Intro And My Fishy Project - Cora

The main criterion for gravel is that it is smooth if you have loaches or cories which spend time rootling round the substrate looking for food.

Some black substrates are dyed and can look a bit tacky; sort of waxy. Have a good hunt round all your local shops.

Perhaps something not black just dark then. I have to cover the compost with something, after all. But I take your feedback on board; the last thing I want is tacky or artificial. I want the aquarium to feel very natural; no castles or gimmicks etc. Not to criticise anyone who does! It depends on the look you want. I want observers to look at my tank and feel as if they're peering underwater in a stream or riverbed.

Pearl Gourami, Rams and Cardinals all like their temps at 24°C min, while Golden Barbs are 24°C max.

However; having said that then I don't run a heater at all in my tank and it varies between 18° and 22º. My 5-band Barbs, Cherry Barbs and Lemon Tetras seem perfectly happy.

Interesting article on tank temps here.

....and once you've seen Panda Cories then you're bound to want them, and they like sand sifting, too.

Go for bolivian rams. The other type, rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi in all it's colour varieties) needs warmer water than golden barbs and cherry barbs would like.

Will do. They are prettier anyway! :p

If you want these fish, or even apistogrammas, get either gravel that is too big to fit in their mouths, or sand.

For some reason I picked up a negative opinion on sand. How would sand do on top of the compost substrate?

My observation is that plants do much better in gravel than sand, even with soil underneath.

There are a lot of accounts on here of people finding Pygmy cories to be rather delicate and tending to die for no apparent reason. I'd have something bigger, Pandas are certainly engaging creatures.

Ok - Pandas it is

Although I might have to keep an eye on the temperature with Pandas. 25 is probably the minimum my tank would average (apologies for that statistical word salad).

I've researched a variety of plants, all of which require low CO2 and low light. There is so much from which to choose! All these shades of green against a black background should be quite beautiful.

If anyone is interested this is my plant shopping list:

Background:
Vallisneria spiralis (long straight and grasslike for background)
Camboma Caroliniana
Amazon Sword
Elodea Densa

Mid:
Limnophilia Sessisfloro (light green and interesting shape)
Anubias Heterophylla (a bit more expensive for a plant but great big leaves and a medium height should make a nice central feature)

Mid/Fore:
Lindernia Rotundifolia
Guppy grass (this stuff is so versatile and attractive, I could place it anywhere)

Fore:
Moss balls
Java moss (will try to attached to small bits of wood and rock)

Misc:
Dwarf Lettuce - floating (recommended here, nice shade and an interesting addition)

As you can see I've left the foreground quite bare.

I have fertiliser (shut up, spell-check, yes yes I know the traditional Oxford English recommends a 'Z' but that has since become America and what's left of this great language I shall retain with every 'S'!), and carbon dioxide boost in tablets and liquid. This is for the cycling stage when there will be no fish and I want to encourage plant growth at the very start. Also, the extra carbon should help the filter bacteria - if I have understood Sue correctly.

Damn you, Colin!!! Now I want more Corys!!

Updated: ok the latest list:

Cherry Barb x 6
Penguin Tetra x 6
Cardinal Tetra x 10
Bolivian Ram x 6
Glowlight Danio x 10
Panda Cory x 6
Zebra Danio x 6
Slender Harlequin x 10
1 x Pakistani loach