Fish stock options for planted aquarium

[Heathwood]

Hi folks,

I've kept fish for quite a long time but have never deviated far from a fairly basic community setup. My current fish stock is very low and I could take the opportunity to do something a little different with the tank. Its quite heavily planted, mostly with established amazon sword and I'd prefer to maintain a planted aquarium. Water in my area is soft and around 6.5ph. My tank is a 175ltr cube(ish) with a decent external filter.

I'm looking for inspiration as to what to go for. Stick with community, maybe dedicated rainbows, dwarf cichlids? Any thoughts on what you would do or care to share existing setups you may have?

Thanks

[MrHappy]

Hi, it's a while since I had an aquarium but I expect the fish are pretty much the same.

I'd avoid anything with long fancy tails, too many fish like to take a passing nip. Steer clear of anything aggressive like Barbs or those that breed easily, I.e. Mollies and Cichlids. Cichlids will also rip up your nicely planted aquarium. As a rule of thumb it seemed that anything expensive proved to be a pain to keep.

Fish I had that were easy going were most small tetras (red eye tetras looked great in a small shoal), bronze catfish (to tidy up the gravel), zebra danios (for the upper water level) and a pair of dwarf gouramis.

Hope this helps.

[anonymous-user]

Might be worth having a look here: http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2016/index0f... for some inspiration.

Some jaw dropping designs there, and they usually list out the fish varieties they have used sparingingly, I would probably go with tetras and corydoras. Or maybe some calm cichlids, but would stick to 1 or 2 species.

[twing]

Red Dwarf Gourami are a nice addition, they should be good in a community tank but my two hate each other. I lost one in the heat last month and the other one is much happier now, loves to swim amongst my (not real) plants.