I'm slowly building a 75 gallon heavily planted freshwater tank. I have a 75 gallon all glass aquarium with a custom built 20 gallon sump underneath (with a 6.5 gallon refugium). I just finished cycling the tank without any inhabitants, and over the past few weeks have been making small additions. I have 3 angel fish and a bristlenose pleco as of right now. I also have 5 amano shrimp to help keep the algae under control. I just received my 48" 3-bulb T5HO fixture but I'm only running one bulb now as I don't have the CO2 setup yet, and I only have an amazon sword and a couple small anacharis in there anyway. In the (hopefully) not-too-distant future I plan on running CO2 injection and regularly dosing via the EI method. Alright, now on to the questions.
I want to focus mostly on plants in this tank. I've had MANY smaller fishtanks in the past, but never anything larger than 29 gallons. I eventually want to have almost full cover of the substrate with a wide variety of plants, including some shorter grass like plants. Since I've never had such a planted tank I'm a bit confused as to the proper inhabitants.
I'm planning on keeping apistogrammas, some rams, the 3 angels I already have, and maybe one more bristlenose pleco. I also want to have a thriving, self-sustaining population of shrimp running around in there. I know the amano shrimp won't be able to successfully breed in freshwater so I'm looking for some suggestions for something more suited to what I'm looking for. I'd also like to have a couple novelty larger shrimp in there if they would leave the dwarf shrimps alone.
I'm also looking for a gentle community maintenance fish that won't harm my plants. I was looking at some loaches, as I know they would help keep the inevitable snail population down. Any other suggestions?
As for stocking my refugium, I'd like to put something in there that I wouldn't really be able to have in the display tank. I also want something with some functionality though. I was thinking maybe a blue crayfish or some other detritivore? The refugium isn't HUGE and I don't want to stuff a fish in there that won't be comfortable.
Sorry for the long post but I appreciate all the answers, these forums have helped me tremendously in the past.
Thanks,
Ryan
I want to focus mostly on plants in this tank. I've had MANY smaller fishtanks in the past, but never anything larger than 29 gallons. I eventually want to have almost full cover of the substrate with a wide variety of plants, including some shorter grass like plants. Since I've never had such a planted tank I'm a bit confused as to the proper inhabitants.
I'm planning on keeping apistogrammas, some rams, the 3 angels I already have, and maybe one more bristlenose pleco. I also want to have a thriving, self-sustaining population of shrimp running around in there. I know the amano shrimp won't be able to successfully breed in freshwater so I'm looking for some suggestions for something more suited to what I'm looking for. I'd also like to have a couple novelty larger shrimp in there if they would leave the dwarf shrimps alone.
I'm also looking for a gentle community maintenance fish that won't harm my plants. I was looking at some loaches, as I know they would help keep the inevitable snail population down. Any other suggestions?
As for stocking my refugium, I'd like to put something in there that I wouldn't really be able to have in the display tank. I also want something with some functionality though. I was thinking maybe a blue crayfish or some other detritivore? The refugium isn't HUGE and I don't want to stuff a fish in there that won't be comfortable.
Sorry for the long post but I appreciate all the answers, these forums have helped me tremendously in the past.
Thanks,
Ryan
