Beginner 29G Fish Tank -- need advice/recommendations

sasukekun

sasukekun

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So on a whim I bought a 29 gallon fish tank starter kit. Pretty much had everything in it. Still trying to figure out what type of stuff to put inside the tank.

Not sure what type of fish I want to get yet, but I've always wanted to have fish. I've always liked Koi, and that's what I was planning to start out with. I'm not sure if that's a wise-choice or not. I'd like the tank to be fairly self-sufficient in terms of maintenance. If there's any fish you'd recommend that clean the tank for me.

I kinda had an idea on what things I'm looking for:
  • Low/medium maintenance
  • Will fit an asian theme
  • Colorful fish
  • Freshwater preferred (Heard salt water is high maintenance)
  • Good place to buy them (Petco/PetSmart?)

Also, I have a few cats. Do I need to worry about them stressing the fish at all?

Just looking for some pointers on where to start and what you guys would recommend.
 
There's a reason why they're called "koi ponds"; a 29 gallon tank isn't going to get the job done. You're going to want to stick to fish that don't get much bigger than a few inches. Try a school of cichlids in various colors, they're fairly active and should do well in a 29 gallon tank.
 
Yeah I definitely would not get Koi because of the future size issue unless you plan on upgrading within the next few months or putting them in a pond.

If you want low maintenance avoid goldfish. They put out more ammonia than other fish and dirty the tank much quicker, however almost the same thing will happen if you overcrowd your tank and put too many fish in there. It is about 1 inch of fish per gallon of water to avoid overcrowding.

JJ says try cichlids in different colors, which is a great option because they get to a decent size, have great colors, and have many different options to choose from. 29 gallons you can be safe with cichlids, semi-agressive tropical fish, or even just the basic community tropical fish.

Just keep an eye out for fin nippers, like tiger bars, rainbow sharks, etc...they are beautiful fish and very hardy-living decent lives, but they may pick at the fins on the other fish in the tank. Some of the hardier tropical fish that get to a decent size are like black skirt tetras, red minor tetras, dwarf gouramis, etc. They all have a nice size for a smaller tank, however in the tropical community most of the fish tend to school together so you definitely want to get them in groups. I would not add more than 3-5 fish at a time.

Personally I would go to PetSmart for fish because they have a tank cleaning system where they clean and maintain the tanks every day of the week, as well as medicating the fish and feeding them all blood worms. They also have a 14 day guarantee on their fish and they test your tank water for free. I'd recommend taking a sample of your tank water up there to make sure the pH is set to about 7.0 and making sure everything else tests out fine.

Just make sure when you set it up that you use distilled/dechlorinated water, or if you use tap water make sure to use some water conditioner (takes out heavy metals, chlorine, chloramine, and sometimes ammonia and other things).

I wouldn't worry much about the cats. They actually recommend fish as a second pet if you have cats because it keeps their minds exercised. Just make sure you have a top on the tank so the cats will not be able to actually get to the fish. If you are worried about them stressing, just buy a little container of stress coat to pour a little in the tank if the cats are always messing with the fish.
 
What, you mean PetSmart comes to your house and does all that for you?

As a kid, my old man was really in to tropical fish, and we had 50 gallon tanks everywhere with so many goddamned fish. Naturally, he left the regular maintenance to the kid (me). I really don't know much about modern tanks, what I know is nearly 30 years old.

I'm curious, when you talk about "medicating" fish, is this some kind of preventative stuff? I recall using what I was only told were "drops" to treat certain maladies, but those kind of problems occurred so rarely that I didn't have a chance to learn much about it.

I'm gonna waste a shitload of time today on the google with this sumbitch. I really like that "1 inch per gallon" rule, I'm sure there's a lot of neat conventional wisdom I missed out on way back when. I just took orders, the old man did all the thinking.

I hope people will share stories. My favorites were always the rare ciclids and the really fancy, delicate gouramis. I also liked what we called the "clown fish," they were bottom dwellers and expensive as hell. We had a good number of them get to a good size, with really vibrant banding and red-orange fin.

When it was all said and done and the old man sold off the collection, he actually made a decent bundle off them. It's not like he broke even on time and money, but it was enough to toss a bit my way for the years and years of fish shit.
 
In my experience, fish are a pain in the butt. No matter how hard I worked, I could not keep the fish alive for more than a month at a time. I finally gave up.

Good luck with your endeavour.
 
PetSmart doesn't come out to the house and do that. I meant like if you grab a ziploc baggie of water or a little container they will test it, though I may have worded it wrong since it was so early in the morning when I typed all that up haha. They do a general treatment once a week (or at least the location up the road from me does a treatment) to prevent ick from appearing and to keep stress levels down. I'm not sure if they actually still even do that anymore, but they usually do it on new fish shipment day (it is a blue chemical that is kind of like melafix).
Who knows. I have worked with fish for quite a while. I am actually glad to see someone asking for advice before buying a bowl to put an oscar or koi fish in (you wouldn't believe the stories I have).

Here's a good spot with a lot of information as far as set up and maintenance goes. It kind of summarizes the basics. It's really easy though. Especially if that link to the tank is really the one you got. Aqueon is a really good brand and filters are easy to find and inexpensive.
 
Hm, I'll have to check out cichlids. I think that's what my sister's ex-bf had before and I really liked their colors. Is it best to just stick to one type of fish or are there combinations of fish? I like the colors and look of betas, but I know you cant mix 2 males together.
 
