Advice on starting a new tank.

[Krisa]

Hi everyone I'm am looking for advice on fish compatibility and help with how many I can keep. Here's the list of fish I'm planning on keeping in a 160L/42G tank.
1x Cockatoo cichlid
1x Dwarf Blue Gourami
8x Ember Tetras
4x Serbai Cory
4x kuhli loach
1x bristlenose


How do you think these guys will do and will my tank be big enough?

 

[spiketooth]

Your tank is big enough, for the most part your fish should be fine, just I don't know much about cockatoo cichlids I heard they can be aggressive. For the loaches they like sand to bury them self. Good luck

 

[Krisa]

I've read cockatoos are aggressive towards one another but are pretty docile towards other fish. I'll be doing a lot of research before I actually buy anything just to be safe. Thanks for your help.

 

[spiketooth]

There are a few ways to cycle your tank as well, Fish-less, Fish-in and silent. research them a pick which one is best for you. i have always done a silent cycle as i don't like to look at a empty tank but also don't want to harm my fish, requires less water changes as a fish-in cycle but still need to watch your levels as if you didn't have any plants. just a thought

 

[Krisa]

I've read about fish-in and fish less cycling. What does silent cycling involve. I was leaning more towards fish less with the plants in.

 

[spiketooth]

When you have a good plant aquarium with a small stock, you would not really see any spikes in your levels as the plants acts as a buffer for the toxins.