Well, I need to know for a set-up. I don't want any overly nippy tetras and I also want a few species that will co-exist. Also, I want them to be big enough to not be eaten by full grown angels.
Now, what do you say about these species for the set-up?

Diamond Tetra (Moenkhausia pittieri)
Serpae Tetra (Hyphessobrycon callistus)
Head and Tail Light Tetra (Hemigrammus ocellifer)
Glowlight Tetra (Hemigrammus erthrozonus)
Black Skirt Tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi)
Buenos Aires Tetra (Hyphessobrycon anisitsi)
Red-Eye Tetra (Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae)
Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi)
Glass Bloodfish (Prionobrama filigera)


What do you think of those above and suggest some other good, colorful characins.

I've kept pristellas with angels and they were fine. Cardinals are also a good choice.

Aren't Cardinals too small? Cardinals are usually wild caught so, I'm not risking it threre. Pristellas? Gonna look up those.

Cardinals are larger than neons. I wouldn't recommend neons but the cardinals should be fine.

Pristellas look pretty cool, I'll add those to to possibly go in the tank. And the carsdinals will be thought of. I will check how healthy they are first before buying them. I'm gonna get a 10 gallon Quarantine just incase also.

Good idea on the QT tank!

I heard somewhere that most in aquariums were wild caught and, I don't want any disease introduced when the tank is ready, considering it'll be a show tank in the room where all of our guest hang out at. We usually have alot of guests too.

No to the serpaes, they get nippy and can be as bad as tiger barbs at nippin' at fins. I've never kept red-eyes, so don't know how nippy they get first hand and don't know if they keep it confined to themselves if they do. Other than that, ya should be good with full grown fish of the other species.

Young glowlights, black neons and cardinals will get picked off by large angels, so if ya get smaller individuals let them put some size on in a separate tank prior to introducing them to the tank with the angelfish.

Other than that, any should be good. Diamonds tetras, angelfish and cupid cichlids make a nice arrangement.

WYite

I will say no to the Serpaes then. I'm starting off with small quarter size Angels. Plus, the tetras they have are usually big enough. They do have a nice pair of angels there too and the only tetras they could eat at the LFS would be the neons and cardinals they have. Lucky the Tetras, the angels are in a different section. Concerning the angels well being, what would be a good dwarf cichlid to inhabit the bottom with the 9x Sterbai Cories and 4x Ottos I want?

Two or three angels (if ya don't get a pair), 9 sterbai cories, 4 otos and a school of 6-8 tetras will be very well stocked, even a little heavy by the time everything grows out. I'd suggest droppin' the cories to 6, and leavin' the dwarf cichlid out completely. IME, dwarf cichlids, even the most mellow, can take a disliking to cories. It can be hit or miss mixing dwarfs and cories. They may not be aggressive enough to kill the cory, but the poor little catfish's barbels suffer. I had a male golden dwarf acara that hated cories for some reason. The three females and the other male didn't pay any attention to 'em, but that one male would attack 'em every chance he got. He'd even stalk 'em, and they were all melanistus that were a good 1/2" longer than he was and much beefier. Since you don't have a spare tank to move either the cories or cichlid to, I'd skip the cichlid to save heartache later. I've seen the same thing happen with apistos, cupid cichlids, keyholes and both Laetacara curviceps and L. dorsiger. Not all, but some, just don't like cories.

I'd forgot yer stockin' a 29 gallon tank. With what yer proposin', I'd stay away from the buenos aires tetras as well, since they'll reach 3-3.5".

WYite

KK wyite. I'll leave out the dwarfs but, how many different schools of tetras could I have? Just one?

IMO teras are low waste producing species....that being said they like to be in schools of 5 or more perferrablly 10 or more is better....If you choose to go with two schools (which would be fine) you should look to schools of 5-6 each. I also agree with wyite about cories and Cichlids....I also want to add that if the Cichlids don't stress or kill him they will out compete them for food and it will be very hard to feed them properly. Angels are an exception though in my opinion. I would probabally only do two angels with two large schools of tetras and the ottos and cories.

K, will do, now will need to choose which 2 species.

I would coordinate them around your Angels! If you get black angels you wont want black neons....ya get what I am saying. There are several different color forms of angels....I would go for a pearl angel with black neons and glowlites with maybe a koi angel.

