Tank Stocking In 125 L

Hi all!

I've got a Rio 125 litres (81x36x123), which is my first aquarium ever, with a internal filter Bioflow 3.0 Filter 500 l/h. Temperature about 23-25C. It's going through it's 5th day of fishless cycling and I'm pondering over what fish to eventually put in there. Water hardness is soft, in the summer it borders on medium hard.

There's so many fishes that I would like to have so narrowing it down is quite though (I feel like I will end up with countless tanks in the end, eh...).

The only fish I know I will have is the neon tetra as I will be gifted those from a cousin of mine. She estimates the number to be maximum 10 along with a species she can't name (it's not her own fish but her father's that recently passed away.

I'm interested in getting a fun, interesting tank to watch but also something that is calming and gives lot to do but still be manageable. I'm interested in having shrimp and snails as well eventually.

I'm looking for help, ideas and thought on how to stock my tank. I'm looking for tips for fish so that all areas of the aquarium is used as best as possible. I'm looking for guidance and ideas of the amount of each species I should get to maximise what I get out of each species (I of course know about the fish community creator and the absolute minimum, but fish might tend to do more well with higher numbers than what listed, I've read) and what fish works the best together and creates a good environment for the fish and my own amusement. Below I will list what I know I'll will get and those fish I've looked at and are considering amongst.

So at the moment the stocking looks like:

*10 neon tetra (+- unknown species)


Fish I've looked up at took a liking too:

Panda Cory
Black Neon Tetra
Honey Gourami
Guppy
Golden Barb
Fiveband Barb
Glowlight Danio
Rosy Tetra
Red Phantom Tetra
Black Molly
Swordtail
Peacock Goby
Platy
Neocaridina davidi, var. red fire sakura (shrimp)
Japonica Shrimp
Ruby Barb
Pearl Danio
Zebra Danio
Harlequin Rasbora
Penguin Tetra
Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlid
Coolie Loach

Thank you for your time, ideas, guidance and thoughts.

Best wishes,
Emelie

Edit: Edited to add water hardness (soft, in summer bordering on medium hard).

I've replied to your other thread about cycling.

I'm going to remove a few fish from your list.

Guppies, platies and mollies prefer hard water. Mollies in particular do badly with soft water, even moderately hard water.

Danios, both zebra and pearl, prefer cooler water than the other fish on your list, and neon tetras.

Cories and coolie (kuhli) loaches need sand, or small smooth gravel. If you have coarse gravel you'd either need to think again or change the substrate.


As for the rest, it is down to personal preference - and which ones are stocked locally. It is frustrating deciding on a species then discovering that no-one stocks it 




There are two schools of thought when it comes to stocking - the minimum number of lots of species or lots of just a few species. I used to be in the first group but now I'm in the second. I have just 2 shoaling species in my 180 litre tank - 15 Hengels rasboras and 18 Daisy's rice fish.