# 29 gallon capacity?



## ShadowCatsKey (Jul 14, 2011)

So. Instead of the 20 gallon I'd planned on using, I'm going to get a 29 & all the accessories tomorrow thanks to a generous birthday gift from the family. Feels good to finally be getting somewhere! ^^

I've got four fully grown Dalmatian Mollies [3gals,1boy] and three month old fry. A 29 gallon is more than enough room for those 7, that I know... assuming all the fry survive.
I'm curious. I've never had a tank bigger than 20 gallons. I plan on getting 4-6 Cory Catfish for the bottom. How many more Mollies could I get? I'm a real Molly lover. I'm thinking of adding some Creamsicle Lyretails, but how many could I add and not be full to capacity/overstocked? I want to stay under that in the [guaranteed] event of more fry 

You all are always so helpful! Thank you for reading.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

ShadowCatsKey said:


> So. Instead of the 20 gallon I'd planned on using, I'm going to get a 29 & all the accessories tomorrow thanks to a generous birthday gift from the family. Feels good to finally be getting somewhere! ^^
> 
> I've got four fully grown Dalmatian Mollies [3gals,1boy] and three month old fry. A 29 gallon is more than enough room for those 7, that I know... assuming all the fry survive.
> I'm curious. I've never had a tank bigger than 20 gallons. I plan on getting 4-6 Cory Catfish for the bottom. How many more Mollies could I get? I'm a real Molly lover. I'm thinking of adding some Creamsicle Lyretails, but how many could I add and not be full to capacity/overstocked? I want to stay under that in the [guaranteed] event of more fry
> ...


You could get about 4-5 more mollies, 2-4 more Cories, and some type of small algae eater such as a Bristlenose or Rubber Lip Pleco.


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## ShadowCatsKey (Jul 14, 2011)

Hmmm... So in total to start with, 10 Mollies, 8 Cories and perhaps 2 small algae eaters?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

ShadowCatsKey said:


> Hmmm... So in total to start with, 10 Mollies, 8 Cories and perhaps 2 small algae eaters?


Yep, I would personally go with a couple Apple/Mystery Snails over Plecos in a tank that size, but that's just me. Also, make sure your Cories are all the same species.


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## ShadowCatsKey (Jul 14, 2011)

Cories, same species... Got it. This will take a while to establish, but I can't wait to see what it will look like.
I saw that some Plecos could be quite long and needed 55+. My younger sister was begging me to buy a snail, so I'll let her choose one or two as a gift.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

ShadowCatsKey said:


> Cories, same species... Got it. This will take a while to establish, but I can't wait to see what it will look like.
> I saw that some Plecos could be quite long and needed 55+. My younger sister was begging me to buy a snail, so I'll let her choose one or two as a gift.


bushy nose pleco's will always primarily eat algae and only grow to 4-6 inches. 90% of them are all around 4 though.

I'm with ghost knife though, snails for a tank that size would be better.


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## ShadowCatsKey (Jul 14, 2011)

For the Algae eaters, I've seen small ones called Otocinclus in stores, and they don't seem to grow much at all from what I've looked up. Would two of them be alright?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

ShadowCatsKey said:


> For the Algae eaters, I've seen small ones called Otocinclus in stores, and they don't seem to grow much at all from what I've looked up. Would two of them be alright?


The problem with Ottos is that they slowly stop eating algae as they get older.


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

Ghost Knife said:


> The problem with Ottos is that they slowly stop eating algae as they get older.


This is true of all algae eating fish. They might munch on it now and then but it's not really preferred. The biggest problem I'm seeing is that mollies are brackish fish, cories do not like salt at all.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Ladayen said:


> This is true of all algae eating fish. They might munch on it now and then but it's not really preferred. The biggest problem I'm seeing is that mollies are brackish fish, cories do not like salt at all.


I've seen Mollies do fine in pure freshwater for years. It doesn't cause them to have shorter lifespans. Also, I have had my 2 plecos for well a long time (one for over 2 years and the other for over 3 years) and they both keep my tank spotless when it comes to algae.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Ladayen said:


> This is true of all algae eating fish. They might munch on it now and then but it's not really preferred. The biggest problem I'm seeing is that mollies are brackish fish, cories do not like salt at all.


Not 100% true. They all lead away from eating primarily algae as they get older, but there are a few that do not.

They are contingent as long as there is no excess of flake/frozen/live foods present. Otherwise, BN pleco's, Green Phantom Pleco's, and SAE's should primarily divulge on algae at full size. 

I saw a display tank getting overridden by regular ole green algae (glass was 100% clear). And they let it happen. They had a full grown BN pleco in the store. It was 6 inches and the biggest albino BN pleco I've ever seen. The decorations are a completely different color, and the gravel is pure white. All they do is add water and clean the glass with magnet cleaners. There is very little algae left in the tank period.


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## ShadowCatsKey (Jul 14, 2011)

Here's the tank in it's various phases, from bought to cycling [chemically aided] to having my 4 Dalmatian Mollies put inside.  There ain't much decor, but my sis & I planned it like that, like a shallow reef that thins out before the shore begins. ^^ We do plan to get one more piece of coral for the right side.


















I also am a happy camper. Just before I started to move my adults I saw my male going after something, trying to eat it. I looked, and instead of a left over piece of flake food, it was a tiny baby fish! 
I ran to where I had my older 3 fry in a smaller tank. I quickly put them into a cup then ran back into my room with my smallest fish net. I fished out the baby that was nearly eaten and put him in the smaller tank. I then noticed he/she had two siblings. Fished them out. Then I saw another group of three in the corner. Fished them out. After some insanity, I ended up with a gaggle of baby fish. ^^
My tiny fry are in a 1.5 gallon tank, my 3 older fry are now in the 10 gal to grow a bit more and my adults in the 29 gallon.  Looks like I won't be buying anymore Mollies.


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## Xplosive55 (Aug 19, 2011)

Nice nice, those mollies are very pretty. Are they sailfin? I know sailfin they can grow pretty large 6''. very nice setup. Mollies would really appreciate aquarium salt with electrolytes and minerals, they can live in pretty high ph waters. You could raise brine shrimp for you fry they will absolutely love it and grow larger faster. If you got any questions just ask me il be glad to answer.


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## Xplosive55 (Aug 19, 2011)

***But ghost knife is right they will survive in pretty much anything!!


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## ShadowCatsKey (Jul 14, 2011)

I'm actually not quite sure if they're sailfin or not, though I think they are. I've never seen anything specifically labeling the fish as Sailfin and I've never seen something saying there was a non-Sailfin variety. ^^; Here's a picture of my male, though. Perhaps someone could say?
And, could you elaborate on the Brine Shrimp idea?


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