Red Sea 625XL - Fish Stocking Suggestions
Hey, I'm new to the fish keeping hobby, and so far been relying on Gemini and other reddit posts to help me get to where I am. I've fitted out all the equipment needed and cycled the tank (5 weeks, using Dr Tims Ammonia), but just a bit confused on how best to fill the tank now. I was hoping to get some advice/ suggestions on what I should get, or at least get some directions on where to take it.
The equipment I have is:
- Red Sea 625XL, with full sump where all equipment is housed
- Jecod DCP-6500 return pump
- Reefmat 1200 filter
- Eheim UV800 filter (with separate Jecod pump)
- Eheim air pump 400
- Inkbird wifi thermostat controller with DD titanium heaters (950w in total)
- Chihiros WRGB II Pro light
- also planning on buying a lid
Landscaping wise, I'm still figuring this out too, but i currently have:
- the substrate is JBL Sansibar white sand
- planting wise, it's currently tropica plant pots of Littorella uniflora and Eleocharis pusilla, and already added Seachem flourish root tabs under it
- lava rock in the centre
- still need to add more plants and hardscape but currently TBC
I can list out all the general media and supplies I have but not sure how relevant that is, but I do have everything that I need in terms of medicine, plant fertiliser, seachem matrix, water conditioning, API test kits, etc. And also a separate quarantine tank ready to go.
I'm also based in Central London, so have hard water naturally and not intending to use anything else like osmosis water, just treating the tap water with Seachem Prime and Stability. pH is generally around 7.4 on average.
In terms of personal preferences on what to keep -
- i'm only intending to keep freshwater/ tropical fish, no saltwater types
- i mostly would like the fish to have vibrant colours generally, but also want some darker colours to add some contrast
- i'm leaning more towards keeping a community tank with lots of fish
I've used Gemini to generate a list based on dozens of fish I found online, and it's suggested a list of fish that are peaceful, avoiding clashes in the water columns/ swimming areas, and that are generally easy to maintain, which is all great - but the only negative I've found is that the majority of the suggestions are all quite small fish, like cherry barbs and tetras.
Just wondered if anyone had any fish stocking suggestions that i could follow up on please, as I'm pretty open to suggestions (either individual fish to check out, or your own dream list)?