Help me stock a new easy going 5 foot tank

Definitly get some corys and ottos, they are great fish too have

 

My Langa / plant order is really not keen on getting to me

First a store screw up then a courier screw up... Poor plants have been all over gauteng when the shop is like 15km away and I wanted to pick them up on Saturday.

 

How annoying!

 

I had a similar goal when I set up my current aquarium, easy going, not too much maintenance, and if the plants could for the most part mind their own business that would be great, thanks.


I think this will be lovely. I hope your plants come in soon!

 

Hey man. I feel your pain entirely. I was called by the pet store to ask if they can resell my soil (that I've paid for) and they'll have new stock in next week. So I said yes add 20% to the price and give me my money with profit. They didn't call back to say it's sold

 

Time has arrived to start adding some fish

 

So after going back and forth too many times I've gone back to a really simple list of fish and shrimp:

9 x bronze cory
20 x neon tetra
20 x cherry barb
20 x spotted blue eye
1 x bristlenose
5 x oto

3 x nerite
20 x cherry shrimp (Will see what the budget says and maybe go for 24k or another colour as I already have a lot of red in the tank)
5 x Amano shrimp

I picked up some fish today as well and will take some pics later even though the crypts are falling apart, I've got algae and bacteria growth and the corys that were on special are not in great shape.

 

Crypts do that. Its called crypt melt. They will grow back

 

Sorry about the glare. The tank is in a room with a lot of glass so it a bit tough to take a picture.

I've also got a bit of work to do to get the tank looking good. Hopefully the 2 x Otos, bristlenose and 2 x nerites I currently have in the tank will start helping with the cleaning. I also figured out that one of the led tubes was facing backwards and that's why I have a lovely algae lawn on the back glass. Once I have the light timer setup I will also run it for a shorter period. Now I just need to be patient and wait for the plants to root properly and start growing nicely.

 

I've heard of it before but didn't expect it to be quite as bad.

 

Thanks, yes they are in Langa and I add a bit of seachem Flourish each week. I have some osmocote as well from a previous tank but I want to wait a bit before adding too much to the tank.

 

I think I need to plant something on the right to take care of some of the light shining into the open tank. What would be an easy going plant that I can put in a pot? Thinking something like a lilly but not sure if that is practical?

 

water lily works well, grows fast - worth a try

 

Where do you buy them? Tried searching a few pet shops but I guess it will have to be a garden centre but then I have to worry about pests.