My Plan, Both Short Term And Long Term

[bomb1977]

a

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Your planned temperatureof 78F (25.5C) is not suitable for your planned initial stocking, they are temperate creatures and not tropical, keeping them in such warm water will shorten their live span (higher metabolic rate; eat more; more waste; more ammonia/nitrite/nitrate to deal with). The Zebra Danios get the worst deal in your plans, as they should be kept at <20C (68F) for most of the year, with a "summer season" more in line with your other fish plans around 72F. Personally, I would ditch the Zebras (as they are also hyperactive fish that do a lot better in 4-foot plus tanks) and choose another top dwelling fish that would be happy at 72F, such as a group of Bloodfin Tetra (Aphyocharax anisitsi). Alternatively, reseach other fish that would be happy at 18-20C for most of the year, changing your other planned fish eg. Peppered Corydoras; Rosy Barbs (lots of the barb family would work well).

Once your fish-in cycle is complete (during which time you need to be prepared for >75% water changes if ammonia or nitrite reach around the 0.25mg/l ballpark), rather than two 10% water changes per week, two 25% changes is more in line with the norm (especially for young growing fish, whose rate of growth is believed to slow when hormones/chemicals released into the water increase in concentration).

You might want to give your mixed sex group of mollies a severe warning of trouble if they decide to breed! If you do not want fry coming out of your ears (and you will with four females and two males), choose a same sex group.

You are going to need a lot of losses before you can safely add a Spotted African Leaf Fish to that initial stocking plan, they will not hestitate to eat those Ghost Shrimp, Zebra Danios, Otocinclus! Anything <7cm and torpedo-shaped will be on the live menu of an adult ~14cm Ctenopoma acutirostre. If you really want a "Bushfish" species (they are great, I have 3 C. acutirostre and 1 C. occelatum), look at the smaller Microctenopoma family, that reach ~8cm. These smaller bushfish are very safe community fish to anything but newborn fish/shrimp.

On a final note, I'm not bashing your stocking post for fun. Many forum members on here speak candidly about the welfare of fish, after all we are "playing god" with their lives. Good luck with whatever fish you choose.