Hello And Advice On My First Tank If Possible Please

Hello everyone - I am new here and new to keeping tropical fish, excepting the goldfish I had as a child.

I've been doing the reading to try to set up my first tank correctly, and am now aware of cycling, etc. But I would like to ask if my plan is ok, and will be grateful if anyone has time to respond.

My plan is to buy an Askoll pure tank (76cm, 93.5 litres) and some plants. I would like to keep:
6 Neon Tetra
6 Cardinal Tetra
2 Male Guppy
4 Female Guppy
4 Corydoras
(maybe a snail)

The calculator says this is only 75% full, but I would be happy with the mix. My idea was to introduce the tetra 6 at a time when the water is ready, then the catfish, and finally the guppy.

Since I am new, any feedback would be welcome, as would suggestions.

I agree with Puffin on the neon/cardinal tetras 

If you do a fishless cycle, which is the best for fish and easier on the fishkeeper, you can all your fish at once as soon as the cycle is completed. If you intend doing a fish-in cycle, I should warn you that neons don't do well in newly cycled tanks let alone ones that are cycling.

I would get one of the dwarf species of cory, and get 6 of them. That's Corydoras pygmeaus, the pygmy cory; C. habrosus, salt & pepper cory, the only one in the fish profiles; and C. hastatus.

Puffin, Sue, dbaggie - thank you all for replying, exactly the type of responses I was hoping for.   

A bigger group of dwarf Cory seems a good idea, I'll do that. My hope is that the Neon and Cardinal tetra will form a single school, but it would not be a disaster for me if they do not.

I am planing to do a fiishless cycle, patience being one of my few virtues. I had seen advice that fish should only be added in small batches even then, but if that is unnecessarily cautious it is good news.

I do need to think a bit more about the guppies. Actually I've been thinking about getting tetra for quite a while, but only decided I wanted guppies too last weekend when I spent some time watching them in a shop. Looking at other peoples experiences I probably was under-estimating how fast they breed and over-estimating how well the tetra would control the population. A slowly growing population probably was wishful thinking. It might make sense to go all male, but either way thanks very much for flagging it up.

I actually have to disagree; personally I would also keep both cardinals and harlequins. I used to have guppies; I also started out with 6 and within months had to give back the females because I couldn't cope with all the fry. I worried that only having males would cause problems but it didn't at all. Would you consider having only males?

That's another advantage of doing a fishless cycle. It is a few weeks before you can get fish which gives you plenty time to visit every shop in the area, see what's available and probably see fish you hadn't even thought about. And still time left to finalise the 'want' list 

Sue is certainly right. From the beginner's perspective its not just seeing fish I hadn't thought about, but also seeing some fish in real life rather than just pictures. I realised I particularly like active fish, and was very pleased when I found out Zebra Danio are a good beginners fish.

I have certainly been following dbaggie's advice to visit a few times, and have visited a few shops too. My nearest MA is not very big, but the staff seem quite good. I read a little about how to spot a healthy fish in a buying guide. Is there anything else to look out for in how they keep the fish?

Gosh I'm jealous! this is just a suggestion and I don't know very much about them, but if you like very active fish have you considered keeping pictus catfish and/or barbs? Whenever I buy fish I obviously check that all the fish in the tank look healthy and that the tanks, as well as the store, are clean. Other than that I honestly think that the most important thing is that the staff know what they're talking about.

Yes, I'm certainly considering Barbs.

I do have a 120cm tank, but I am leaning more towards loaches than catfish, partly because I like the idea of fish from the same place. I am seriously thinking of YoYo Loaches, but since they need a mature tank is a decision for the future. It might be more sensible to go for Chain Loaches instead.

I am still trying to keep an open mind. I wasn't expecting as much algae as I have at the moment. That makes some sort of algae eater a bit more attractive, and loaches seem a problem for shrimps and snails. But I am hoping the algae dies down a bit when the tank is cycled, so a bit wait and see at the moment.

I think we need more mods! 

As it's a year down the line, did you get the mix of tetras and did they shoal together? I was planning on doing the same thing.