New Tank After 3 Months Without, 90L. Looking For Stocking Ideas!

[kiwifeather]

So after having to give up my last tank, a lovely planted low tech 55L 3 months ago due to moving, the folks have bought me a new one for xmas to go in my bedroom. Got a great deal on a Aqua One Aquastyle AR620 with cabinet, its being shipped now and I'll probably get it shortly after xmas. I know these aren't the most popular tanks but one of the flats I've lived in before had one (at least im 90% sure it was one, it was secondhand) with a female betta colony and it was brilliant (did do a little mucking around with the filter though). 
I'm now at the point of planning what I want to go in it. Honestly I have no clue! I really want to have a heavily planted, natural looking tank again, as this was what I had with my last one and I loved looking at it. I'm not keen on messing around with CO2 and such so I'm going low tech again. I never had a problem with any of my plants before anyway.
Obviously with the bigger size I have a larger pool of fish to choose from. I managed to get the list of fish and plants supplied to my LFS which is really helpful because now I can't look at a fish online only to find they don't have them. I'm in New Zealand and we don't have the massive variety of species some countries overseas do.
Once the tank is here I'll do the journal thing on progress.
 
So yeah, love to hear some stocking ideas, both plant and fish! I can then check it against the list and see if I can get it here.
EDIT: Forgot to add I'm not interested in Livebearers.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Hi, good to see another Kiwi around!
 
Because the tank is quite tall, you can't have as many fish as you could for a long tank of the same size.
Personally, what I would do is have a big scale nano tank.
You could stock it with a school of chili rasboras, pygmy corys and then a pair of peacock gobies or a single honey gourami as a centrepiece.
 
What is your pH?
 
Just curious, where abouts are you located in NZ? 

 

[kiwifeather]

Hi Blondielovesfish! Great to see another kiwi too! 
Thanks for the suggestion, although I checked the LFS's list and they don't get in chili rasboras or peacock gobies. Pygmy cories are on their list but I've never seen them with them before, and I recall asking about them once and one of the staff said they are fairly expensive to bring in. So only thing there would be the honey gourami. I do like the gourami's and was thinking about them as a centerpiece fish. All my previous tanks have always had betta's so would be interesting to try something new!
 
I don't know the pH here yet, haven't gotten around to checking it yet, but it shouldn't be too extreme either way as our water here in Blenheim is from an underground spring and not treated much at all. Definitely tastes better than city water lol! 

 

[kiwifeather]

Just got email conformation the tank is on the way! Hopefully will get here before Christmas as its only coming from the next town over, 1 and 1/2 hours away. Fingers crossed!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Yay!
 
You might be able to ask them to order them in for you, or look on trademe.
 
Otherwise, you could have a school of neon (or cardinal) tetra (7-9) and a school of panda corys (7-9) with the honey gourami

 

[kiwifeather]

They won't be able to order them in, that list is all they can get, although its subject to change, case and point panda corys aren't on this list I have but I have definitely seen them there before. I'll have to ask when I go in to buy all the bits and bobs I need before getting fish. Definitely not dealing with trademe again, had problems last two times I did that with fish and can't be bothered with it again.
Had neons before, always look nice and I like the cardinals as well so I'd be happy with either of them too. The LFS has a large variety of tetras on the list so let me know if any other species are suitable and I can have a look at them as well.
One of the staff mentioned rainbows to me, I don't know anything about them tbh, but I'll take a wild guess and say they are too big? (because this staff member also said I could have cichlids in there and I'm pretty sure its not suitable for them either!) They didn't have any in stock currently so I didn't see them.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

The most common rainbows would most likely need a bigger tank, as they're all active fish. For example, boosemani rainbows need at least a 4 foot tank.
 
It depends on the cichlids, if they're dwarf then they might be suitable, however it depends on your pH, as most are softwater fish.
 
There are many varieties of tetras suitable. The best thing would be for you to go into your LFS and see what fish you like, then come back here and see if they're suitable.
 
Don't forget to cycle your tank before you get your fish. 
Follow the link in my signature to find out how. 
You can use the cloudy ammonia from countdown, just make sure you don't shake it and let it stand for a few days before you use it. 
The other option would be to leave a dead shrimp from the supermarket in there for several weeks, replacing it as it rots. This isn't the nicest method, as mold often grows on the shrimp, but I successfully cycled my tank this way. 
For the cycling, you will need to get a test kit, I use the API freshwater master test kit. Its cheaper to buy it from trademe, as most LFS sell it for $70-$90, whereas I got mine for $50.

