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29 gallon?

5K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  iamntbatman 
#1 ·
Putting together a new tank, kind of set on getting an angelfish and gouramis, but was possibly consider putting in cichlids instead.

How many cichlids could i keep in a 29 gallon tank safely? or should i just not? :-D
 
#3 ·
You already have cichlids in the tank. Angelfish are a vey cool south american cichlid. Im guesing you want something more aggressive? Most mbunas will grow too large for your tank infact all will. But if you upgrade to a 3ft tank you can very well keep dwarf mbunas like salousi that won't pass 3in in length. They are a beautiful species with males sporting blue coloring with black bars and femalesa re yellow. Many people have kept a colony in 30 gallon tanks very well.

Or you could do a pair of central american ciclids like convicts and thier cousins or firemouths and thier cousins.
 
#5 ·
No lol just a pair thiey would kill eachother in a tank that small. WhenI say cousins I mean other fish in thier genus. Like cutteri and sajicas are cool relatives of the convict. Ellioti is a cool cousin of the firemouth.
 
#6 ·
in a 29 gallon angelfish just wont work long term for you, they will quickly outgrow the tank..........My suggestions if you definitely want some type of cichlid, check out kribensis, apistogrammas or possibly the Lake Tang shell dwellers....You could do 3 (1M,2F) of any of these species in a tank that size........They all stay under 4 inches.......Please dont mix angelfish with ANY mbuna, the angelfish wont last long with the aggressive traits of the mbuna species, plus they require totally different water parameters.........
 
#7 ·
I agree with Fishin Pole, you should check out dwarf cichlids. I currently have 13 pelvicachromis pulcher (kribensis) in my tank (3 adults + 10 young almost adult fish). I am going to soon get rid of the 10 fry. Kribensis are very gorgeous fish especially when breeding. The females as well as the males bellies turn dark pink and they have blue and yellow highlights all over their fins. They dont get big and are compatible with most other fish. I wouldn,t suggest mixing them with longfinned fish like male guppies or anglefish... my breeding pair killed 4 adult angelfish and countless guppies... although when not breeding they are very docile. Rams and apistos are very cool fish aswell. I ve never kept shelldwellers but they seem very interesting and they would really thrive in a tank your size... hope my opinions helped you a bit :)
 
#8 ·
Shell dwellers are cool but one comment on them. They live almost exclusively on the bottom of the tank and since a 29 is basically like an extra tall 20 then the shellies won't fill the tank all that much. You could but fast moving fish that like hard water. Liveberers like swordtails and mollies work well. Also some types of rainbows and blind cave tetras all thrive in the hard water shellies like.

Also do your research on each type of shellies. They are all very different in temperment, personality, and size. But I have heard nothing but good things about them. Very cool fish.
 
#11 ·
my 29 has become something of a grow out tank just for everything else in my house lol its often overstocked, but like i said most of the fish are juvies. Currently i have 4 (1m 3f) yellow wag swords, 3 orange swords, 2 flame dwarf gourami, 2 opaline gourami, 2 german blue rams and 2 bolivian rams. If I had my druthers id keep the 4 rams, the dwarf gouramis, and 1 set of the swordtails. thats a happy tank. and believe it or not the german blues and bolivians get along so well i might just keep them together lol

im just saying :) im a big cichlid fan, id stick with soem dwarfs and then other types of fish to fill it out
 
#12 ·
My tank is a 29 gallon like yours, I have 13 kribensis, 7 albino tiger barbs, 3 swordtails, 3 ottos, and I am possibly adding some apistogramma cacatuoides or agasizzi ( although I will remove 10 kribs before I do that :)) I find if you aquascape well, they don't need a large territory. My kribs territory is small because there are boundaries made by rocks and plants, so there is a whole other side of the tank for more fish. They are really good fish. BTW my two females were living peacefully with the angels, but when I added the male, they paired off, had fry and killed the angels :(
 
#13 ·
a buddy of mine had a totally docile pair of kribs, mated. they kept to themselves for the most part, and only got rough if a fish wandered into their little area of their 180g tank. A ghost knife killed the female and the male went nuts and just started slaying fish two and three times his size! i adopted him and put him in my 110g tank and he was as sweet and personable as can be lol kribs are some funny fish! my point being, i would get a few kribs of all one sex, or JUST one mated pair. i love them, but in my limited experience with them, id be afraid of letting them pair off in a community tank unless it was huge. just my .02
 
#15 ·
I don't think I'd do mbuna in a 29g. Sure, there are plenty that would technically fit in a tank that size, but the thing with mbuna is that it's all about sex ratios and a tank that small doesn't really give you room to set those up correctly. You could keep a single fish, but what's the point in keeping a single mbuna?

The dwarf cichlids are a good option as you could safely build a community around them. You could also try solitary specimens of some of the meaner American cichlids or possibly pairs, such as convicts or salvinis.
 
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