appropriate additions to my tank?

[Amanda Guitar]

I have a few weeks to decide, but I'm wondering who will make the best mates for my guppies. I have 5, all male, in a 30 gallon. I'm all over the map and there are seemingly so many options. I definately don't mind doing a school of fish or two (if the fish are small), but I am looking for bottom dwellers and centerpiece ideas. I have one 'shelter' set up as a hiding place, and have a good amount of space between my plants (plastic) and the walls of the aquarium. My guppies love diving in and around everything I have set up.

Truth be told, I'm just enjoying watching the guppies right now... their temperments are so easy to determine so quickly. But, I know the time is coming where I'll want to add more, so I would love to hear advice and opinions of all of you. Thanks in advance all!

side note: I don't care for the typical angel fish or much for tetras. Nice looking mollies are hard to come by as well these days where I live.

 

[azmodan]

A few (non-tetra) options worth researching:

Harlequin rasboras
Cherry barbs
Panda cories
Kuhli loaches
German blue ram
Bolivian ram
Apistogramma
Dwarf gourami
Honey gourami
Pearl gourami
Furcata or threadfin rainbows (top dwellers though)
Praecox rainbows

 

[Cactuspixie]

What about an albino bristlenose catfish and 5 striped kuhli loaches?

I have 2 kinds of striped kuhlis: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pangio-kuhlii

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pangio-myersi

And some black kuhlis:

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pangio-oblonga/?searchterm=Black kuhli

 

[Amanda Guitar]

This tank is going to be the "pretty fish" tank. I'll do some research and see what these all look like, their sizes and how many to put together etc.

I have seen the panda cory and think they're beautiful.

While I like some of the cichlids, I don't feel I have a large enough tank for them to be in, nor enough hiding places for their size.

Thanks, keep the recommendations coming!

Included is the pic if my tank before adding fish. The plants aren't real and I'm not planning on changing that anytime in the near future, so I'll have to keep in mind to not include those fish which love a well planted tank like barbs.

 

[azmodan]

30 gallons would be fine for a single ram or apisto, or even a pair.

 

[Amanda Guitar]

30 gallons would be fine for a single ram or apisto, or even a pair.

I worry with those, because they're a type of cichlid. I don't have the cave space for them.

 

[azmodan]

Cool no prob. They are very peaceful but do like cover and live plants.

 

[Amanda Guitar]

Cool no prob. They are very peaceful but do like cover and live plants.

well I guess I'm still out of luck. I decided to go with the plastic plants, because I'm very new to this and wanted to become accustomed to caring for the fish before I decided to try to keep plants alive. There's no green thumb here! Now looking at my tank.. sure it's colourful, but it's clearly artificial and too symmetrical.

IF I did get some real plants, I would add them in at my next water change. Is it important the tank be cycled before adding the plants? Can live plants affect my levels in a way that could harm the fish initially? Any suggestions or plants that are esthetically pleasing and good for live bearers?

Thanks.

 

[azmodan]

Plants can be added any time and in fact they can help a cycle finish faster. Plants take in many of the basic toxins that harm fish so they're always beneficial to add. The types of plants you can get will be mainly limited by whatever lighting you have, but generally plants like anubias, java fern and java moss are considered nearly impossible to kill haha. You can have a great looking tank with just those simple plants if you want, particularly since there are so many variations of leaf forms for anubias (nana, nana "petite", etc) and java fern (regular, narrow leaf, windelov, etc). Many fish will also enjoy floating plants like amazon frogbit, guppy grass, watersprite and so forth as they dim the lighting and provide cover. Livebearer fry in particular will spend a lot of time in floating plants.

 

[Amanda Guitar]

Plants can be added any time and in fact they can help a cycle finish faster. Plants take in many of the basic toxins that harm fish so they're always beneficial to add. The types of plants you can get will be mainly limited by whatever lighting you have, but generally plants like anubias, java fern and java moss are considered nearly impossible to kill haha. You can have a great looking tank with just those simple plants if you want, particularly since there are so many variations of leaf forms for anubias (nana, nana "petite", etc) and java fern (regular, narrow leaf, windelov, etc). Many fish will also enjoy floating plants like amazon frogbit, guppy grass, watersprite and so forth as they dim the lighting and provide cover. Livebearer fry in particular will spend a lot of time in floating plants.

Oh interesting! I won't have to worry about fry as I'm not having both sexes of any type of fish... Not at this point anyhow. What I have for lighting is the aqua-Glo 20w which says its suitable for freshwater aquariums and planted aquariums. It's the T8.

I'll look up pics for the hard to kill plants lol thanks!

I have a lava rock formation i put together which is like a passthrough. Would it be enter as a cave?