29G Stocking.

[IC Casey]

Okay, currently the 29G planted tank at work houses the 5 indestructible monster Blackskirts and 2 Serpae tetra. Anyone have any ideas to fill it out. I was thinking of one of either Bulldog Pleco/BN Pleco/Otos and then I have no idea. The women I think are partial to neons/cardinals, though I've never been a fan. If I fill out the Serpae school more and add the Pleco/Otos, what is there room for?


Right now (29G):

5 Black Skirt Tetras
2 Serpae Tetras

[Good Wolf]

I'm surprised that the serpae are nipping the fins of the black skirts but since they aren't I think it is safe to get 4-6 more serpae, a couple more black skirts to fill out the school, a BN would go along good with that and Otos are fine as well.

I myself am partial to Cories as well even though I don't have any at the moment.

[IC Casey]

Yeah, I was thinking about getting some pygmy cories since the bottom is pretty sweet but I didn't know if they'd be "pretty" enough for the women.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that this is the office tank I run, so inexpensive and hardy are kinda the rules I go by (at the expense of "pretty" I might add).

Most everyone I talked to said that as long as I didn't have long-finned black skirts they probably wouldn't tempt the Serpaes too much, and to tell you the truth, these Black Skirts are kinda scary in their own right. A couple of them have survived since the very beginning, including a MAJOR crash and a complete change in the tank's substrate, lighting, water source, etc. I have a splash zone of about 4 feet when feeding them, and I keep all hands and feet away from the tank.

So yeah, I was a little bit concerned about the Serpae, but I haven't found them to be an issue. I should note that a few of the crew I put in passed away, and those seemed to be the more aggressive of the lot. I have my suspicions that the Black Skirts slit their throats in their sleep.

[Bubbles]

I have 4 LF Serpae's for sale if you decide to go that route.

[kSpieler]

I would discourage Pygmy Cories for 2 reasons... 1) a 29g is a bit deep for them ~ mine seemed to really be struggling to get to the surface when I tried them in my 29.
2) They are initially not very hardy. Don't get me wrong, once they are established in your tank they do great. But they are terribly sensative about being transported. I have had about a 50% success rate when getting new pgymies ... at least half have usually died within the first two weeks.

[IC Casey]

I would discourage Pygmy Cories for 2 reasons... 1) a 29g is a bit deep for them ~ mine seemed to really be struggling to get to the surface when I tried them in my 29.
2) They are initially not very hardy. Don't get me wrong, once they are established in your tank they do great. But they are terribly sensative about being transported. I have had about a 50% success rate when getting new pgymies ... at least half have usually died within the first two weeks.

Good info, thanks. Yeah, fragility just ain't gonna work in this tank.

[DallasDiscus]

Try Upside Down Cats, just for novelty purposes. OR run with some Clown Loaches. Maybe Albino Congo Tetras, those are cool.

[IC Casey]

Well, I think I've confirmed that the black skirts are murderous bastages. This does make it more interesting. The two serpae that are in with them appear safe, but I got 3 smaller ones from a friend of mine (they were terrorizing his neons), and I just had to save them from the jaws of the marauding horde.

[IC Casey]

Oh, and I added a Clown Pleco, who seems to be doing just fine. A little bashful, but you can see him scanning the driftwood and the back wall some during the day.

So currently:

6 Black Skirt Tetra (murderous)
2 Serpae Tetra (more than likely also murderous)
1 Clown Pleco (murdering tendencies unknown at this time)

ICU:
2 Serpae Tetra (critical condition)
1 Serpae Tetra (stable but frayed)