Hey all, new member and beginner fishkeeper here!
So I just purchased my very first tank and wanted some suggestions. I consider myself fairly new to fishkeeping, and the only real experience I have is caring for my sister's male betta and two comet Goldfish. However, I have been doing a lot of research, and I understand the cycling process/nitrogen cycle pretty well. However, my substrate (CaribSea Instant Aquarium Freshwater Substrate in Tahitian Moon) is packed with live bacteria to "instantly" (as in a couple days) cycle my tank. Because of this, I haven't setup my tank yet, but I have everything I need.
My tank is a 20 gallon freshwater tropical tank with the dimensions of 24"L x 12"W x 20"H. The filter I'll be using is the Azoo Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter 7 (50 gallon).
I can't necessarily decide which stock I want to use for this tank. As it is my first, I want to have relatively easy to care for fish.
My first stock list was the one I originally planned on getting.
STOCK A:
2 honey gouramis
8 panda corycats
I was originally going to have 4 platies too, but I didn't want to become overrun with fry. Someone on another site recommended German Blue Ram Cichlids as a replacement, but I'm afraid they'd be too difficult to care for. Any suggestions for other fish for this stock list would be helpful. If I didn't choose the first stock, I would love to do a cichlid tank, maybe shell-dwellers. THe thing is, I LOVE the panda cories, and that's why I'm not sure what to pick. If there is a way to incorporate both cories and cichlids, I would be incredibly happy.
Any advice and suggestions on which I should pick would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
P.S. I have hard water (which leads to high pH), and I know that limits the types of fish I can stock my tank with. Honestly, I don't know what my exact water parameters are at the current moment. However, I will be getting back from my holiday family trip tomorrow afternoon, so I'll check then.
So I just purchased my very first tank and wanted some suggestions. I consider myself fairly new to fishkeeping, and the only real experience I have is caring for my sister's male betta and two comet Goldfish. However, I have been doing a lot of research, and I understand the cycling process/nitrogen cycle pretty well. However, my substrate (CaribSea Instant Aquarium Freshwater Substrate in Tahitian Moon) is packed with live bacteria to "instantly" (as in a couple days) cycle my tank. Because of this, I haven't setup my tank yet, but I have everything I need.
My tank is a 20 gallon freshwater tropical tank with the dimensions of 24"L x 12"W x 20"H. The filter I'll be using is the Azoo Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter 7 (50 gallon).
I can't necessarily decide which stock I want to use for this tank. As it is my first, I want to have relatively easy to care for fish.
My first stock list was the one I originally planned on getting.
STOCK A:
2 honey gouramis
8 panda corycats
I was originally going to have 4 platies too, but I didn't want to become overrun with fry. Someone on another site recommended German Blue Ram Cichlids as a replacement, but I'm afraid they'd be too difficult to care for. Any suggestions for other fish for this stock list would be helpful. If I didn't choose the first stock, I would love to do a cichlid tank, maybe shell-dwellers. THe thing is, I LOVE the panda cories, and that's why I'm not sure what to pick. If there is a way to incorporate both cories and cichlids, I would be incredibly happy.
Any advice and suggestions on which I should pick would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
P.S. I have hard water (which leads to high pH), and I know that limits the types of fish I can stock my tank with. Honestly, I don't know what my exact water parameters are at the current moment. However, I will be getting back from my holiday family trip tomorrow afternoon, so I'll check then.