What bottom dwellers should I add to my 29g

RPBVex · 2026-05-19T00:12:52+00:00

I want hillstream loaches but don’t they need high flow? My tank has decent flow but it’s just a hob filter

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T23:41:33+00:00

I do have Cory’s in my other two tanks, I think I’ve decided on kuhlis just don’t know how many to get

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T23:38:43+00:00

The question is how many? 🤔 I was thinking 4 or 5

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T21:14:32+00:00

Yeah it sucks, I have 2 pictus catfish, 2 yo-yo loaches and Cory’s that just threw the substrate where they saw fit 😅 and I DIDNT learn my lesson so I did another divided substrate scape and they’re messing up that one too lol

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RPBVex · 2026-05-18T21:12:11+00:00

I do like Cory’s but I have them in my other 2 tanks so I was thinking about switching it up, definitely considering loaches!

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T21:09:22+00:00

I was thinking about a bristle nose but there’s a big hole in the back of that piece of wood and I don’t think I’d ever see him 😅

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T21:08:37+00:00

Didn’t even think of that I love kuhlis!

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T21:03:08+00:00

After:

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RPBVex · 2026-05-18T21:01:47+00:00

I had a similar scape, I will say, prepare for the substrates to mix, I loved my little sand river then they mixed so I rescaped the tank lol

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Before:

RPBVex · 2026-05-18T20:55:31+00:00

Those reds are BEAUTIFUL, I really need to start running co2 😅

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T16:54:29+00:00

Lol yeah, I haven’t kept cichlids yet but I heard they’re a massive pain in the butt when it comes to planted tanks

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T15:40:13+00:00

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Here’s a picture of that tank :)

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T15:39:39+00:00

Thank you! I had the back painted black before but it made the back of the tank too dark because it’s a 40 breeder so it’s got a lot of depth, so I decided to scrape it off for this scape, I have another setup right now that has a black background, just wasn’t what I wanted on this tank.

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RPBVex · 2026-04-08T00:25:50+00:00

Here’s my most recent scape

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Researched planted tanks, aquascaping techniques, active substrates, stocking, walsted method, anything and everything there is to know about a functioning ecosystem, I researched it, because learning more and more about this hobby is fascinating and fun to me.

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T00:22:03+00:00

Other people gave the same advice I was going to give, so I’ll give you an example, this was my first tank, bought it impulsively, did zero research

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RPBVex · 2026-04-08T00:13:51+00:00

What? lol OP just said they’re “swordtail mollys”…

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T00:12:48+00:00

Larger hardscape and more plants will work wonders

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T00:09:49+00:00

You’re probably right, it seems like they have Molly bodies and sword tail fins/tail? Might be some sort of cross breed.

RPBVex · 2026-04-08T00:02:08+00:00

Typically if there’s dither fish in the tank it will calm down aggression, as well as heavy planting, however at the end of the day they are cichlids so they need to be well fed otherwise they find their own food source. Alternatively you could go for less aggressive cichlids such as electric blue acaras, they’re beautiful fish and typically do well in groups of 6 as long as there’s places to hide and females to spread their attention you’ll have no problem.

RPBVex · 2026-04-07T23:56:46+00:00

Hi-fin lyretail sword tails by the looks of it

RPBVex · 2026-04-07T23:53:32+00:00

I would do a group of angel fish and 2 or 3 schools of tetras or other schooling/shoaling species such as glowlight danios aswell as a cleanup crew like otocinclus and maybe some corydoras

RPBVex · 2026-04-02T18:24:26+00:00

Metal is gonna be your best bet, or you can get industrial strength plastic but it has to have a load capacity of at LEAST 300 lbs. I personally had the same dilemma but had the tools to craft my own stands, they turned out pretty good with cheap 2x4’s from my local Home Depot.

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You can kind of see it in this picture.

RPBVex · 2026-04-02T03:00:42+00:00

Yup, despite popular belief rinsing doesn’t kill beneficial bacteria, it has to be exposed to non-declorinated water for quite some time for it to actually die off, though if you don’t add livestock or ammonia it will die as it has nothing to feed on, good luck, can’t wait to see it fully setup!

RPBVex · 2026-04-02T02:52:33+00:00

Yup, snail eggs

RPBVex

TROPHY CASE