Stocking 60 Gallon Planted

[shrimply]

So I'm trying to get my tank planted, its 4ft by 18 by 18. And so far despite ploughing money into it my plants seem to be mostly living but not growing, its only been planted for a week though so hopefully that will pick up.

Currently it's stocked with the following

1 Harlequin
1 WCMM
1 Black Widow

They are all loners from my other tank and although they should be in shoals they do fine, and seem to love the tank, the WCMM especially is in his element, I've never seen him look so consistently brightly coloured. I understand that he probably loves the fast flow and plants but was concerned that he might struggle in the CO2 levels, but it appears not.

However, these guys will eventually be getting moved out again and are just in to keep the filter ticking over.

So stocking wise I was thinking

6 Congo Tetras ( I have two in my 30 gallon and would like to get them into a bigger tank with some mates, my only concern is that I'll never get Congo's as big as my pair and there may be some dominance issues)
6 Cardinal Tetras
2 Bristlenose plecs
20 Cherry Shrimp


Also I'd like to add 3 Celebes Rainbows and previously I'd been under the impression that they'd be fine, I had three for over a year in a freshwater aquarium, I've been reading up a bit though and they are apparently Brackish??? Anyone got any thoughts on this.

And I also have a lone male krib who I was going to pair up in that tank but having second thoughts as he seems to have developed a taste for plants, I can't work out if he's eating them or tearing them apart for fun but the Hygro and Cabomba is ruined and I caught him at them the other day. Its funny its never been an issue up till know.

So yeah anyone got any thoughts on the stocking, Any issues. I don't want the tank to be overly full but I would like a good mix of colour and activity from the fish.

The only limitation is from my dad, we used to have Mawali Cichlids, and it is not a relaxing tank apparently if the fish continually chase each other around.

edit - completely forgot to mention that it is filtered by an Ehiem 2217 and a Fluval 4+ along with lots of plants.

 

[shrimply]

No thoughts

Seriously have I done something wrong to lead to this just about disappearing onto the next page without a single response?

 

[Curiosity101]

I think the plants probably aren't growing particularly quickly because nutrients are in short supply. Sounds like you're adding CO2 to the tank? Well if you are and your lighting is good then chances are your fish aren't creating anywhere near enough waste to keep the plants growing.

As for stocking, so far it sounds fine.
Don't see any problem in adding 4 more congo tetra to your existing 4. Shouldn't be any dominance issues really...
I would add in the order of...
2 Existing congos now (alongside current stock)
Then buy 4 new congos from the lfs in a few days (after testing that ammonia is staying down)
Swap out the WCMM, Harlequin and Black Widow tetra at the same time.
Leave the 6 and your filter to settle.
Then add bristlenoses (probably seperately to avoid ammonia spike)
Then Cardinals (could probably get away with adding full group)
Then Shrimp

I didn't think Celebs Rainbows were brackish...I thought it was more that they COULD tolerate a bit of salt. But mainly its more that they just need reasonably hard water.

Have you had a think about what sorts of centerpiece fish you want?

 

[shrimply]

All fertilisers, CO2 and Lighting are in order. So hopefully plants will take of soon. I'm dosing a home made all-in-one solution daily. I have a journal in the planted tank section if you want to have a look but its kinda slow reading at the minute.

My plan was to add the cherry shrimp initially, I know they are delicate but hopefully providing I get the plants growing conditions should be perfect for them, I wanted to get them established before any number of predators were introduced. But I don't intend on putting anything else in for a couple more weeks until the plants have established themselves.

Centrepiece fish wise I'm not sure, don't even if I want any. I'm awkward there, not a great fan of gouramis and find angles too fancy. But if anyone has suggestions then I'd listen.

 

[Curiosity101]

Blue Acara - Normally peaceful unless in a mated pair. When they're breeding they can be agressive to eachother and tankmates. So I would recommend keeping in singles

Keyhole Cichlid - Normally peaceful even when kept as a breeding pair

Firemouth - Hit and miss, but keep one as a single (Ie. no mate) and they should be fine

Severum - I think you could keep a single Severum in that tank and it should be fine with the other tankmates suggested