Good news! The tank arrives Tuesday! I'll be in New Orleans until Thursday though.
I made a decision about stocking the tank, once it's cycled (I bought the 2 bacteria liquid.. but cannot find pure no-additive ammonia yet).
Drum roll please......
I decided to make it a guppy tank! I have been researching them like crazy, and have a friend who used to really be into them. I think they are one of the prettiest fish, and are good for beginners.
I know the downsides of guppies:
- Many other fish pick on them, so will be limitted on other fish
- They like a little salt some other fish don't (my friend says they'll do OK with no salt though)
- They easily over-populate (saw some funny YouTube videos on this). Still researching how to best control it (assuming my fish live).
I will research bottom dwellers more down the line. But to me, guppies seem to have so much variety I am fine with almost all guppies.
I'll try to post a photo once I get things set up. And yes, I decided to stick with the blue jean gravel. I bought a hang-on-tank filter rated for 30-60 gallons, so as long as it fits in the acrylic slots I should be OK. If not, I bought it locally in case a return is needed. It holds two carbon filters (one on each side) so I think I'll replace them on an alternating schedule.
One thing that really bothered me about the acrylic tank was the lack of information on them when I researched it... so I plan to post a lot of photos showing opening sizes, etc.