Well, now that my tank is all cycled and fish are settled happily, I'm starting to plan for the rest of my plants and stock (getting really excited, haha). Especially after my visit to my first-ever LFS (what? you mean there isn't always dead fish in the tanks?). I'll never buy fish from the chain stores around here again.
Anyway, looking for some input on what I'm planning out. Tank specs again:
20 gallon long, Aqueon QuietFlow 30 filter (with some added media for more biofilter), 50 watt heater. 17 watt all-spectrum light, on 12 hours per day. Dosing Flourish Comprehensive every 5 days.
Temp: 79 degrees Fahrenheit.
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
ph: 8.2
Current Plants:
java fern, Microsorum pteropus
water wisteria, Hygrophila difformis
Current Fish:
2 red wag platies, Xiphophorus maculatus
1 bristlenose pleco, Ancistrus cirrhosus
Need to take a current tank shot, but it still looks mostly like this except there is a rock and some driftwood to the left of center.
I have one more piece of driftwood that I think I'm going to add towards the center, it's mostly flat so I think I'm kind of going to stand it up to make it a tallish point of interest. I need a focal plant, and some more for the foreground. Also I think I don't have quite enough substrate. It's about two inches thick.
Bearing in mind this is pretty much a low/medium light tank (I can't find any higher output bulbs to fit my fixture, and replacing it is kind of out of the question at the moment), here are my ideas.
1 red flame sword for the focus plant
Cryptocoryne Parva to fill up some of the middle areas
Petite Nana Anubias for the front middle
Still need something for along the back, I think. I thought about dwarf hairgrass for the foreground but it sounded a bit hard to grow.
Proposed additional fish:
6 longfin serpae tetras
1 German Blue ram (focus fish)
Not sure about the ram. They sound kind of fussy.
And just because I was fascinated (and a bit concerned), here's a
video of my baby bristlenose chasing the platies away from his algae wafer. I'm worried now that I may not be feeding my platies enough.