# Final Stocking Plan for 30 Gallon - Feedback?



## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

Okay guys, after much debate, I think I've finally figured out what's going in my new (fully cycled) 30 gallon. If you have a moment, please leave me some feedback and let me know what else I may need, or shouldn't have, for this one.

Please feel free to make suggestions on ANYTHING. 

*Substrate*
20lbs Eco-Complete Plant Substrate mixed with 20lbs Eco-Complete Cichlid Substrate (Ivory Coast)

*Live Plants*
1x Micro Sword
1x Anubias Nana
1x Chainsword (narrow leaf)
1x Java Fern
1x Undulata Cryptocoryne
1x Water Sprite
1x Ludwigia (broad leaf)
2x Anacharis (bunch)
2x Cabomba (bunch)
1x Amazon Sword

*Fish/Inverts*
1x Gold Gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus - he is in my 15 gallon now, about 3.5")
2x Bolivian Ram (Microgeophagus altispinosa - trying to get one male, one female)
2x Red Breast Smiling Cichlid (Laetacara curviceps - trying to get one male, one female)
1x Green Dragon Bushynose
3x Mandarin Shrimp OR Singapore Flower Shrimp (shooting for the later as they get up to 3.5" while the Mandarins only get up to 1.5", but Live Aquaria has been out of stock for weeks)
1 or 2x Freshwater Clam
[I'll be adding the Gourami last as all the others are quite peaceful and will not get as big as him. I'd like to let them establish territory before letting my Gourami have his way with the upper portions of the tank.]

*Hardware*
Filtration: Emperor Bio-Wheel 280 (starting with one, will add a second 1-2 months after all the fish are settled -- will be using stock activated carbon cartridges plus a media bag with Purigen from SeaChem)
Heater: Fluval M Series 150W
Lighting: Zoo Med Flora Sun

*Decor*
6x Cichlid Stones (2x Small Round Stones, 4x Medium Stones)
2x Malaysian Driftwood (1x 12" x 4", 1x 10-3/4" x 7")

Alright, fire away guys.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

I would check those fish as I think they attack plants.

if they do you could:

1) partition the tank to keep the fish away from the plants.

2) have the plants in a seperate planted tank and pump water between the two tanks.

3) use other fish.


my .02


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The only one that might attack plants would be the curviseps and not to sure on that one.

Partioning a tank to seperate plants will look like crap and he wants a scaped tank, not a dump tank.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

Thanks guys.  I've had Gouramis and Rams before and they haven't gone after my plants. But this will be my first experience with a curviceps. I'm going to plant the plants in small pots under the substrate to protect the roots. I guess I'll see if my curviceps try to go after them.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

So I did a bit of research on my dwarf curviceps and according to Live Aquaria, "Also known as the Flag Acara, the iridescent Red Breast Smiling Cichlid is beautiful, easy to breed, peaceful in communities, and not destructive of plants."

Can't wait for it to be all set up.


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## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

looks fine to me, Those Bolivian Rams are real beauties, post some pics when you get them in.


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## ElChef194 (Dec 25, 2011)

live aquaria is a good site to buy stuff on. i looked there till i got a locally owned fish store in addition to chain pet stores. a good info site is seriouslyfish.com. though their site has changed and some fish profiles that were once there are gone. i like them because they are not trying to sell you on anything.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

hanky said:


> looks fine to me, Those Bolivian Rams are real beauties, post some pics when you get them in.


Thanks Hanky, I definitely will.


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## ElChef194 (Dec 25, 2011)

also, be wary of your gourami. it may develop a growth on its side, roughly the size of a pea. i have lost an opaline and a powder blue dwarf due to this, both color varations of the natural breed, as your gold is. my neon dwarf is healthy and my first three spot was just old when i got him before he passed(4 yrs when adopted from a friend who moved).


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Tomorrowland said:


> 3x Mandarin Shrimp OR Singapore Flower Shrimp (shooting for the later as they get up to 3.5" while the Mandarins only get up to 1.5", but Live Aquaria has been out of stock for weeks)
> 1 or 2x Freshwater Clam


I'm a fan of oddball stuff but I'm not sure about the clams, they are filter feeders which are hard to provide for properly in an aquarium. And although it is unlikely if they do try to breed the larvae larvae have a short parasitic stage where they hook onto fish which causes skin irritation. They bury in the substrate so you won't see much of them.

