Tough Amazon Fish

[Midnight Rose]

I'm setting up an amazon style biotope (well, a biotope with a teeny bit of artistic license!)

It's 500l and will have quite soft, acid water once it's finished settling down. I'm going to do water changes with RO water (the tank is filled with tap water atm) to soften it down, plus there is bog wood in there and a bit of peat in the filter.

I'm in the process of cycling it without fish, but which fish should I add first?

I haven't decided which fish yet but I know I definately want to have -

Hatchet fish shoal, probably silver but maybe marbled.
One or two kinds of tetra (haven't decided yet but probably black neons and black phantom tetras, but maybe red phantoms too), lots of individuals of each species for shoaling.
Cory shoal.
A starlight bristlenosed catfish (L183)

Anyway, which fish do you think I should add first? I want south american species that like the soft acid water. As far as I'm aware the tank should be ok once it's cycled, but I'd like to build up my fishy collection slowly anyway. It drags out the excitement longer!

ETA: I'm not new to fish keeping at all, but new to soft, acid water. I wasn't sure where to put this post but as I'm new to this bit of fish keeping I thought here might be best!

 

[Davo86]

Hatchet fish shoal, probably silver but maybe marbled.
One or two kinds of tetra (haven't decided yet but probably black neons and black phantom tetras, but maybe red phantoms too), lots of individuals of each species for shoaling.
Cory shoal.
A starlight bristlenosed catfish (L183)

From the list you have above i would definitely be adding the hatchets last, they can be quite temperamental and it would be a good idea to quarantine them for a week or so before you add them to the set up.

The black neons and phantoms should be fine to add once the tank is cycled, then the corys and the bristlenose