New 25 gallon.....what ever shall I stock?

[rwspear76]

Ok... I have a new 25 gallon tank, need to get filters, hood, lighting, and heat. Trying to decide:

A) What sort of substrate should I use? I would really like to use sand as opposed to gravel. What are the pros and cons of this.

B) What plants will grow best in sand?

C) What fish should I stock?

The tank dimensions are 12X24X20

I have also considered going marine, or brackish.

Any thoughts?

 

[Lorazoo]

I personally like Eco-complete over sand. The black color looks very natural and helps bring out colors in the fish. With proper lighting, ferts and co2 yyou could grow any plant in it.

It all really depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

 

[Emg]

Yeah, if you go with a planted tank...I'd get the echo. It looks like potting soil in your tank..natural dirt look....finer than gravel but not as fine as sand and it really does bring out the colors in your fish.

First thing, is to decide if you want fresh, SW or BW.....lol...then go from there...

 

[rwspear76]

i think i am definately going freshwater, i dont have the massive amounts of time to invest in saltwater, unfortunately, but love my freshies anyway

 

[joylynn]

I really wanted sand in my 75G but also wanted to grow healthy plants, so I did an inch plant friendly substrate (Flourish in my case) covered by about an inch or so of sand. That way I got the look I wanted and the plants had a good substrate. Besides the little bit of the plant gravel that has found its way to the surface helps give my tank more of a shallow pond/creek bed look, it is cool.

As far as plants go, I am still pretty much a newbie in that respect and am just happy I haven't killed any of mine yet, so I can't recommend much there