Fish I don't eat

[rachelb]

Hello there. I'm new to keeping fish as pets. We've successfully kept a rainbow shark and a pleco in a 20 gallon tank and we loved it so much, we bought a 55 gallon tank and just finished cycling it. We're looking at keeping this one a freshwater tank with a riverbed theme with our shark, the pleco, a school of black ruby barbs, and a gourami. And if we don't kill the plants, some real green in there will be lovely. We're really new and have lots of questions, especially with adding the new dynamic of plantae.

Eventually, we'd like to get another tank and have a coral reef! I'm (Rachel, the mans name is Mike) taking a marine biology course now to learn the basics of saltwater.

 

[Mebbid]

Welcome to the forums! Glad to hear that you're enjoying fish tanks soo much.

If you want to try your hand at keeping live plants I will suggest trying out bolbitis, anubias, java fern, or java moss. Those are all low light plants that will give you a chance to get your feet wet.

 

[rachelb]

excellent! I was just logging on to find a place to post about plants! I was thinking of anubias barteri, anubias lanceolata, anacharis, &/or water hyssop bacopa monnieri... Also, you think I could start with a few plants get the fish in there and then add when I stabilize everything? Or will the fish dig up the unrooted plants?

 

[Mebbid]

I wouldn't worry about the fish digging up unrooted pants. It's not that big of a deal.