Contemplating my first aquarium • Mapping a plan

[TankU]

I'm enjoying helping my roommate with his aquarium, and am contemplating possibly acquiring a 29-gallon tank of my own.

Note: I've not made a decision yet, so this is purely exploratory. I want to be sure I can take proper care of my fish, and they I have enough $$ budgeted from the start to get everything I need.

My initial idea is:
• Create a list with my desired collection of fish, then select food, equipment and appliances best suited to supporting those fish. A selection of compatible fish will include a few showy fish (“features”), and a number of colorful schooling fish, plus some tiny snails or other janitors.

As long as the fish are healthy and colorful, I'm happy to keep the list simple. I don't plan to get too ambitious this early. I'd rather avoid aggressive fish like angels, at least to start with.

The rest of my planned purchases will be chosen to best support these fish.

• A list of hardware and appliances I'll need to purchase: Tank, stand, covers and lights, filter, heater, airstones, water draining and tank maintenance tools.

• I like to design, and want to be deliberate when creating an aquascape.

• I've decided against the 1" soil layer and 2" sand layer plan. But I want plants, and here I could use some ideas. What do you think of plants that come in tiny pots that can remain in those pots? Plus a layer of very small, smooth stone pebbles would be nice, but perhaps I need to add something to the pebbles?

Any ideas to help me keep things relatively simple, pleasant and enjoyable, would be welcome! I enjoy the maintenance and testing chores needed to keep fish healthy. I'm learning a lot by helping my roommate, and having him around when I start will be a big help.

I'd also like to ensure that the equipment I buy will be appropriate for a broad range of fish communities, so as my fish and tank evolve, I'll have equipment that I don't need to replace.

 

[TankU]

Here's a video on compatible combos I find interesting:

 

[GaryE]

I really respect your approach. It's methodical, and will pay off. I wasn't as impressed by the video's choices, but the idea of diminishing risks of conflict are important.
I think with your approach, you could look at biotopes. It's a fishkeeping style where you choose a place, and make a tank that reflects it. If, for example, you decided you liked his first idea, the amandae/Corydoras/honey gourami idea. You would look at which fish you liked best. If it was the amandae/ember tetras, then your eye would go to South America, and then focus on the Amazon region. The Asian honey gourami wouldn't fit, but a lot of tiny, peaceful and colourful tetras would. So would the entire Corydoras group.
You could look at youtube channels like Ivan Mikolji's, an aquarist who shows set ups of places he visits in Amazonia. And with a bit of the meticulous research I think you like, you could have Amazonia plants, a sandy bottom that Corys would like, tetras that occupy different niches in the tank. I would say "in the end you'd have" except every aquarium is a start and never an end.
With this sort of tank, you get to look at a slice of the Amazon. Or with different choices, west or central Africa, southeast Asia, Australia... the possibilities are there.
You can also mix regions, or do 'almost biotopes'. I keep West and Central African fish mainly (I have many tanks) but I love Asian Cryptocoryne plants, so in they go. I got a beautiful Amazon sword at a club auction, and it's thriving in a Central African fish mix.

The key thing is to put the needs of the fish first. For that, you take the time to learn their needs, and to decide exactly which fish you want to build around. As you look at fish, always look up their maximum adult size. If you are good at this, they will get there, and it's heartbreaking to do all this work and have bought a fish that outgrows the set up and lives in misery. Kindness is based on knowledge.