ok more questions on setup

[Jess.in.WI]

You'd think after over 13 years I'd have all the answers, and well I have a pretty good idea, but second and third opinions are always helpful!

So here's where I'm at. The 38g is cleaned and refilled. I have a very fine gravel substrate and a very thin layer at that, it's all I had. I have several pieces of Penn Plax cliffs and caves and terraces. I also have lok rock caves. My ph is around 7.8 (by testing the other tank) and I do have a piece of driftwood, would it help at all to put this into the 38g? I've been researching oto's and some say that they really like to have driftwood, would adding the wood be beneficial to the otos?

I'm going to be adding larger gravel simply to hold the plants down. Is there any way that I can glue the gravel together onto the plants base (plastic plants) so that I can just place them into the tank and not have to worry about the plants floating in a few days? Or any ideas to weight the bases...

Stocking ideas at this point:
neons, about a dozen, or a mix of neons and glolights (just love both)
otos, probably 3
cory cats, probably 3, but I don't know if certain species are better than others, suggestions?
Still considering a pair of rams, but now that my water is so alkaline I'm not sure if I should do them or not...
I want something eel like that won't get too big for a 38g, and something peaceful. Would a senegal bichir end up too big or agressive? My Petco has them at about 3" long.

Any other suggestions are welcome! This is going to be my cute peaceful tank, cuz the big cichlids are in the 72g.

 

[Jess.in.WI]

I'm going to add Geophagus to the list of possible additions, and I'll go do some searches on them now. I saw some in a lfs a year ago and remember thinking how neat they were.

 

[is300zx]

Geo's would get too big for the 38 gallon. Bichirs would make lunch out of your neons or tetras. Driftwoods are good decorations. You can get some java ferns or java moss and tie them down to your driftwood. Any schooling species like cory cats and tetras need to be in a group of 6 or more. You might be able to put a peacock eel in there but I'm not sure if they'll be able to eat small fish like neons. Or maybe instead of eels you can try a group of kuhli loaches instead.

 

[Jeox]

You'd think after over 13 years I'd have all the answers, and well I have a pretty good idea, but second and third opinions are always helpful!

So here's where I'm at. The 38g is cleaned and refilled. I have a very fine gravel substrate and a very thin layer at that, it's all I had. I have several pieces of Penn Plax cliffs and caves and terraces. I also have lok rock caves. My ph is around 7.8 (by testing the other tank) and I do have a piece of driftwood, would it help at all to put this into the 38g? I've been researching oto's and some say that they really like to have driftwood, would adding the wood be beneficial to the otos?

I'm going to be adding larger gravel simply to hold the plants down. Is there any way that I can glue the gravel together onto the plants base (plastic plants) so that I can just place them into the tank and not have to worry about the plants floating in a few days? Or any ideas to weight the bases...

Stocking ideas at this point:
neons, about a dozen, or a mix of neons and glolights (just love both)
otos, probably 3
cory cats, probably 3, but I don't know if certain species are better than others, suggestions?
Still considering a pair of rams, but now that my water is so alkaline I'm not sure if I should do them or not...
I want something eel like that won't get too big for a 38g, and something peaceful. Would a senegal bichir end up too big or agressive? My Petco has them at about 3" long.

Any other suggestions are welcome! This is going to be my cute peaceful tank, cuz the big cichlids are in the 72g.

Sngals would eventually eat everything....Try kuhli loachs. =)

 

[Jess.in.WI]

thanks for the info! yep I did a search and ruled out the geo's... ah well, they have a similar body shape to my firemouth and he's awesome!
Kuhli loach, I'll look em' up... anyone want to post some piccies???

 

[RadleyMiller]

You could get a Dojo Loach as well, they are pretty cool and don't get too big or agressive.

 

[Jess.in.WI]

I'm thinking of taking the parrot out of the 72g and putting her into the 38g. She was in the 20g with fish half her size and was perfectly civil with them... the firemouth chases her around in the 72g and I don't want her stressed like that anymore. The severum will actually come in and break it up, it's so funny! I'll just keep a close eye and if I see her picking on the neons and others then back into the 72g she'll have to go!