What to Eventually Add? 29 Gallon

I recently started a 29 gallon tank with some Zebra Danios after two rounds of failure with Lemon Tetras. I got some help here and at the LFS before the numbers finally started to look better. I've since added some Cherry Barbs. Everybody seems to be doing great now which is a relief after the way things started. My tank is close to cycled so I'll be adding more fish soon.

I'm looking for some input on where to go next. I plan on finishing out the two schools I have and adding some kind of cory cats for the bottom but I'm torn on anything else (centerpiece?). Just looking for ideas, I really enjoy reading up on the different species while I wait for the cycle.

Current Setup:
Aqueon 50 HOB
Aqueon Pro 150 Heater (holding 76)
Black Diamond Blasting Sand
A couple pieces of mopani driftwood
Artificial plants

4 Zebra Danios
4 Cherry Barbs (even M/F split)

How many should I add to the current schools? Any kind of cory cats over the others? Any opinions welcome, all the advice here has been great so far.

 

I'd probably up each school by 2 so 6 each.

I would avoid sterbai or peppered cory's as the sterbai prefer warmer water and the peppered prefer cooler water. Their may be some others that can't do that temp. But most common cories like aeneus, panda, pygmy, salt and pepper, etc can do 75 or 76 I believe. Just double check the stats on planetcatfish whenever you choose a species. If they are going to be your only bottom dweller I'd do probably 8 or 10 cories. Alternatively you could do kuhli loaches as well. You also have the room for a centerpiece fish like a bolivian ram or a dwarf gourami.

 

I've seen some people keep a Gourami and Ram in a 29 gallon community. Is that pushing the stock or feasible?

 

No i don't think so but if you did a top and bottom I would stick to probably 8 cories.

 

That sounds like a good option for variety.

Could I look at a pearl gourami or are they too big?

 

They get pretty big. I wouldn't put one in a 29. I know people who have but I personally would not.

 

My LFS only has german blue and gold rams in at the moment. I'll need to see if they can order some Bolivians if I go that route. (Or go to the chain store... they had a couple last week)

I've seen a few people throw out rainbow cichlids as an option in a 29 but I've found less info on that as a possibility.

They had a nice group of honey gouramis. Seems a lot of people favor them over dwarf. Are they a species where I could have more than 1?

Thanks for your help.

 

Personally I think a rainbow may be a little big for a 29. They also are not as peaceful as a bolivian in my experience (though still peaceful for a cichlid) so I would try to do a bolivian ram or a dwarf flag cichlid/smiling acara before trying a rainbow.

As far as honey gourami's, those are pretty peaceful so if you wanted to do 2 honey gourami's and a dwarf cichlid I think that would be ok.