Not Sure What To Put In This Tank

[attibones]

As many of you know, I've got a 38 gallon (that's before substrate and stuff) tank I'll be setting up soon. This is going to house my current pair of peacock gudgeons (never mated), and, I hope, a few more. I'm going to have this tank planted, of course. I'm hoping to have it densely done but we shall see how the plant ordering goes.

Water info:
PH is somewhere around 7.4-7.6
I'm going to keep the temp around 78 for the gudgeons
I'm not sure of my hardness, my water supplier's website is horrible, but I don't see any hard water stains or lime scale.

Tank info:
I'll be running a Tetra EX75, as well as an Aqueon 40 (I think it's the 40).
200 watt heater
If this isn't enough water movement I will add an airstone

I'd like to get fish from Papua New Guinea, meaning rainbows, but I'm not sure which species would be appropriate in this tank (36x12?x18 inches). My original plan was to temporarily have a few angels in it until I move to Colorado but because my grandmother has brain cancer, I'm not going anywhere for a while.

If there are not any rainbows suited to the gudgeons and the tank, I'm happy to look at other options. I like angelfish and some gourami species. I love rasboras. I love corydoras and small plecos. I REALLY love albino fish. Throw some ideas at me. I've got time to brainstorm while I get the tank set up.
By the way, this tank will be right next to my bed so my boyfriend and I can see it up really close. I do most of my schoolwork and video games from my bed because my desk has too much stuff on it. And I just read over the above, wording is a little funky. I do not wish to keep angels in this tank anymore, but that is a species I love because of the shape and the colors and the behavior. I wish there were dwarf angels.

 

[Mamashack]

So sorry to hear about your grandmother, atti!
Not familiar with the fish you are enquiring about but I'm sure there are others who will be able to advise.

 

[attibones]

Thanks, Mama. It's been a rough month (we just got the diagnosis a few weeks ago), but I'm hoping having a new project will make things a bit easier. I may even set up a ten gallon for her in her house in January and just come over to take care of it so she doesn't have to. She likes watching the fish.

Honestly, the fish do a lot of good for me too. They relieve a lot of stress.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I feel like a shoal of dwarf blue yed would be really pretty. Male and female so you can see breeding colors.
 
Im sorry out your grandmother, hope she pulls through <3

 

[attibones]

Dwarf blue yed? Blue eyes? What are you trying to say, Ellie? Lol

 

[Ninjouzata]

I don't think they're from Papau New Guinea but Spotted & Delicate Blue-Eyes (Pseudomugil Gertrudae & Tenellus) are really lovely.
I have the spotted ones and they get along fine with my peacock gudgeons
 
Really sorry to hear about your grandmother, hope she pulls through. 

 

[attibones]

I really like those suggestions, Ninj. They look a little pricey on aquabid. I'm going to talk to my LFS and see what their price would be if they could get them.

I like threadfins too, but it seems like I really like expensive fish.

Apart from rainbows, what fish would work well? I'd like to move my BN plecos to the bigger tank possibly because I've got two which seem like they haven't grown much. I'm interested in unique fish. Like a weird gourami or something.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I can't remember how much they cost at my LFS since it's been so long. :c Hmm..sparkling gourami maybe? I havn't looked into them much though.

 

[attibones]

There are just so many pretty fish to choose from. I don't know how I'll decide. Hmm. Blue-eyes (as well as all other rainbowfish) need schools right? If I get one of the smaller varieties (I don't really like the dwarf neons though), I'm looking at, what, eight or ten? How many do you think, ninj? I've never had these before (obviously).

There has to be an upper leel fish from Papua New Guinea though, right? If I can, I want to keep all the fish from the same region, but I'll stretch out to a bit of Australia too (though it seems many of the blue-eye species are from the area I'm looking for). I just think tanks look so much more impressive if all the fish are from the same area.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I would do at least 6, yeah. I have 9. They can be rather shy..they seemed to get a lot better when I added another type of schooling fish, neon tetras.
I wish I could be of more help. I do think it'll look great if you can get all fish from the same region, but it can look great without doing that too.

 Either way I can't wait to see when it's done!

 

[attibones]

I'll probably shoot for around ten, depending on the price. Shy fish often appreciate a dither species. SF suggests not adding this fish to a new set up. I plan on starting up with a dirted tank, adding the current gudgeons, the plecos, and temporarily one of my male guppies until I decide to do with those two little guys (they've been extra nippy lately). I suppose this gives me time to find the spotted blue-eyes at a good price, as I have just now decided that they would be a great addition. Perhaps I'll also add the small schooling fish at the same time. I'm over-filtering this tank, which is not the usual way of things with the Walstad method, but I am hoping to get this tank started and thriving as quickly as I can. 
 
Now, which dither fish should I get? This might be where I look to fulfill my love affair with rasboras, even though the locality isn't what I'm looking for. 

 

[attibones]

Okay, I really actually want emperor tetras. 
 
And I just finally figured out (approximately) my water hardness. It's something like 119 ppm, suitable for the spotted blue-eyes, gudgeons, and emperors! 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I wonder if they mean a new set up as in uncycled or just not mature? I added these after the tank was cycled and had no issues, but they were in my 55g first for a while.
 
Oooh I am going to be so jealous if you do get the emperor tetras. Those are what I wanted to add with mine! They were 10$ each at my LFS though so..we opted for the cheaper neon tetras

 

[attibones]

An immature tank is usually one less than six months old. However, I'm sure that with a proper water change schedule and plenty of monitoring, they should be okay. I'll just add these guys last.

I'm also fond of black neon tetras. They seem to get much larger than the standard neon though. If I can't get emperor tetras I will get these.
Hey, ninj, do you feed your rainbows live foods?

 

[Ninjouzata]

Yeah the tank was not 6 months old when I added them, but maybe I was lucky.
No, I don't feed live food to any of my fish. Just frozen and dry. They like blood worms, brine shrimp, and new life spectrum small fish formula