Starting a Freshwater Aquarium soon, need advice!

First of welcome to aquaria central!

A couple things pop out at me.

Discus fish are generally best to be kept in a species only tank because they need very specific water parameters and are generally finicky.

Oscars are also a fish that you generally only want to keep in a species only tank and they need a large tank. I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that you would only want 1 in a 75 gallon. If you wanted to keep them with other fish you'd have to keep them with other very aggressive fish or else your other fish will just eventually end up being lunch for the Oscar.

One other thing I wanted to add. The Spotted Puffer is a brackish water fish, which means that it needs salt in the tank, which a lot of the other fish on that list won't tolerate very well.

Those are what immediately popped out to me.

It's good that your researching before you dive into buying fish. If you aren't familiar with cycling new tanks and the nitrogen cycle I strongly encourage you to read up on it here: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598 Your tank needs to be properly cycled before adding fish or you'll likely end up killing some fish....

Kudos to you for doing research ahead of time! If this is your first aquarium you may want to go for a peaceful community set up.

In a 75g you could do a really nice tank of corydoras, (large) tetras, (small) plecos, hatchet fish, and maybe some angels or gouramis.

There are lots of great sites online with fish profiles:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profile.html
http://www.fishprofiles.com/
http://www.aqua-fish.net/

I also find that it's really helpful to see the fish in action at LFS (local fish stores) or youtube.

:welcome:

:welcome: to AC!

This being your fist tank, I would highly suggest reading this article. Get familiar with the nitrogen cycle as its one of the most important aspects of maintaining an aquarium.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

Alright, on to the stocking.

Given a 75-100 gallon aquarium you have a load of options.

I agree with the above poster that discus are not a great fish for beginners. They can be finicky with water quality especially as juveniles. More often than not you'll need more than just weekly water changes. They're an expensive fish to lose if/when something goes wrong.

I'm not very knowledgeable on Haplichromis species. I would suggest heading over to the Cichlid section if you are interested in setting up a tank w/ Haps. They are not typical "community" fish and should be housed with each other.

An oscar would be perfect for the tank size, but you would be severely limited with regards to tank mates. IMO a single oscar pretty much fills up a 75 gallon. The red fin pleco is going to create a lot of waste too.

I do not know much about texas cichlids either. Head over to the cichlid section as thats where you will get the best information.

The green spotted pufferfish and dragon goby are both brackish fish and will not do as well in freshwater. Unless you are willing to commit to a BW tank, I would leave them off the list.

The clown pleco and panda corys are perfect community fish. You have a lot of options as both tend to stay near the bottom. For the top you could add tetras, barbs, rasboras, livebearers, rainbows, gourami, etc. and have an easy to care for, yet still active and colorful, community.

It ultimately comes down to what YOU want. I'm glad you chose to do research before giving in to your impulses and buying a fish first. You're already past the stage that most people run into problems with.

The thing with Oscars. If it will fit in it's mouth, it is lunch. They are pretty laid back as far as large fish go, but can hold their own with most fish their size, even if the other fish is an aggressive type fish.

Dwarf puffers are fully freshwater, however they can be nippy and do best in a species tank. They are great fish from what I have heard but I personally wouldn't "waste" a 75 gallon tank just for them.

As for dragon goby...kuhli loaches have a similar snake-like body.

No problem and feel free to ask questions during the course of your research!