mattpu

Thanks for the advice Jvision, that's all really helpful. The goal is definitely to have a plant heavy tank, so it's good to have some names for the plants. It's a small tank 10 x 10 x 12 - about 5 gallons I think. My other goals are to keep some easy shrimp - possibly red cherry shrimp and maybe a few celestial pearl danios. Where would be the best place to pick these up? Are there breeders in the city (Edmonton)? Thanks!

Here's my tank so far. Pretty bare bones, but a good start, I think.

Hello! Thanks for the replies...and thanks for the suggestions regarding setting up with plants and livestock at once. What do you think would be good plants that might suit that set up? Also, in terms of fish - should I cycle first with tetras or bring in danios (which is what I would like to keep eventually). Thanks!

Hi everyone! My name is Matt, I wanted to introduce myself on this forum. I was previously a part of the Local saltwater forum when I had a small nano tank for a few years. This time I've decided to set up a small freshwater planted tank mostly for shrimp and maybe a couple small fishes. Right now the tank is just settling before I start adding life to it, but was wanting to ask the advice of the forum members what's a good course of action. In cycling the tank, is it ok to start with just shrimps and plants, or should I also introduce fish in the beginning as well? My goal is to keep a very simple tank with as much planted life as possible, low bio load, but with some interesting creatures in there. The tank is a square 5 gallon tank and I have a 15 watt cfl bulb, small filter, and I've used flourite black for the substrate. I would like to have some longer plants in the back, moving towards more moss and ground cover in the front and grass along one side. I don't know any names quite yet, but I'll learn. I was hoping to get suggestions from the crowd what plants and animals would be suitable for this kind of setup? Thanks so much for the help! Matt