Lt.'s 20 gal High

[Lt.]

So, this weekend my family is moving houses, and my current 45 gallon is going to a different room. Therefor allowing me to talk my way into another tank for in my room, a 20 high. I plan on making this my first go at live plants. I'm going low tech low light, liquid ferts maybe, medium planted. I'm going to be researching plants later, as I've not looked into plants much before. I'm planning on using PFS as substrate. If you guys wouldn't mind, could you give me your suggestions on low light plants, in 3 categories:

Backround, taller plants, leafy
Middle, grassier looking, and other kinds that are leafy
Foreground, maybe a carpet plant, but more likely something else.

Potential stock:
Option one, single Betta, Pygmy Cories, Rcs
Option two, neon tetra, pygmy cories, RCS, one other thing I haven't thought of yet
Option three, some else I haven't thought of yet you readers will.

Thank you for reading my brain emptying rant.

 

[brennae]

How lucky you are to have an aquarium outside of your bedroom! I'm staying with my parents currently and I have to have all tanks in my room!

Midground lowlight plants- crypts (wendtii bronze for color), java fern (wendelov for cool leaves), anubias of various sorts, there is even a golden anubias out there.

 

[azmodan]

Do you know what your lights will be exactly?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Lucky your getting another tank

Background: water wisteria, amazon sword, anacharis
Middle: java fern, Anubias nana
Front, I'm not sure if carpet plants that are low light plants, but if you go for a high light, dwarf hair grass, baby tears
I would go for a 20 long, more space for plants, and better stocking options
Stocking for 20 high:betta, pigmy Cory's, Otos
Stocking for 20 long: dwarf gourami, neon tetras, and either kuhli loaches, normal Cory's, or a ram
That's what I would do

 

[Lt.]

I'll check the details on my light later, I'm at work right now. And I already have the 20H, my dad's had it for like 10 years. And now that me and my dad are both college students (long story for another time) we have a big office we call the Cave, or The Nerd Room, and the big 45 gal. tank will have its own dedicated wall. So I get the old 20 in my bedroom too. So, yeah, stuck with a 20.

And I'm leaning toward a Betta pygmies, snails, otos, and shrimp.

 

[azmodan]

Carpeting plants will unfortunately not do well in low light tanks, although there are some grassy-type plants that will give a similar look. Dwarf sag is my favorite of those, but I'd say you'd want at least near medium light for that in a 20h. I have crypt parva in my low light 20h and enjoy it very much as a small foreground plant. It is very slow growing and won't carpet but it will steadily grow while staying fairly short.

Also, one of my favorite larger grassy-looking plants is Java fern "Phillipine" -- it looks pretty incredible in large clumps.

 

[Lt.]

I think I'm settling on 10 neons, a male Betta, 6ish pygmy cories, and 4 otos. Is that ok? Or could I add two more to my shoals of otos and cories? And how should I introduce my fish? Like, Betta last? Right. And would it help to add a clay pot or 2 for hiding spots for some shrimp? I'd start with ghost shrimp to see how they fair, and add CRS and/or RCS later on.

 

[Lt.]

My previous questions still stand, also, is like to ask if its ok to use Flourish Excel with Bettas? I'm going as low-tech as I can on this.

 

[azmodan]

My previous questions still stand, also, is like to ask if its ok to use Flourish Excel with Bettas? I'm going as low-tech as I can on this.

Excel is fine, just follow the directions on the bottle. I would add the betta last but just keep an eye on it. He may or may not work out, just depends on his personality. I would definitely not do CRS with a betta in there, maybe just stick to RCS to begin with. It'd be worth waiting till the plants grown in some before adding the shrimp. In terms of giving the shrimp extra places to hide I'd recommending using cholla wood pieces and some sort of moss. For the otos I'd just wait until your tank is pretty mature (several months) before worrying about them.

 

[Lt.]

Ok, and here's the specs off my light.