Hello!

[WhistlingBadger]

Yes, soft water is good! OK, I just did a bit of checking on aqadvisor.com, which I use when I really want to play it safe with stocking. (You can almost always stock more than this site says, but it's a good starting point for beginners). Is your tank 60x30 cm or 40x40?

Once your plants are well established, you could probably stock 15 Microrasbora kubotai, 15 chili rasboras, a few dwarf chain loaches or kuhli loaches, and a pair of scarlet badis. That would be a beautiful, lively but peaceful display. But there are a lot of other directions you could go. I always tend to think of my stocking in terms of geographic regions, and I really like Southeast Asian fish. I really like the microrasboras/boraras because you can have a big school of them in a small tank. But with water as soft as yours, some of the smaller South American fish would be great too.

 

[mcordelia]

woooowww I'm envious of your super soft water! I also LOVE how you are approaching fishkeeping! I've been "Setting up" a 125 gallon tank since september (I don't even have the actual tank yet), so like you, I am enjoying the process and the research etc! It really is rewarding, and dreaming is half of the fun

I'm excited in following along on your journey and looking forward to pictures! It sounds like you have a green thumb already, so that will give you a leg up on the whole plants thing!

out of curiosity - did the new tank you ordered come with a light, or are you ordering a light to go with it separately? Often, the lights that "come with" tanks (at least here in the US) are not really powerful enough to grow anything but the least fussy of plants, so you may need to consider that as you decide what plants to keep, or prepare for a light upgrade at some point