17 US gallon stocking and plants

[leoric]

Hi everybody. This is my first post and I am new to the aquarium hobby. I only got the tank so far so wanted to confirm a few things before continuing. The tank is a 17 gallon with dimensions (24L x 13W x 13H) inches.
stocking:
1 x betta splendens
7 x harlequin rasboras
6 x pygmy cory
Would this be regarded as overstocking?

also i wanted to get these plants(java moss,amazon frogbit,anacharis) and wanted to know what type of fluorescent lighting to get for it.
I have not done cycling yet but will do it before stocking and i will use seachem prime as a conditioner due to hearing good about it. Also will get an aquaclear 20 hob due to the same reason mentioned above.

if there is any info that i have missed please let me know and i will reply asap, also if i am in the wrong thread please redirect me.

 

[rlederer]

I'd look into LED lighting instead of flourescent. LED is more expensive initially but is more energy efficient and has a longer bulb life. Plus more attractive, I think.

 

[leoric]

Thanks a lot for you help. I will definitely look into LED lighting for the plants

 

[lewis.r]

I think you are up to max stocking with that list, provided your filtration is 4/5 times rated GPH for your tank.
You maybe could squeeze a couple of shrimp but I think with that stocking it more living space that is going to be the concern.

You want to get lighting that hits around 6500k for a planted tank, and I agree with above that led looks better and it does last longer.
With fluorescent lighting it will need to be replaced every 12 months.
However if you are planning on keeping a low tech tank, you don't want your lighting to be too much!! Otherwise you will get algae

 

[leoric]

I think you are up to max stocking with that list, provided your filtration is 4/5 times rated GPH for your tank.
You maybe could squeeze a couple of shrimp but I think with that stocking it more living space that is going to be the concern.

You want to get lighting that hits around 6500k for a planted tank, and I agree with above that led looks better and it does last longer.
With fluorescent lighting it will need to be replaced every 12 months.
However if you are planning on keeping a low tech tank, you don't want your lighting to be too much!! Otherwise you will get algae

Do you think it would be a better idea to maybe stock it with more of just one species like 10 rasboras instead of adding the corys in as well? I have got leds from my lfs with java moss and anacharis. My tanks is currently cycling so still open to whatever stocking ideas there are. Thank you for your reply.

 

[lewis.r]

Thinking about mine, as it's slightly bigger than yours I would have just the rasboras and you could get quite a school in a 17 gal! They stay quite small in their adult size so would give the tank a good sense of scale.

So get those and heavily plant! Think it would look great! Personally I think that a massive school of 1 kind of fish look better than mixes (like I have). However I plan to replace all my fish now as they die and get up to maybe around 12 white cloud minnows and just shrimp for the clean up crew. Don't know how long it will take for my other fish to die though! Had my platys for almost 2 years now!!