Community tank

[ScubaChick0121]

What do u think I should do with this tank? I was thinking about adding some tall plants in the back to hide the filter and tubes.
This is a 20 gallon community tank
Current Stocking-
x1 Honey Gourami
x15 Neon Tetras
x5 Peppered cories
x2 ghost shrimp

Its been running well for around 5 months

I was thinking about adding-
the plants for the back
x4 hatchets (marbled or common)
and a japanese trapdoor snail

Do u see any problems? Any thoughts about what I should do with my aquascaping or stocking?? Thanks and Ill try to get some more pictures with close ups when my camera is done charging
Oh and just to show the changes I made, I added two pics, first one is when I first set it up (i was going to do cichlids) the second is right now

 

[Sab_Fan]

looks nice . . . what is your substrate? plain black sand . . . ?

 

[ScubaChick0121]

yes lol im using fake plants haha I can't keep aquatic plants alive tryed aquatic plants before in ponds, tanks, areated pots, and they just dont grow (or died) or something eats/kills them. $80+ later i gave up and bought plastic plants for 15 dollars (my lfs sells them cheap)Anyway its easier to take them out and clean them. Just trying to work on my aquascaping even though i use plastic plants.

 

[ScubaChick0121]

so do u think I should get some taller (plastic) plants for the back? Do u think I have to many rocks or does it look ok? And do u think adding hatchets to my stocking will look nice lol my gourami stays around the rocks only going to the top for air

 

[FLESHY]

The only thing that could be eating them from your current stocking list is the ghost shrimp...but they would go really slow, and would only eat the plant matter that was already dying. So I think that some of the conditions in your aquarium are probably not ideal for plants. Lighting and substrate would be my first two guesses.

 

[Planetnicolas]

yes lol im using fake plants haha I can't keep aquatic plants alive tryed aquatic plants before in ponds, tanks, areated pots, and they just dont grow (or died) or something eats/kills them. $80+ later i gave up and bought plastic plants for 15 dollars (my lfs sells them cheap)Anyway its easier to take them out and clean them. Just trying to work on my aquascaping even though i use plastic plants.

lol I dont do anything for my plants they just refuse to die one was entirely dead I cut off the leaves and put it under a rock and it came back and reproduced

 

[ScubaChick0121]

Lol I'm just unlucky with plants and fleshy I haven't done live plants in this tank lol in my past I have tried. Anyways my substrate is not ideal in this tank for plants I was just asking advice on if I should re arange things and If u thought wat i
adding would look ok. Planetnicolas ur so lucky lol u hav the green thumb

 

[pjsmetana]

If it wasnt for that big top canopy on your tank I'd recommend some long shoots of Lucky Bamboo. Would be just the nicest looking setup ever with that black sand. Since you have such nice sand, don't bother with any grasses. After about a year you'd pretty much negate the pretty sand.

Since you have a brown thumb (jokes aside), I would pull out those hideous fake plants and add some super-hard-to-kill Java Ferns. The black sand, black slate, and black everything would really make the darker greens of the Java Ferns POP! And since they grow in almost any condition that isn't salt water, you would be extremely hard pressed to kill them. Once you get the hang of the easiest (non-moss) plant ever, then you can move on to the next lesson.

 

[ScubaChick0121]

Ok i think ill try that, any thing special the "hard to kill" Java ferns, like will they survive in sand?

 

[pjsmetana]

Ok i think ill try that, any thing special the "hard to kill" Java ferns, like will they survive in sand?

lol yeah... I'd be willing to bet they would survive upside down attached to floating ping-pong balls. They survive Oscars tearing them up... which is pretty much worse than anything you can do to them yourself.