The one fish that takes absolutely no effort to keep alive:

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Seriously, these guys will survive off of dirt and crumbs (although they will probably also suck the life out of your other fish as well).
 
Sometimes you can put 1 beta fish in your tank and he will get along...but that is kind of trial and error. It is really 50/50 with beta fish. My friend has a beta fish in her 20 gallon with mollies and little tetras and he gets along with them just fine, but the original beta she had before him did NOT get along with anything...including snails haha
 
Just a word of advice, don't get too crazy with buying fish. I've noticed with a few friends and myself, that fish tanks seem like an AWESOME idea at first. And then slowly but surely, it becomes a huge pain in the ass and you find yourself waiting for the last fish to die so you can put the damned thing away.

Go easy for about 2 or 3 months and see if you really like it. If you still find yourself interested then, go buy some more. But fish tanks can be a lot of work, so just keep that in mind.

Good luck. Hope you enjoy them more than we did. :p

EDIT: Also, you'd be surprised what kinds of fish you can mix. I used to go to Petsmart and just grab random fish for my tank. I once had 15 fish (8 varieties) in a 10 gallon tank.
 
In the tank I had I usually kept red swordtails and some form of tetra, usually neons. They're pretty easy to take care of and get along well together. The neosn look cool under a tank light too. Also had an algae eater (loach) as they help keep the tank clean.
 
I have 2 tanks. For a beginner I would recommend Guppies and Swordtails. Pretty fish that don't require much attention. Throw in some catfishes and plectos. Don't go overboard with decorations. Get some live plants in there

Heh about cats...make sure the Hood is alwasys closed. Abut 5 years ago, when I got my first tank (gold fishes), the water was always musty and fish could barely live there. I had 2 filters in there and changed 1/4 of water every few day. Then one night on the way to the bathroom I stumbled upon my cat throwing up INTO the tank. Turns out the bastard would drink from a small opening on top (which the hood left open) and then vomit it back into the water.
 
Add an algae eater once you have algae unless you want to get the algae tablets. If you leave the light on for more than 8-10 hours a day algae will grow much faster in the tank. plecostomus (gets up to 18-24 inches) and otocinclus (gets up to 1.5-2 inches) are both great algae eaters depending on what size you want. Also the chinese algae eaters (possibly the loach that Clak is talking about) are great and they only get 8-10 inches. Snails are ok algae eaters (I had one and it had babies so that 1 turned into a ton of snails).
I wouldn't worry about "maintenance" fish (algae eaters and catfish) until it is an established tank or at least a month into having the tank.
 
Funny story about that loach. I had a cat at the time and one day I noticed the loach was gone, I assumed that the cat reached into the back opening of the tank and got it. Didn't think more about it for months. One day I pulled the table out that the tank sat on, and there was the loach, stuck to the wall. It must have jumped out and attached itself to the wall.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']And then slowly but surely, it becomes a huge pain in the ass and you find yourself waiting for the last fish to die so you can put the damned thing away.[/QUOTE]

My experience was just the opposite. Tanks were so manageable -- and clean, relative to other pet options -- that it's probably the only pet I'll let my kid have, she's been pushing on the pets thing lately.

I don't recall how often I siphoned off the bottom, checked the filters, and replaced the water, maybe once every 2 weeks per tank? Outside of that you just feed them. That's not a lot of work (it only becomes a lot of work when you have, ahem, waaaaaay too many tanks).

They're really as demanding as you want them to be. One of the things I like about them vs. cats/dogs is that you get a little bit more of a science lesson with tanks. Cats and dogs are just "responsibility" in general, but tanks can teach you about this mini-biome in your room. There's all kinds of fish you can learn about (native habitat, feeding habits, etc.), then you add in algae, maybe some live plants, maybe snails, the oxygenation of the water, so on. It's an easy way to encourage questions and science fun.

One of the projects my old man gave me was coming up with a self-sustaining "ecosystem" thing in a 10 gallon tank. It was a fun project. It only sustained one fish, but I think it was a great pet/science lesson.

Off the soapbox.
 
Whatever you do, my advice is research research research. Do not just blindly go to Petsmart and by a bunch of fish you think look cool. Also, I wouldn't exactly go on the word of the person working there either... I've met some employees who are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to fish, and others who DO NOT have a single clue about fish. I've heard them tell people that its perfectly fine to put 20 different fish in a 10 gallon tank (its not...)

Whatever you do, read up ALOT. And like someone else advised, set this thing up slowly. Take you time and decide if it'll be enjoyable long term. It really sucks taking care of a fish tank that you don't want and you end up despising...
 
Starting getting my decorations together thanks to that PetCo 50% coupon.

Had a question about the background I bought. Do I need to use the adhesive solution or can I just use invisible double sided tape to save a few bucks?
 
Here is a tip, go to research online first and then go to petsmart and ask them about what is good for beginners. You defiantly want freshwater to start, and start with a few small fish. Ask them what they recommend and for tips how to care for them. A fishtank is work but with any pets, it isn't too bad once you learn the proper way to maintain it.

Saltwater fish can be done, but it's something for after you mastered freshwater care because saltwater fish cost quite a bit and well it's easier to buy like 5-6 freshwater fish and have them die than spending $30-40 for a saltwater fish and watch it die quicker than expected.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't do salt water at all. Period. Even if you've gotten to mastery levels for fresh water. But then again, I'm cheap.
 
Finally got some fish and got it setup the way I like it. Just need to add a loach or some cleaner fish later on and it's done.

Got 5 tiger barbs, 5 albino barbs, 2 panda platys, and a neon blue gourami.

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