 

[kiwifeather]

Ah I figured as much, shame, I looked up the boosemani's and they are gorgeous! I wasn't really interested  in the cichlids anyway, so its not a problem
If the tank arrives tomorrow I'll be heading in anyway to buy heater substrate plants etc so I'll take a look at what they currently have and in the meantime go down the list and look at pictures. I do know I like rummynose, glowlights and black neons though, all of which I know they currently have. Going to look at some other centerpiece fish, I do like the honeys but want to look at all my options, feel free to suggest again, going to do some more looking on these too. What about a Bristlenose Plec on the bottom? Too big?
 
Don't worry I'm down on cycling, but I'm going heavily planted again (loved it on my old tank so much, can't do it any other way now haha) so I don't need to do the traditional cycling method anyway. Going to do this again, which worked perfectly last time: http/www.rexgrigg.com/cycle.htm

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay, thats great!
 
A bristlenose pleco would be suitable, though they are waste machines, which means you have to have lower stocking levels.
 
All of those tetras would be suitable, so they are some other options
 
Another small gourami is the dwarf gourami, the males come in a range of colours. The only thing to be aware of is that they can sometimes be aggressive and are often susceptible to dwarf gourami disease.
 
Pepper corys would be another suitable addition. 
What corys are on the list?
 
What substrate are you planning on having?

 

[kiwifeather]

I'll keep that in mind about the bristlenose plecs thanks, but good to know they are another choice for a bottom dweller. Great to know about the tetras, also like the look of the lemon and the Colombian, although the latter looks like it might be pushing the size limit a bit. I'll also keep the dwarf gourami in mind.
 
I briefly had peppers before (then I learned they were not suitable for my tank at all, back in the days of my first tank, 20L yikes), I liked them then and still like them, and these are readily available here.
Cories on the list are
Bronze
Albino
Peppered
Pygmy (as I said questionable availability and probably very pricey but I will check again, as well as check about the pandas)
Sterbai Albino
 
They have a few other catfish and loaches as well if you can think of any that would fit in this tank.
 
I'm thinking a fine gravel or sand if I can get it with larger river stones. If not smaller smooth stones and larger ones, which is what I had last time. Had a river bed thing going on.
 
Oh and thanks for all your help, you've been great. 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You're welcome
 
The peppered are probably the only cory on that list that is suitable.
 
If you do go with corys, they would be highly appreciative of sand as a substrate, as they can filter it through their gills
 
Kuhli loaches are another option, though they can be quite shy.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Could the rainbows they mentioned have been one of the smaller variety such as spotted blue eyes, delicate blue eyes, threadfin rainbows, etc?

 

[kiwifeather]

Ninjouzata, the only rainbows on their list are the Neon Dwarf, Blue Lacustris, Boesemans and New Guinea Red, so I am assuming they were talking about one of those.
 
Blondielovesfish, okay then, thats good to know. I've been wanting to try sand for ages but it seems hard to get sand for freshwater here so I'll have to see what I can do. Last time I was in there they had something close to sand, will have another look at it and ask them about any sand they can get in. My only worry with sand is I've heard its hard to keep clean?
Also, yes I've heard of Kuhli Loaches, and they are on the list too. I looked them up, super cute and love the pattern on them. Maybe because the tank will be down in my room and more quiet they will be less shy? 

 

[Ninjouzata]

Ninjouzata, the only rainbows on their list are the Neon Dwarf, Blue Lacustris, Boesemans and New Guinea Red, so I am assuming they were talking about one of those.

Ah okay, just wanted to check as the ones I mentioned are small and quite pretty. Shame :c
Whatever you end up stocking with, I hope you enjoy it!

 

[kiwifeather]

 

Ninjouzata, the only rainbows on their list are the Neon Dwarf, Blue Lacustris, Boesemans and New Guinea Red, so I am assuming they were talking about one of those.

Ah okay, just wanted to check as the ones I mentioned are small and quite pretty. Shame :c
Whatever you end up stocking with, I hope you enjoy it!

 

Yeah I looked them up, really pretty wee things, it is a shame.
Thanks, looking forward to getting started! Going to be posting progress here, I really want to get the look right and will love some thoughts. Once the tanks here I'm going to go looking for a nice bit of wood to fit. Do you know if willow wood is safe?
Just remembered quoting is a thing haha!