Need advice for a 30 gallon tank

[Adi_Indian]

I am setting up a 30 gallon freshwater tank. I have already planted some live plants in it. Does anyone have any experience with cichlids in a planted tank? If yes, which species are compatible with each other, and with plants.

If having cichlids in a planted tank is truly a bad idea, would someone suggest some interesting non-aggressive fish? I would ideally like to have a school of small fish along with an assortment of larger ones.

 

[agwats]

Most Africans will destroy a planted tank. You may want to look into SA species like rams.

Also blue or pearl gouramis are good sized fish for a 30 gal and will get along with many schooling fish. Just a thought

Also when planning a community think about where the fish will stay in the tank. You want a balance of top mid and bottom dwellers to round the tank out nicely.

 

[Adi_Indian]

30g freshwater

Thanks Tony. If I may solicit some more advice from you, a couple of questions:

1. What do you recommend for bottom, middle and top inhabitants? I would definitely like some tetras (or rasaboras) for schooling fish, and cory cats as bottom dwellers.

2. Which grass do you recommend for the foreground - something that grows relatively fast and needs minimal care.

 

[redsea]

Welcome to AA!

 

[absolutangel04]

Thanks Tony. If I may solicit some more advice from you, a couple of questions:

1. What do you recommend for bottom, middle and top inhabitants? I would definitely like some tetras (or rasaboras) for schooling fish, and cory cats as bottom dwellers.

2. Which grass do you recommend for the foreground - something that grows relatively fast and needs minimal care.

If you like cichlids, I would recommend a pair of either rams (Bolivian or German) or keyhole cichlids. Both are fun, peaceful, and pretty. I would recommend a dwarf gourami for the top and a school of any random small for the middle: pristella, serpae, bleeding heart, neon, cardinal, lemon, ember, emperor, rummy nose, and cochi blue to name a few.
Also, you could do a small school of corys onthe bottom and either a bristlenose pleco, clown pleco, or trio of otocinclus cats. Personally, I like to add in a nerite or apple snail also. All the fish I mentioned are safe with live plants.

 

[agwats]

Thanks Tony. If I may solicit some more advice from you, a couple of questions:

1. What do you recommend for bottom, middle and top inhabitants? I would definitely like some tetras (or rasaboras) for schooling fish, and cory cats as bottom dwellers.

2. Which grass do you recommend for the foreground - something that grows relatively fast and needs minimal care.

1. For the top I would go with smaller danios or hatchets. For the middle you could have 1 gourami (they tend to be aggressive toward there own kind) or a pair of rams, although the rams will hangout closer to the bottom and a school of small tetras. And for the bottom corys would be great and if you want an algae eater I would go with otos (although they can be fragile for the first few weeks) or a bn pleco. Clown plecos will eat a lot of plants. Remember to over filter especially if you get a pleco.

2. I would go with dwarf hairgrass or micro sword.

Do your research and feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

 

[Adi_Indian]

Thanks

Many thanks to absoltangel and agwats for all the wonderful advice.

I added a school of head and tail light tetras along with two dwarf gouramis in the tank 2 days back. I am planning on a couple of albino corys to accompany the sole survivor of an apocalypse that the tank had about a month back. Including bolivian rams and nerite snails seems a great idea. Would the snails need any additional feeding of lettuce or algae flakes, especially when the tank is clean?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!

Nerite snails could just eat leftover scraps but you could buy special pellets for them too.

 

[redsea]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[absolutangel04]

Many thanks to absoltangel and agwats for all the wonderful advice.

I added a school of head and tail light tetras along with two dwarf gouramis in the tank 2 days back. I am planning on a couple of albino corys to accompany the sole survivor of an apocalypse that the tank had about a month back. Including bolivian rams and nerite snails seems a great idea. Would the snails need any additional feeding of lettuce or algae flakes, especially when the tank is clean?

Personally, I drop in afew extra shrimp pellets or algae wafer so my shrimp get enough food. They do eat scraps too, but its still a good idea to toss them an algae wafer also.
I like head and taillight tetras. They look awesome!