Newbie- Stocking Advice

Hi,
I'm pretty much a newbie. Had a tank a number of years back but just starting again now after couple years without. Currently cycling atm and not far off being ready so trying to start planning but I'm so overwhelmed with choice I don't know where to begin.

240L tank with external filter. Soft water (west Scotland) bumping KH up to 2 with coral in filter...KH had been 0-1 before. pH sitting around 6.5 comfortably. Got some plants growing happily in there just now looking healthy.

Last time we had a tank we had black phantoms, harlequin rasboras, neon tetras, Cory's, shrimp and honey gourami.
I have 2 little ones now so would like it to be interesting to them too. I don't really want to be dealing with breeding so if I remember right that immediately rules some species out.

Hoping for a peaceful community with a bit of colour. Not fussed about having gourami again but having considered likes of celestial pearl danio.

I'm just so confused and feel like I'm going round in circles trying to figure it all out with our water conditions. Help much appreciated!

Thanks for the reply. As of this evening, looks I'm officially cycled :-) won't be able to buy anything til next weekend, so a week of continued dosing to make sure and keep the cycling going.
Would I be ok for dwarf rainbowfish? Saw them on a fb page or something and they look lovely - rather than the celestial pearl danios? Think I read that they were not so recommended ethically anyway. I'm at the point I've read so much I can't quite retain it anymore 

yes, I've deliberately not even looked at the livebearers :-)

Hi @Hodgepodge  and welcome to the forum. 

I can't give you any advice on soft water fish as I live in a very hard water area. I'm looking forward to hearing what fish you decide to go with, and hopefully seeing pictures when they are settled in. 

I am also a fan of cories. I have kuhli loaches too which are a little different, though seen less often.

Are you planning on having a cleaning crew? Nerite snails, shrimps, and otos?

I had amano shrimp before so thought would go with them again. From vague memory, I thought I was limited on the shrimp front due to soft water? Happy to be correct cos love the shrimp. Never had otos - don't they grow to be a fair size? Only had pest snails before as well - don't nerite snails sometimes end up as pests themselves or am I thinking of a different species?

Nerite snails will not overpopulate a tank. Yes, they will lay sesame seed like eggs all over the decor if you have a female but they will not hatch in fresh water as the newly hatched snail larvae need salt water. The downside to them is those sesame seed like eggs which don't hatch. A lot of the wood in my tank looks as though it has measles 

  Couldn't agree more. And they lay their eggs on the glass panels just above the substrate. They are not the easiest to remove. But a decent scraper works well.

Thanks Sue. That's really helpful. If I'm ok to get red cherry in soft water then might have a look at them this time 😀

Ah - thanks for that reminder as I had meant to mention the Snail Stixx which are a big 'hit' with my nerite snails (and some of the fish too, who have a tendency in the evenings to hover near the snail foodpot and take it in turns to peck food from it).  I'd imagine the shrimps would avail of it too and the calcium would be good for them.  Happy to answer any questions you have about it or even send you a few pieces to trial out (just PM me your address if interested in that).

If you want to buy a food pot for it, then you can buy the 60mm or 90mm shrimp feeding dishes from Pro-Shrimp or one of these smaller bamboo dishes https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143224641821 which I replaced mine with a few months ago as it's a bit more natural-looking.

My tank is getting increasingly covered in snail eggs - this didn't happen when I had one snail on its own for a year but started a few months after I got a second snail (and there's now a year's worth of eggs over the wood and increasingly the tank surfaces).  It doesn't bother me but I'm happy to show you a photo of the tank so that you can decide if you think it would bother you.

The mention of red cherry shrimps reminds me that cherry barbs might be a potential fish of interest.  The species profiles like the one JPC included (and others from that site) are very helpful as they'll confirm what the most up-to-date data is on the water hardness range is, as well as other requirements, so you can work out if your water would be suitable for them or not.
 

Here's a close-up photo of the nerite snail eggs on the decor - mainly the wood and stones.  I don't find it particularly bothersome, perhaps helped by the fact the sand (Unipac tana sand) contains beige and white grains and so, in some respects, the nerite snail eggs don't contrast too much with that.