stocking 29gal

Question
Hey there, i have a few questions about stocking, cycling, and maybe even introducing plants into a 29 gal (high) i plan to be buying.

I'm looking to have a good number of fish around 8+, and i want to be sure to have the following

-Angel fish (I'm not sure about having 1,2,or 3 because i've read they are very agressive when only having two)
-Rams (maybe gold rams, bolivian, or anything else nice. I'm just wondering if they are a schooling fish and maybe how many i could put in)
-Also i want to have few fish at the bottom of the tank, but i dont want anything much bigger than 4" for the bottom dwellers i'm looking at 1 - 3 Corydoras catfish.
-also if you have any suggestions about other compatible fish (or maybe rams and angels arent compatible?)it would be greatly appreciated.

For the cycling... Is it necisarry to wait more than 2 weeks when establishing your tank with a few cycling fish and using some gravel from a tank already running.

And i'm new to live plants,if you could maybe point me in the right direction of a good hardy plant which wont take over my tank, oh and my tank will only have the lighting it comes with which probably isnt that great.  Also will i have to buy gravel with iron deposits or fertilizer?

Answer
Hi Jeff;

Angels and Rams are compatible, but they are not good as starter fish to get the tank through the break-in period. They don't tolerate break-in-period toxins very well. The break-in period lasts about 6 weeks and the first ones should be hardy. For a 29 gallon there should be no more than 3 inches total of fish for that 6 week period. Good hardy ones for that are Danios, Cherry Barbs (not tiger barbs-nippy), Black Widows or Phantoms, Rasboras, and Cory Cats. But, keep in mind that angels get big enough to eat smaller tetras like neons and cardinals. I will include a link to my article on new tanks at the end of this letter for you to know more about it.

Rams are nice fish but it may be better to stick with the hardier Bolivians. Germans tend to be more delicate. Here are profiles on both Bolivian and German Blue;

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/531.htm
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/533.htm
http://fish.mongabay.com/apistogramma.htm


Angels should be kept in trios or only one per tank. They can be aggressive to each other if there are only two and are opposite sex. Or if paired off and they decide to breed, your other fish are in danger.

Other fish compatible with angels and rams are hatchet fish, serpae tetras, bleeding heart tetras, Gouramis, giant Danios, rainbows, Congo Tetras, Emperor Tetras, and several other larger tetras. Go to fishprofiles.com to find out more about each one. Rams are social so you could have several, but one male to several females seems to be the best ratio. Keep in mind that if they decide to breed they get aggressive as most cichlids do.

For plants.... Amazon swords, Java Fern and Cryptocoryne are good without a lot of work. Your Rams will need lots of them to be happy. I just use a standard aquarium plant food and mine do fine as long as my plecostomus doesn't eat them. Stay away from stemmed plants. They need CO2 injectors to do well and probably more light than your tank has.

Here is a link to my web page with my 'new tanks' article;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins