Back at it

[Smalltank3]

Some of you may remember me, it's been a good 6 years since I've been on here. Browsing through the forum, I was glad to see some names I remember. I was 14, naive, and impatient with the small ten gallon planted tank I had...unfortunately leading to the death of fish and eventually getting out of the hobby. I came back here because I seek to relearn everything.
Now I am presented with a 30 gallon setup for free with everything I need to start up a planted tank. I never had anything bigger than a 10 gallon, so I'm pretty excited about getting back into it. I'm not sure what plants I'm getting yet, as I just have an empty tank with a bottom layer of fluorite. The top will be eco complete. Might need help with some C02 questions but that's later.
Now the real question is, what am I putting in this tank? Basically, I want either a rainbow shark or a red tail shark, and build the population around that fish. I'm leaning more towards the rainbow since it may be less aggressive than a red tail. I need some ideas. I remember some info but could really use some help. I was thinking 3 otos, and maybe a few yoyo or zebra loaches. I am interested in ghost catfish (glass catfish) for a schooling fish, but am unsure about the compatibility with the shark.
It's good to be back, give me some feedback!

 

[FishDad]

I think red tails look cooler but they are aggressive.

 

[Newman]

welcome back. give us a sample list of fish you ideally want in that 30 gallon and we can give you feed back

 

[Smalltank3]

Well, I'd love to have the shark in there (Rainbow or Red Tail). So I was thinking something like this:
1 Rainbow or Red Tail Shark
10-12 Glass Catfish
3-4 Yoyo loaches
3 Otos

The only concern I have is the compatibility of a shark with the glass cats.

 

[Newman]

from what AqAdvisor tells me you will have a lot of overstocking from running 10 glass catfish. even with 5 glass cats, you're still overstocked with 4 yoyos (they need to be in groups, the more the better) and the otos and one shark.
idk how aggressive they are. try one and see if it causes any trouble for the other fish.

 

[FishDad]

I've never owned a glass cat but my understanding is that they are very, very sensitive to stress. They may not be able to handle the shark.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If the shark is your focus, I would look maybe at more middle or top level swimmers. The ones you have listed are mostly going to be bottom dwellers, except the otos.

Have you ever seen dwarf rainbows (praecox rainbows)? They are pretty cool IMO. And should be fine with the shark as they'll stay at the top mostly and not be competition for him.

 

[Smalltank3]

I do like those rainbows, how many would you recommend getting?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If it were my tank, I would do maybe 6-10 (on the lower side if you also plan on the yoyo loaches).

 

[FreshyFresh]

Welcome back!

I wouldn't do either shark in a 30g. 50g is the recommended minimum tank size for either.

How do you intend to cycle the 30g?

What type of lighting do you intend to use? I have no experience with Fluorite or EcoComplete substrate, but do have FloroMax in my planted 10g. I guess fancy substrate is a plus if you intend on growing heavy rooters, but if you have primarily water column feeding plants, you can use marbles if you want to LOL.

My heavily planted 55g has a ~$3 bag of Lowes marble chips in it, but the plants are water sprite, wisteria, anubias nana and java fern.

I've got an amazon sword that's taking over my 10g w/ the floromax. I don't use CO2. I'm a glutaral guy. lol.