tank, they did fine, till they both hit two inches. Then the gourami chased the ram all over the tank. I have tried re introducing the gourami back into the tank, but the result is always the same.

My question is, if I buy a 1" dwarf gourami baby, and it grows up beliving my full grown almost 3" ram is boss, will it eventually turn aggressive like my first gourami did? is there a certain stand of the dwarfs that are less agressive (blue,thicklipped,ect)?

also, I decided against neon tetras, they die too easy from what I have read, and rarely move to the surface.

So, if everyone thinks a dwarf gourami would be ok, how bout this load out:

8-10 lemon tetras
3 cherry barbs
1 Bolivian Ram
1 Dwarf Gourami


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## Reun (Apr 4, 2007)

well, I decided to add a powder blue dwarf gourami with the addition of a couple more lemon tetras.

the little gourami is very peacefull, he has not disturbed any of the tetras, and even shys away from the ram when it chases him out of his territory. he has been hanging out at the surface, complete opposite of my sunset DG, that wouldn't leave any of my fish alone.

so, everyone is happy and my final loadout is

8 lemon tetra
3 cherry barb
1 bolivian ram
1 blue dwarf gourami

thanks for all the input everyone!


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