Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
As for the questions;
a. yes you can use play sand apparently but it does need ALOT more cleaning than proper aquarium sand sold in lfs's, personally i'd go for proper aquarium sand as this is generally the safest although avoid marine/coral sand as these alter ph.
b. For your first selection of fish, im not sure about the shrimps as i haven't had any experience with them and never heard of black neon tetras but i'd aim for;
3 shrimp(although not certain)
4 panda corys
7 neon tetras
3 mickey moyse platys or guppys, make sure you have at least 1male per 2 females or go for a same gender group
This would leave you space for any fry the livebearers produce which is almost certain if you go for an all female group(female livebearers can store sperm in them so even if you don't have a resident male living with them they can still get pregnant) or mized gender group.
Use the platys/guppys to cycle the tank then add the panda corys once you are positive the water stats are good and stable as panda corys are the least hardiest corys out there- perhaps it may be better you go for a different type like albino, bronze or peppered corys as these are much hardier.
The same goes for the neons; neons are very fragile fish and need constant good water stats to survive so if you do go for the panda corys i would add the corys first and see if they do ok- if they are still alive and well 2weeks after been in the tank i would add the neons but i would still be very wary of them.
a. yes you can use play sand apparently but it does need ALOT more cleaning than proper aquarium sand sold in lfs's, personally i'd go for proper aquarium sand as this is generally the safest although avoid marine/coral sand as these alter ph.
b. For your first selection of fish, im not sure about the shrimps as i haven't had any experience with them and never heard of black neon tetras but i'd aim for;
3 shrimp(although not certain)
4 panda corys
7 neon tetras
3 mickey moyse platys or guppys, make sure you have at least 1male per 2 females or go for a same gender group
This would leave you space for any fry the livebearers produce which is almost certain if you go for an all female group(female livebearers can store sperm in them so even if you don't have a resident male living with them they can still get pregnant) or mized gender group.
Use the platys/guppys to cycle the tank then add the panda corys once you are positive the water stats are good and stable as panda corys are the least hardiest corys out there- perhaps it may be better you go for a different type like albino, bronze or peppered corys as these are much hardier.
The same goes for the neons; neons are very fragile fish and need constant good water stats to survive so if you do go for the panda corys i would add the corys first and see if they do ok- if they are still alive and well 2weeks after been in the tank i would add the neons but i would still be very wary of them.
OK, thanks alot Tokis-Phoenix! 
I will probably cycle with filter media from established tanks and some old gravel too, then after maybe a week, add 3 mickey mouse platys!
