Opinions On A Stock Plan?

[KrystaK]

I'm planning on redoing my 30 gal tank sometime in mid Dec. I  wanted some opinions on my short list. 
 
A little background on my tank:
pH of 7.8 - 8.0 depending on what I use to test it. My master test kit puts it at 8.0 but I've used test strips that put it at 7.8 (I have bog wood, and am thinking of removing half of the cartridges from one of the two filters on the tank and replacing them with Peat to help buffer and hopefully lower the pH)
Temp is 76 currently, but obviously this is adjustable to suit the species of fish. 
Dimensions: 36 in L x 12 in Wide x 16 - 18 (I can't remember which) in H.  Approx 30 US gal (115 lt) 
Has two filters, a Fluval U2 (30 gal capacity) and a 20 gal over the back filter, so it's a little over filtered  
 
I've had the tank for about 2.5 years, with various stock, so it's fully cycled (And been accidentally re-cycled at least once  but those are sad stories for other days) 
 
Current stock:
5 female betta's
4 guppies (1m 3f)
5 Panda corys
2 BNP, 1 adult male, 1 juvie of unknown gender
1 pesky Zebra Danio that I can't catch to save my life. 
 
Anyways, I was planning to re-set up my 20 gal tank for my female Betta's and 1 of the BNP. (As well as some corys but I have that stock all planned out.) (The only question is where to put it!)
 
So for this 30 gal I was thinking:
1 Female Pearl Gourami
8 Neon Tetras (I've never had them, so I don't know what an appropriate number would be, but 8 sounds reasonable to me)
6 (Ish) Panda Corys
1 BNP
 
I was hoping to possibly get some Platy's to put in there as well, in my mind 4 or so wouldn't over stock the tank, but let's hear what my peers have to say. 
 
 

 

[Ruskull]

Sounds like a good plan but I'd probably nix the BN Pleco, they're not too good with Corydoras.  The BNP in my son's 55 gallon chases the Corries all over the tank especially at feeding time.  Panda Corries are nice but don't they require hotter temps?  Might want to try Threelined Corries.

Oh, and 4 Platys should be okay as well.

 

[JadeCrusader]

I'm new here, so I'm not an expert (by any means, LOL), but I just tried getting tetras and they were all dying off like crazy. I thought I had a disease running through but we determined that it must be because our water is so hard.  They like soft water, so keep that in mind so you don't have any mystery deaths like I did .

 

[Fishmanic]

my bullnose pleco gets along fine with my Swartzi corys.   The pretty much ignore each other.

 

[DerpPH]

I'm planning on redoing my 30 gal tank sometime in mid Dec. I  wanted some opinions on my short list. 
 
A little background on my tank:
pH of 7.8 - 8.0 depending on what I use to test it. My master test kit puts it at 8.0 but I've used test strips that put it at 7.8 (I have bog wood, and am thinking of removing half of the cartridges from one of the two filters on the tank and replacing them with Peat to help buffer and hopefully lower the pH)
Temp is 76 currently, but obviously this is adjustable to suit the species of fish. 
Dimensions: 36 in L x 12 in Wide x 16 - 18 (I can't remember which) in H.  Approx 30 US gal (115 lt) 
Has two filters, a Fluval U2 (30 gal capacity) and a 20 gal over the back filter, so it's a little over filtered

 
I've had the tank for about 2.5 years, with various stock, so it's fully cycled (And been accidentally re-cycled at least once

 but those are sad stories for other days) 
 
Current stock:
5 female betta's
4 guppies (1m 3f)
5 Panda corys
2 BNP, 1 adult male, 1 juvie of unknown gender
1 pesky Zebra Danio that I can't catch to save my life. 
 
Anyways, I was planning to re-set up my 20 gal tank for my female Betta's and 1 of the BNP. (As well as some corys but I have that stock all planned out.) (The only question is where to put it!)
 
So for this 30 gal I was thinking:
1 Female Pearl Gourami
8 Neon Tetras (I've never had them, so I don't know what an appropriate number would be, but 8 sounds reasonable to me)
6 (Ish) Panda Corys
1 BNP
 
I was hoping to possibly get some Platy's to put in there as well, in my mind 4 or so wouldn't over stock the tank, but let's hear what my peers have to say. 
 
 

 
30 gallons is a lot of room for more tetras
Panda cories do get along with BN plecs but sometimes they dont, not every fish is alike
pearl gourami could be replaced with another centerpiece fish like apistogramma but thats me

 

[Ch4rlie]

I'm new here, so I'm not an expert (by any means, LOL), but I just tried getting tetras and they were all dying off like crazy. I thought I had a disease running through but we determined that it must be because our water is so hard.  They like soft water, so keep that in mind so you don't have any mystery deaths like I did

.

 
Not sure which types of tetras you tried to keep here, tetras do best in an established tank and they do well in a wide range of water hardness anywhere between 18 - 215ppm however they are susceptible to Neon Tetra Disease (NTD) have heard this is sometimes caused  if you feed live food or new fish that carry the parasite thats causes NTD. 
 
