# 28 gallon stocking help



## pattysack (Sep 7, 2014)

Hello..I am new, just joined last night. My little ones went to the babysitters and made it through the night with the help of her large 150 gallon tank. So she gave us her 28 gallon bow front tank as the kids loved the giant Oscar in hers. I bought a heater, filter, another filter insert (so there are 2 in there) and a thermometer, along with a bunch of chemicals and tester strips and vials. 
So we cycled the tank and everything was good. We now have some fish but with their personalities it seems like we only have 1 or 2 in the tank, a lot of times it looks empty unless your looking for them. They swim in the middle but stick to the sides mostly.  I feel we made poor choices in picking these types with the tank we have. The woman thought it was a 50 bow front as she had her 10" Oscar in it with a pleco, so we went off her and bought for a 50. When I measured it comes up a 28! So we were going to add more but now can't and my tank looks empty. Any ideas...
We currently have a African leaf fish (spotted), a dwarf gourami, 2 blue rams, an African featherfin catfish and a bristlenose pleco. Size wise they are all ok, except for the featherfin. I have tried to talk my hubby into returning him but he won't budge, so we're stuck with him. The bristle nose and the leaf fish are about 1 or 1 1/2" and the others are all 2", except the featherfin is probably 4" from head to tail. 
Can anyone suggest another to add to movement to my tank? The lady at the local pet store said a small schooling group would be ok as they are all on different levels so it wouldn't be crowded. The bristlenose will stick to the sides, the featherfin on the bottom, the dwarf gourami, leaf fish and blue rams are middles so according to her some active top swimmers would do, but when I just looked on aqadvisor I'm at max now. The pet store person recommended 2/3 upside down catfish, long fin zebra danios, rasbora heteromorpha and silver hatchetfish. 
I looked up and saw all of these fish are top swimmers and schooling of 5+. except the upside down catfish, is 3+. Any ideas...
I have 3 days left on the 14 day return policy if I need to revamp or change things up for a better suiting, with the one exception of my hubby's featherfin. 
Our water is between 78-80 also. 
Thanks for any ideas or help, feeling over whelmed, where I dream about fish, but I am liking having them.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Sound like the featherfin is already outgrowing the tank.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I would look at improving the scenery in the tank rather than adding more fish. Have you considered live plants? Plants like anubias will even flower underwater. Also, I would add some driftwood as your pleco needs to rasp on it as part of his diet.


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## pattysack (Sep 7, 2014)

I've never thought about live plants. That is a different way to go. Gonna do some research. My hubby said once I can successfully keep this tank we can upgrade to a bigger one, so that's good news. But I'm still struggling with water changes. I bought a hose with a gravel sucker (tube thing) and use that to suck up poop/food and anything at the bottom but when adding new water I'm having a hard time knowing the right way. I hook the tube up to the outside hose and pump in new water but I don't know if that's right. My hubby said I should move all the fish to a big bucket and change the water then pour them back in once the tank is back at it's regular temperature but that seems stressful. I was thinking maybe use luke warm water from the sink or just use the vacuum to clean the bottom and get the old water out but then pour a bucket of water at a time to fill it back up.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Look into a python or aqueon waterchanger.Vaccumming is easy and refilling even easier(no buckets).
Don't take the fish out and change all their water and put them back.
Are you using a water conditioner/treatment.Most here use prime made by seachem.


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## pattysack (Sep 7, 2014)

Yup I have a tap water conditioner, a stress coat additive and a new fish/new tank additive. When I first set the tank up I used the new fish/new tank and the stress coat, now I am just using the tap water conditioner for water changes and then adding some liquid bacteria from a pouch (after 15 minutes).


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

If you decide to do bucket water changes (dubbed the bucket brigade for large tanks), then you'll want to siphon the water into the bucket and vacuum the gravel at the same time using the gravel vacuum.

Start the siphon by sucking on the end of the hose (probably sounds gross, but honestly, it's no worse than if you went swimming in a lake), with the bucket at the foot of the tank. Push the gravel vacuum attachment into the gravel and move it around to vacuum up mulm. When the bucket is full, empty it (I prefer to water my plants with the aquarium water), and repeat. Do this until you have 40%-50% of the water out of the tank.

Then, add tap water conditioner to the bucket BEFORE you fill it with water, then fill with water (preferably from the sink or bathtub, not the hose), and siphon the water into the tank by placing the bucket higher than the tank and draining it into the tank using the same siphon hose. Don't dump the water in or the temperature/pH different will shock and might even kill your fish. Repeat until you top off the tank.

Or, as coralbandit said, look into a python. Much easier for larger tanks.


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## pattysack (Sep 7, 2014)

I changed the tank around  took out the fake plants and bought some real ones. I left the big decoration that looks like deer antlers intertwined (with pockets of space for fish to swim through) and the cave. But I took out the little castle and fake plants. I returned the fish that I was Leary of for this tank and looked like that crazy lady bringing fish back to the store but I think it was for the best for now. The tank now has 1 dwarf gourami, 2 blue rams, 1 bristlenose pleco, 4 albino cory catfish and 10 harlequin rasboras. I'm liking how it looks now and feeling better about this setup! Thanks for tips


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

might wanna bump that cory population up to 6,they like to school.


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## kalyke (Nov 19, 2014)

You never do complete water changes. Maybe 15 to 25% per week. Goldfish require a bit more. Taking fish out and putting them in a bucket stresses them. Causes them to die more swiftly than a slightly dirty tank. The vaccume can be run with fish around. Shoo away little curious onlookers. Its like vaccuming the floor with kittens looking on.


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

uh kalyke i know your new here but look at the dates before you post something.this is almost 2 months old.if you dont know where the date is then look about one of the people who've posted user name it should say the date.i am not trying to be rude and welcome to the forum i think you'll like it there.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

big b said:


> uh kalyke i know your new here but look at the dates before you post something.this is almost 2 months old.if you dont know where the date is then look about one of the people who've posted user name it should say the date.i am not trying to be rude and welcome to the forum i think you'll like it there.


It's perfectly fine to post on an old thread. In fact, I'm going to go bump a few of my old favorites right now 

Also, kalyke, you can do larger water changes if necessary, in cases like tank crashes, medication OD, massive die-off, etc.
As a rule of thumb, however, regular weekly water changes anywhere from 10% to 50% are acceptable, as you stated.


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## kalyke (Nov 19, 2014)

Gizmo said:


> It's perfectly fine to post on an old thread. In fact, I'm going to go bump a few of my old favorites right now
> 
> Also, kalyke, you can do larger water changes if necessary, in cases like tank crashes, medication OD, massive die-off, etc.
> As a rule of thumb, however, regular weekly water changes anywhere from 10% to 50% are acceptable, as you stated.


Hey thanks Gizmo. I was embarassed by the reply. I've been on message boards since 1998, and have never known yo were not supposed to post to a thread a few months or even years old. *old dude


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## discusbreeder (Oct 7, 2014)

In a 29 you are already getting overstocked, especially if you look at growth. And some of your tankmates are not compatible. For starters the bristlenose its going to get bigger than his space as will the featherfin. The tank would be an excellent breeding tank for the rams but the other species will eat their eggs and fry. The bristlenose is not going to get along with the featherfin and rams, overlapping territorial aggression. And except for the rams and the bristlenose they all desire different water types.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

kalyke said:


> Hey thanks Gizmo. I was embarassed by the reply. I've been on message boards since 1998, and have never known yo were not supposed to post to a thread a few months or even years old. *old dude


Its fine to post into older threads, as one thing it helps bring up more discussion on the matters and can help others that are browsing the threads.


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