New Tank Fish Selection

[DrSlackBladder]

Great, thanks for your help. I'm a scientist by profession and analyse everything to the nth degree, but I'm no fish expert so it's good to have my thoughts checked by a pro! Pic didn't attach earlier, hopefully this will work......

 

[Aquascaper]

Looks nice, good luck with it

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Thanks to all who helped with my fishless cycle; cycle completed last week, stayed with good tests (zero NH3 and zero NO2), I did a 50% water change to take NO3 down to about 20ppm, then successfully transferred my 6 white skirt tetras and added 6 peppered corys over the weekend. All getting on well and feeding well, and the tetras are certainly enjoying having 5 times more water to explore! The corys are great little characters, very interesting to watch.

Will be keeping an eye with daily testing for a while to get the routine established, then slowly adding a few more over the coming months. I'm figuring that my tank is about half-stocked right now, so still thinking through my options.....definitely a school of cardinals, since my wife loves them, and then I don't know. Maybe another tetra species, maybe a pair of dwarf butterfly rams (although my pH is 7.5, maybe too high?), maybe a pair or two of platys (who I expect prefer the slightly alkaline pH).

Liked the idea of shrimps, but have read so many differing opinions and accounts of shrimp attacking small tetras, tetras eating shrimp, etc, most say ghost shrimp will be lunch, most say cherries are ok but could still be lunch, amanos have mixed reviews, and I've read yamato attack small tetras. So unsure about those. Any other ideas, advice, much appreciated!

Enjoying my new tank so far; once again, thanks for the pointless in the "New Aquarium" section to help my through my fishless cycle!