Flower shrimp are wonderful. They are also filter feeders which means they catch tiny things out of the water. They need a place to stand near in the flow of the filter to do this. I don't think 20 gallons will provide enough food for 3 shrimp unless you find a way to supplement their diet. Check out their compatibility with the fish you have chosen. Some fish will pick at and destroy their 'fans' which they need to eat. 

Mandarin Shrimp are usually Caridina propinqua "orange", which there is not very much information available on. There is also an orange version of the Red Cherry shrimp (Neocaridina) that might be called Mandarin Shrimp sometimes. Neither are very big so make sure they don't just end up as lunch.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

snail said:


> I'm a fan of oddball stuff buy I'm not sure about the clams, they are filter feeders which are hard to provide for properly in an aquarium. And although it is unlikely if they do try to breed the larvae larvae have a short parasitic stage where they hook onto fish which causes skin irritation. They bury in the substrate so you won't see much of them.
> 
> Flower shrimp are wonderful. They are also filter feeders which means they catch tiny things out of the water. They need a place to stand near in the flow of the filter to do this. I don't think 20 gallons will provide enough food for 3 shrimp unless you find a way to supplement their diet. Check out their compatibility with the fish you have chosen. Some fish will pick at and destroy their 'fans' which they need to eat.
> 
> Mandarin Shrimp are usually Caridina propinqua "orange", which there is not very much information available on. There is also an orange version of the Red Cherry shrimp (Neocaridina) that might be called Mandarin Shrimp sometimes. Neither are very big so make sure they don't just end up as lunch.


Would I be better off with just one clam? I'm layering the substrate with the sand cichlid substrate on top so they'd have a place to "half burrow." Like I previously mentioned, I'd rather have the flower shrimp as they grow to be larger. The dwarf cichlids I chose are frequently described as peaceful fish who will do well in community aquariums (which is why I avoided apistogrammas, which were previously suggested to me, as they're semi-aggressive). The only fish I'd slightly worry about harassing my shrimp would be my Gourami, but the only fish I've ever seen him harass before was my male Opaline in my 75 (self-explanatory, thought the 75 would be big enough for both of them to establish territory, but it clearly wasn't).

It's a 30 gallon tank, so do you think I should go with one flower shrimp instead of three?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Summer I would look into something other than cichlid sand as it will raise your ph.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

susankat said:


> Summer I would look into something other than cichlid sand as it will raise your ph.


Susan, thank you. I didn't even think about that, but it makes sense as Eco-Complete advertises it as substrate for African cichlids. I do have a good 30 or so pounds left over of silica sand that I used when setting up my 75 gallon about six months ago. It doesn't fluctuate the PH, and that'll save me some money too.  With that out of the way, I'm hoping the natural buffer from the driftwood will keep the PH relatively low.

I was just entering in my proposed stock and hardware for this tank on the AqAdvisor generator and an interesting thing happened. I entered in all the other fish and inverts with the exception of the dwarf cichlids. When I entered in the Bolivian Rams and Red Breast Smiling Cichlids (which are apparently also known as Dwarf Flag Cichlids), it said that I may experience aggression later on. However, when I removed one of the Dwarf Flags (leaving 2 Bolivian Rams and 1 DF aside from the other fish) and added a Blue Ram in its place, it was fine. They both grow to the same size, so I'm curious as to why that would have happened. Think I should stick with the proposed stock or switch one of the Dwarf Flags out for a Blue? :animated_fish_swimm


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## Crazy (Mar 1, 2012)

Because when cichlids pair off they can become more aggressive and display more territorial behavior.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

CrazyMFFM said:


> Because when cichlids pair off they can become more aggressive and display more territorial behavior.


Do you think I should get one of each, then? The Bolivian, the Dwarf Flag, and a Blue? Or would it be okay to go with two Bolivians and one of each of the others?


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