Unfortunately there does not seem to be any known cure for NTD so prevention is best method.
 
So this is a possibility of what happened to your tetras.

 

[Seal36]

I was on the understanding that panda Cory's need a lower temperature between 19-25 Celsius and neons are great but they are not very hardy as I recently found out when I changed from gravel to sand. I'm not sure if it's the same with you pandas but my pandas do not like fast moving fish which makes neons quite a good choice for me and I swapped my five banded barbs for the neons and more pandas as the barbs were bottom of the tank too and move very quickly which scared my pandas. If it was me I would increase the neon group but leave a little bit of room in the tank in case you need to increase the panda Cory group from Tom

 

[DerpPH]

 

I'm new here, so I'm not an expert (by any means, LOL), but I just tried getting tetras and they were all dying off like crazy. I thought I had a disease running through but we determined that it must be because our water is so hard.  They like soft water, so keep that in mind so you don't have any mystery deaths like I did

.

 
Not sure which types of tetras you tried to keep here, tetras do best in an established tank and they do well in a wide range of water hardness anywhere between 18 - 215ppm however they are susceptible to Neon Tetra Disease (NTD) have heard this is sometimes caused  if you feed live food or new fish that carry the parasite thats causes NTD. 
 
Unfortunately there does not seem to be any known cure for NTD so prevention is best method.
 
So this is a possibility of what happened to your tetras.
 

 
Yup NTD is incurable.
 
Cardinals could be a better option since they are more colorful.
 
NTD is contracted when a fish eats a carcass of an infected fish

 

[Ruskull]

 

I'm planning on redoing my 30 gal tank sometime in mid Dec. I  wanted some opinions on my short list. 
 
A little background on my tank:
pH of 7.8 - 8.0 depending on what I use to test it. My master test kit puts it at 8.0 but I've used test strips that put it at 7.8 (I have bog wood, and am thinking of removing half of the cartridges from one of the two filters on the tank and replacing them with Peat to help buffer and hopefully lower the pH)
Temp is 76 currently, but obviously this is adjustable to suit the species of fish. 
Dimensions: 36 in L x 12 in Wide x 16 - 18 (I can't remember which) in H.  Approx 30 US gal (115 lt) 
Has two filters, a Fluval U2 (30 gal capacity) and a 20 gal over the back filter, so it's a little over filtered

 
I've had the tank for about 2.5 years, with various stock, so it's fully cycled (And been accidentally re-cycled at least once

 but those are sad stories for other days) 
 
Current stock:
5 female betta's
4 guppies (1m 3f)
5 Panda corys
2 BNP, 1 adult male, 1 juvie of unknown gender
1 pesky Zebra Danio that I can't catch to save my life. 
 
Anyways, I was planning to re-set up my 20 gal tank for my female Betta's and 1 of the BNP. (As well as some corys but I have that stock all planned out.) (The only question is where to put it!)
 
So for this 30 gal I was thinking:
1 Female Pearl Gourami
8 Neon Tetras (I've never had them, so I don't know what an appropriate number would be, but 8 sounds reasonable to me)
6 (Ish) Panda Corys
1 BNP
 
I was hoping to possibly get some Platy's to put in there as well, in my mind 4 or so wouldn't over stock the tank, but let's hear what my peers have to say. 
 
 

 
30 gallons is a lot of room for more tetras

Panda cories do get along with BN plecs but sometimes they dont, not every fish is alike
pearl gourami could be replaced with another centerpiece fish like apistogramma but thats me
 

Replace the Pearl Gourami?  Surely you jest............

 

[KrystaK]

Wow, thanks for all the responses! 
 
Ruskull: I've had my male BNP for over a year now (He's about 4.5 inches long and ugly as they come) lol and though he does bully them away from food, they otherwise get along, the corys have learned to keep away by now. and as soon as the BNP gets his mouth around a shrimp pellet or algae wafer he doesn't bother anyone.
 
Jadecrusader: According to the LFS that tested my water the Hardness in my tank is about 200, which is within normal limits (Finally something normal about my tank!)
 
DerppH: I was looking into Cardinal tetra's last night and though they are more colorful (And more expensive around here) I read that they were also less hardy. I had my tank water tested today and it turns out my Alkalinity is very high (Like 400; which is why all me efforts to lower the pH have failed) So that'll be my next project. 
 
I looked into apistogramma and they were very lovely fish, but as I recall they liked softer (More acidic) water. I had a GBR for a while who did alright, but it never thrived and always hid. I also had a Gourami, and it was much more active. (I know this may have just been the individual fish, but knowing the pH of my tank, I don't think I could subject any South American fish to my water chemistry )

 

[Ruskull]

...............and besides, Pearl Gourami > Apistos
 
LOL

 

[Seal36]

I have my apistos in a p.h of 7.4 and they are very happy in there and are trying to breed at the minute and I know of people that have been able to breed them in a ph of 8.2 and the water around me is very hard it's between 8 and 16d but closer to 8 from Tom