I really want a Black Marble x White Marble x Black. I will go through my choices.

How would Marbled Hatchets fair? I might be able to get away with a school of 6 Marbled Hatchets, a school of 10 Cardinals, a shoal of 6 Sterbai Corycats, a group of 3 Ottolincus, and aschool of 6 Glowlights to go with 3 angels, hopfully I'll get three Females for no chance of pairs, but a great effect. Even if I do get a pair, I'll try to get a spare tank to artificially raise the young.

Could I possibly add in a lone Banjo Cat, if possible? I know i'll probaly never see it, but just have it there for it to eat up any extra food after hours. Or do cories still scavenge after hours?

LOL, no, yer gonna overstock severely at the rate yer goin.

Not tryin' to burst yer bubble or hack on ya, but in the end discipline is yer friend. And remember, yer only 13. You have the rest of your life to buy and keep other species. I've been there, done that. Too many fish crammed into too few gallons. I started keepin' fish when I was just a bit older than you are. Trust me, I ended up bein' happier and my fish healthier when I realized it's better to have fewer healthy fish that ya can enjoy rather than every type of fish ya want. With aquariums, sometimes less is more.

Formulate a plan and stick to it. So think this through:

Centerpiece fish: 2-3 angels - mid to upper range of the water column.

Schools: two groups of 5-7 smallish tetras. Your favorites appear to be glowlights, cardinals and marbled hatchets. Marbled hatchets should do fine, but IME they tend to be a little more sensitive than the silver varieties. Just make sure ya keep up religiously with water changes! The hatchets are upper level fish, glowlights and cardinals are lower to mid-level fish. Pick two schools and discipline yerself to stay with 'em.

"Clean-up" Crew: I so hate that term, but it seems to stay 'round in the hobby so I'll use it. 6 Sterbai cories - bottom, but they-ll pop up to the top every now and again to gulp air. 3-4 otos for scouring algae that will be top to bottom wherever there is surface area to scour. What purpose does the banjo cat fill in the scheme of this set-up? The cories will clean-up the bottom before the banjo even goes lookin' for food unless ya feed right before bed. Ya said it yerself, ya probly will never see him, so why push the capacity of this tank? Like I said, you have years to keep other species ahead of you.

So yer stocking list is somethin' like this:

3 angels
5-7 tetras of one species chosen from glowlights, cardinals, and marbled hatchets
5-7 tetras of one other species chosen from glowlights, cardinals, and hatchets
6 sterbai cories
4 otocinclus

Angels are laterally compressed, granted, but they're pretty good-sized fish nevertheless, and messy to boot. Yer list above is a pretty good stocking list fer a 29 gallon. I'd advise ya to resist the "just one more fish" temptation now, while yer still just planning. If ya can't do it now, yer gonna have a heckuva time doin' it once the tank is stocked.

WYite

I understand Wyite, I went to the LFS weeks ago and I was tempted to buy an Otto, I found it in my filter, dead, I was trying to clean the tank and took the nozzle off and the otto got a little close. I know of my temptation buys. An oscar, it died of poor diet I think. 2 Texas Cichlids, I knew there size but, Cichliditis I guess, one died and I figured the other could take the conditions of the creek, I never saw it again.. I stopped my self from getting Festivum when I got the HRP pair. I knew I could house them. Ohh, another temptation buy, Senegal Bichir. I know, i'm bad when I have money and surrounded by fish. Maybe this summer, I can raise up enoughto house some of my future temptation buys, for roughly $500, I can have a stand, all the equipment needed, food, and substrate for a 100 gallon. I got a good 150 from my b-day and I now know a good way to earn money the old fashion way... Maintaining neighbor's yard.

Please do not realease any more fish into the creek if that is what you are implying you have already done. Not a good idea at all.

I know, but it lead no where but a ditch and the ditch went on for miles , I just discovered whats at the end, so I'm not releasing anymore fish in there again. Unless they are native.

Senegal160 wrote:

I know, but it lead no where but a ditch and the ditch went on for miles , I just discovered whats at the end, so I'm not releasing anymore fish in there again.

