So I haven't kept fish in a few years, but last weekend I got a new tank. It's fishless cycling now - going pretty quickly, actually, even though I'm very suspicious about bacteria in a bottle!
It has a built in internal sump filter, and I also got an eheim pickup 200 (that fits in the sump) because I never trust built in filters.
This is going to be a well planted tank (I'll probably get a second LED light for it) and I'm open to running CO2.
The tank won't be ready for fish for a while, but I've worked through 2 options for stocking:
Option 1:
20 cardinal tetras
1 betta (either a chill dude, or a female)
6-8 kuhli loaches
6-8 julii cories (or other cories)
1 starlight bristlenose (or a standard, maybe)
Option 1 would be pretty heavily stocked, but I'm well filtered and will have lots of hidey holes.
Option 2:
6-8 otocinclus
3-6 dwarf puffers
I've kept dwarf puffers before, and I love them so much.
So - option 1 is basically a bright, heavily stocked tank. Option 2 is a few interesting fish, but the tank will basically look empty. I'm really torn, and thought I had decided on option 1, then went to a fish shop today for a KH/GH test and they had dwarf puffs there.
Thoughts?