I have been out of the hobby for a number of years, but my wonderful wife gave me a tank for Christmas, so I am back in the hobby. The tank is being set up right now, and I am waiting for plants to come in. My plan is to have all equipment and plants in place before adding fish, and this way I can have time to determine what the inhabitants should be. Here is the tank information:
36 gallon bow front tank, Dimensions are roughly 31"W by 22"H and 15"to 18" D
24 inch Fluval Plant 3.0 lighting fixture
Magneflow C220 canister
Hygger Titanium heater
FZone Pro
CO2 system, plan on using a timer and drop check Fibst
CO2 diffuser
Substrate is 2 inches of Caribsea Eco Complete
Have several pieces of Dragonlace rock along the length of the tank
Plants are ordered and should be here this week. This is a test run of doing plants online as our local stores have very poor stock. Never ordered plants online so not sure of the size of plants and how much room they will require. If needed I will do a second order.
6 bunches Amazon Swords
6 bunches Alternanthera Reineckii
3 bunches Bacopa Salzmannii
6 bunches Dwarf Baby Tears
Planned Fish
Rummy nosed tetra: considering 6 to 10 of them
Dwarf Cockatoo Cichlid one pair male and female
The final fish I was considering was Neon Blue Gourami. What I cannot figure out is the proper amount. Some sites say you want them in a community of four. Other sites say having more than one male in a tank results in aggression. The question is if this tank is big enough and with enough vegetation to house two males or not.
I would like to think I have picked out three types of fish that occupy different levels of the tank, the gourami at the upper level, the rummy nose school in the middle, and the Cockatoo in the lower portion.
I would appreciate your thoughts, observations, and recommendations on this proposed tank load!
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