15G Low-tech Planted tank - stocking / scaping ideas?

[Tank-o-Fish]

After about 1,5 years of many small changes in stocking, scaping and plants, this how my first and only tank is looking at the moment. I'm thinking about buying some more 'branchy' amazon driftwood somewhere along the line, and also add some more plants. What do you think? I'm in doubt between upgrading my current tank step by step or replacing all the plants / substrate / driftwood at once, any thoughts on that?

Then the stocking; currently this is swimming around:

- 6 Cardinal tetra's
- about 8 Rasbora Merah (I think?)
- 6 Corydoras Similis
- 3 Kuhli Loach
- 2 Cherry shrimps
- Common pleco (this was my rookie mistake, and I'll have to sell him in the coming months)

On the photo's you also see one Electric Blue Ram which I've unfortunately had to give away since I added the Corydoras recentely. The ram was always fine, but started chasing the cory's since the gravel is his territory (should have known...). This is also why the corydoras on the picture were pressed against the glass, they're running around right now.

Anyway, since my aquarium is almost stocked and the remaining stocking is a bit standard, I'm looking for something more special. I thought maybe a shrimp colony of 5 - 10 nice shrimp and a beautiful centerpiece (or couple?) with character. A bit like the ram (which went great until I added the corydoras). Any ideas?

Oh, and my pH is 7,8 and everything is filtered by a Eheim 2211.

 

[PassengerTN]

Gorgeous pictures! Great looking tank too. Are the photos taken with a DSLR?

 

[Tank-o-Fish]

Thank you! Yes, I took them with my Canon 600D and an vintage Nikon 50mm lens I found on my dad's old Nikon

 

[PassengerTN]

Very nice. I'll withhold any photography comments to keep the thread on track. Again, gorgeous. Tank and photos.

 

[Tigerbarb12]

A gold gourami would look really nice in ur beautiful tank

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[Tank-o-Fish]

Yes, that would look great! I think a pair of dwarf gouramis would look and fit even better, although appearently many dwarfs are very inbred and carry infectious diseases nowadays. I also think they have a bit less personality than rams, for example? But I guess you can't have it all, at least they definitely look good

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[Tigerbarb12]

A pair of dwarves would look good, but then they would have too much blue like ram and neons, so i think the gold gourami would kind of balance it out. Its your tank though, and either way, itll look good, just givin my two cents "sense"

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[Tigerbarb12]

Plus ur ram has a bit of gold so i think the gold gourami would compliment his bit of gold

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[Tigerbarb12]

But the rams alone, so u may want a pair, haha sorry for so many comments just targeting every aspect

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[Tank-o-Fish]

Thanks for thinking along! I don't have the ram anymore (that may not have been clear in my OP, sorry about that). So maybe the cardinals and dwarf gourami would still be much of the same, or maybe the color match would look good. One thing is for sure, I wouldn't be getting any more red shrimp then, haha.

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[ImACoolguy]

Very pretty tank. Personally I think it's pushing it with stocking though without the gourami. That's just me though.


Caleb

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