It seems you already have the message on not to, but an explanation of why is always nice. Non-native fish may introduce diseases or parasites that native fish have no resistance against, they may prey upon native species (fish, inverts, and plants) and significantly disrupt the ecology of an aquatic system, and finally may suffer a slow death themselves because they are not adapted to the water conditions/quality, diseases, parasites, food sources, etc. present in local waterways. It's a no-win situation all the way around.

Senegal160 wrote:

Unless they are native.

It's not a good idea to release "natives", either. Some fish have very wide distributions, across several states or countries. If a "native" fish is purchased, it may be a species native to your country, state, or continent, but it very well may not be native to the specific geographical region you're in. In addition to all of the above consequences, the additional consequence of disrupting the unique gene pool of local populations could occur if the released fish breeds with local fish. Generally speaking, most natural resources departments/game and fish departments frown on this. Many of our native species have various subspecies and local unique populations that are recognized for their individual population characteristics. The cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) comes to mind right off the top of my head. In some cases, subspecies are later determined to be individual species (case in point, the fairly recent creation of the genus Amatitlania and the separation of the convict cichlid into several distinct species previously classified as one species).

There are also laws concerning the release of captive fish; California, Florida and Texas have some of the most strict, if my memory serves correctly. The fines can be severe, and ignorance of the law is generally not accepted as an excuse. As a minor, your parents would be reponsible.

In the future, if ya have a fish you can no longer care for properly, take it back to the fish shop if you can't find someone else to take it. You may consider searching on-line for animal rescue groups that will take it and rehome it, as well.

WYite

Thx, I understand. I guess isn't a good idea to release any fish back into the wild unless that fish was caught in that area? If not, then correct me. But, could you release natives if you know they live in that area? Could you take an endangered species from a store and then try and get the tank as close to it's wild enviorment and breed it and release offspring into natural envirment (ex. the Diamond Tetra - Moenkhausia pittieri)
Or would this be bad too? Cause Diamond Tetras are endangered and I could not do this if I wanted to?
Thx for putting up with some of my ignorance, just my personality, you seem really knowledgable about all this. I am just putting up these questions cause I want to see if I could in anyway without hurting the enviroment or fish.

Senegal160 wrote:

Thx, I understand. I guess isn't a good idea to release any fish back into the wild unless that fish was caught in that area? If not, then correct me.

IMO, it is best not to capture a fish, maintain it in an aquarium, and then release it at a later time. Again, once in a closed system cared for by an aquarist with a host of medications and other tools, the fish may lose its competetive edge and may gain resistance to pathogens that are not present in the wild. It may not be able to compete if released back to the wild and may become a vector for infections to the wild population. Be aware that wildlife laws in different areas may not allow you to release fish that have been in captivity, even if they were obtained from the exact location.

Senegal160 wrote:

But, could you release natives if you know they live in that area? Could you take an endangered species from a store and then try and get the tank as close to it's wild enviorment and breed it and release offspring into natural envirment (ex. the Diamond Tetra - Moenkhausia pittieri) Or would this be bad too? Cause Diamond Tetras are endangered and I could not do this if I wanted to?.

Reintroduction and supplementation of wild populations with captive bred animals should be left to conservation groups and governmental agencies best equipped to monitor the release. Regardless of how much ya think ya know, professionals have access to far more data than any hobbyist. Again, private release of fish or any wildlife usually has specific regulations that limit the rights of private entities. As for yer example of diamond tetras, that's in Venezuela and I can't honestly say what The Venezuelan government allows. But I doubt Venezuelan environmental agencies would encourage it.

And no matter how hard a hobbyist tries, it is virtually impossible to completely recreate a natural habitat in captivity, in a closed system. Ecosystems are far to complex and contain far too many organisms. The best that can be done by a hobbyist, and even by a lot of institutions such as zoos and aquaria, is approximate as close as possible.

Senegal160 wrote:

Thx for putting up with some of my ignorance, just my personality, you seem really knowledgable about all this. I am just putting up these questions cause I want to see if I could in anyway without hurting the enviroment or fish.

If ya don't ask you'll never know. Your best bet is to not release any fish into the wild that have been in your aquarium. Period. If you feel it may be appropriate with native fish you have personally collected, I would suggest contacting your local game warden and ask for advice and support before doing so.

WYite

KK, no more questions for now. I will have more pop up so, I would defianatly expect PMs within the next few days.