75 Gallon community planted stocking

[memorysan]

I've had a few aquariums in the past, several freshwater and even tried saltwater once.

Anyway, I wanted to get your opinion on this stocking idea for a 75 gallon community tank. I plan to go with a planted tank (first time doing this):

Dwarf Chain Loach X5
Bristlenose Pleco X2
Siamese Algae Eater X1
Ember Tetra X10
Pearl Gourami X4
Honey Gourami X3
Rainbow Gourami X3
Blue Gourami X3

I'm trying to get some cleaning crew that would also be cool fish (I don't like snails and feel like shrimp might turn into expensive snacks for other fish), some small schooling fish, some medium colorful fish, and a few colorful centerpiece fish. When looking for the colorful fish of medium to larger size (that would be peaceful enough to be kept with Tetras) I decided that a Gourami tank might be cool.

I'm planning on using a Fluval 407 canister for filtration, CO2, UVC, Fluval Plant 3.0 LED lighting, a wall of air bubbles along the back wall, YukiHalu heater, etc. The plan is to have all hardware be rated for a tank slightly larger than 75 gallons.

It's not setup at all yet, probably won't be for a few months, actually, because I'm waiting until after I move. I'm in the preplanning and dreaming stage now.

 

[Andy Sager]

I'll start with you don't need the Siamese algae eater with the plecos when you get algae eating pleco species like the bristlenose or rupperlip types. There are too many gouramis in your mix. Many of the dwarfs ( Rainbow and Honey) have been infected with a virus ( a.k.a. Dwarf Gourami disease) to which there is still no cure for so if they come down with the symptoms, the fish needs to be euthanized and it can then spread to all your gouramis as well as other fish species so I would not keep any dwarf species. Blues and Pearls can go together in a tank that size but you will want to have 1 male of each and the rest females to prevent any fighting amongst themselves. The rest of the fish are fine as long as your water parameters meet their needs.

Regarding your equipment, that wall of bubbles is counter intuitive when using CO2. The bubbles will cause an exchange of gases which will remove the CO2 so you would need to set the bubbler up to be one when the CO2 is off and vice versa. Just an FYI, not all plants need CO2. Check out your desired plants to see if CO2 is even necessary and they all prefer the same lighting spectrums.

Depending on your water's parameters, look into Rasboras to mix with your Gouramis and Embers. Keep the Gouramis as your centerpiece fish because they will get large and the Pearls will get really colorful.

Hope this helps.