What to stock ?

So I was going to replace my larger aquarium of 2. But under good advice I've decided to stock my existing larger aquarium with the inhabitants of the smaller.
So now I have a clean slate.
Stocking suggestions?
I think I'm leaning to multiples of smaller species than any larger fish.
1 week in. What to do.. ?

What is your tap water GH or your water hardness?
Let us know and we can recommend either soft water or hard water fish.

The best combinations are to mix some schooling fish with some individual fish.
Get fish for all levels (bottom, middle/top), then your tank won't look so empty.

Thanks. I believe it's very soft.
Ph 6.4-6.6
Gh and kh possibly 0 or 1. Is that possible ?
The api tests both go yellow/greenish almost immediately.
Ammonia 4 due to seeded cycling and soil.

dirty_bishop said:

Thanks. I believe it's very soft.
Ph 6.4-6.6
Gh and kh possibly 0 or 1. Is that possible ?
The api tests both go yellow/greenish almost immediately.
Ammonia 4 due to seeded cycling and soil.

Click to expand...

Oh - the tap water is 7.5. Have been using co2 at about 1-1.5bubbles/s.

@dirty_bishop - your tank looks stunning ? I have a question though...will the different substrates stay separate...?

dirty_bishop said:

Thanks. I believe it's very soft.
Ph 6.4-6.6
Gh and kh possibly 0 or 1. Is that possible ?
The api tests both go yellow/greenish almost immediately.
Ammonia 4 due to seeded cycling and soil.

Click to expand...

I think GH 0 is for water that has gone through Reverse Osmosis(RO) or Distilled filtrations.
Normal tap water usually will be higher unless your country uses very fine filters to remove everything in the water.

Anyway, for soft water, you can consider most South American and Asian fish.

How big is your tank? 4ft by 2ft?

1)For schooling fish:
Get 1-2 schooling fish with 10-20 each more.
A)Tetras species
B)Rasboras species : eg. Harlequin Rasboras, Espei/Hengeli, etc. Don't get species that are too small.

2)For individual fish:
A)Apistogrammas - 2-4 of them or
Apistogramma Cacatuoides, Borelli, Bitaenita, Agassiizi, etc.
Take note that Borelli is smaller and probably cannot mix with some that are more aggressive.

OR
B)Bolivian Rams

3)You can also consider a group of bottom level fish (minimum 6) such as Corydoras or Loaches.. there are many species from South America(Corydoras) and Asia (Loaches)

NannaLou said:

@dirty_bishop - your tank looks stunning ? I have a question though...will the different substrates stay separate...?

Click to expand...

Thanks. No, I'm sure the soil will interact with the sand. Though if the ground cover and other plants take on well enough, that as well as rock placement and maintenance, will keep the two from mixing too much.

Lajos_Detari said:

I think GH 0 is for water that has gone through Reverse Osmosis(RO) or Distilled filtrations.
Normal tap water usually will be higher unless your country uses very fine filters to remove everything in the water.

Anyway, for soft water, you can consider most South American and Asian fish.

How big is your tank? 4ft by 2ft?

1)For schooling fish:
Get 1-2 schooling fish with 10-20 each more.
A)Tetras species
B)Rasboras species : eg. Harlequin Rasboras, Espei/Hengeli, etc. Don't get species that are too small.

2)For individual fish:
A)Apistogrammas - 2-4 of them or
Apistogramma Cacatuoides, Borelli, Bitaenita, Agassiizi, etc.
Take note that Borelli is smaller and probably cannot mix with some that are more aggressive.

OR
B)Bolivian Rams

3)You can also consider a group of bottom level fish (minimum 6) such as Corydoras or Loaches.. there are many species from South America(Corydoras) and Asia (Loaches)

Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes I was considering dwarf cichlids. It is 4ft. 300litre. I wonder if I should worry about the water being so soft ? Seems very soft out of the tap.

If GH is 0 or 1, it's too soft.
You can add some minerals salts to increase the GH to between 3-5.
Fish requires some minerals.

Here is one example of minerals salt use for South American fish.

You have lots of options for a community tank especially with the size of your tank..

For a community tank Corydoras are a must for the bottom Crew... I have been enjoying watching my 12 cory's run wild around the bottom of my 40 gallon. They are in 3 groups of 4 (sterba, julii, panda) the many different varieties of Corydoras make it easy to find one's you will like..
kuhli loaches are a nice bottom dwelling fish with a unique look that would have fun getting lost in your tank.
A couple smaller plecos (bushy nose, rubber lip, clown, zebra)

You could unleash a few different varieties of live-bearers and let them go at it.
You could do a barb tank, (Rosey, Odessa, 5 banded....)
some rohombo barbs (AKA, snakeskin barb/orange buffalo barb) they are very peaceful and look good zooming around any large tank and stay below 3 inches.

Gourami's are ok for medium size fish but don't get along well with their own kind in groups.

Some electric blue acara’s or some other south American cichlids like Rams or apistogrammas.

Th size tank you have you could easily do around 25 to 30 small fish of different species

CaT209 said:

You have lots of options for a community tank especially with the size of your tank..

For a community tank Corydoras are a must for the bottom Crew... I have been enjoying watching my 12 cory's run wild around the bottom of my 40 gallon. They are in 3 groups of 4 (sterba, julii, panda) the many different varieties of Corydoras make it easy to find one's you will like..
kuhli loaches are a nice bottom dwelling fish with a unique look that would have fun getting lost in your tank.
A couple smaller plecos (bushy nose, rubber lip, clown, zebra)

You could unleash a few different varieties of live-bearers and let them go at it.
You could do a barb tank, (Rosey, Odessa, 5 banded....)
some rohombo barbs (AKA, snakeskin barb/orange buffalo barb) they are very peaceful and look good zooming around any large tank and stay below 3 inches.

Gourami's are ok for medium size fish but don't get along well with their own kind in groups.

Some electric blue acara’s or some other south American cichlids like Rams or apistogrammas.

Th size tank you have you could easily do around 25 to 30 small fish of different species

Click to expand...

Live bearers are hard water fish.
They are not suitable for soft water.

Some Barbs are bigger and not suitable if you want to have more fish.(as mentioned in the first post).
Five Banded, Rhombo and Cherry Barbs are ok as they are smaller and less aggressive.
Other Barbs look ugly to me(personal opinion).

I usually stay away from Gouramis as I don't really like their looks(personal preference).

Blue Rams or German Blue Rams, Electric Blue Rams, Golden Rams require warmer water (27C and above) and may not be suitable or harder to mix with other fish that need cooler water.

You do not need to add salts or anything else to increase the GH, provided you stock with soft water fish species. My tap water is zero GH/KH and has been for decades (because of the source, a reservoir up in the Coastal Mountains) and I do not do anything to increase GH/KH. The pH naturally is very low and remains there.

Almost all of our aquarium fish native to South America and many from SE Asia will thrive in such water.