stocking suggestions
 

My girlfriend just got a 40gal tank. She wants colorful active fish all suggestions welcome.

It would be helpful to first know her water parameters such as hardness (GH and KH) and pH. Also whether or not she wants live plants and what type of maintenance she wants.

Ph = 6.7 hrdness unknown but is wellwater. We plan to plant heavy

Her ph is 6.7 and she has well wterso its on. The soft side. This would make it good for amazon fish correct? We are also going to plant heavy.

platty are great fish that are very colorful and active. they are also realy hardy so they are great fish to start new tank with. they are live barers to if you get a good mix of males and females you will have babies. Corydoras are a geat fish too. they are fairly active and help keep the bottem of your tank clean.my favorite is the pepper cory. both fish are schooling fish so in your 40 i would do 3 cory and 5 platy (2 male and 3 femail) that is a god mix and will still give you plenty of room if you want to add some differnt fish later.:-D

beta tank - 10 gallon Freshwater fish tank

some swordtail would also be a good fish to add. they are closely related to platy so the mix well together and have some really cool color variations

I would suggest to not get caught up in what looks good at the pet shop. Most fish will look drastically different after 2 or 3 months at home. Here are a few of my personal favorites that will look great after they settle in, but look a bit "blah" at the pet shop:

Bleeding Heart Tetras, Checkered Barbs, Brilliant Rasboras, Gold Pristella Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora.

I have used the Prisella's as a starter fish in countless aquariums, because they are capable of mixing with almost any community. The Bleeding Hearts, Pristellas, and Harlequins are a mid water swimmer. The Checkered Barbs generally school near the bottom, and the Brillian Rasboras prefer the upper portion of the water column. Selecting fish which occupy different parts of the tank will help you maximum the stocking levels of the tank.

For what it's worth, I'm strongly considering a school of 12-15 Checkered Barbs as the starting fish in the 180 live plant tank I'm setting up this weekend.

Sorry, but I don't think 3 cories is enough. They're a schooling fish and should be in a group of at least 6.

Most well water is actually hard and is then run through a water softener. But water softeners don't soften the water to the fish. They use salts to bind with the minerals in the water, so the minerals won't leave hard water stains. But the minerals are still there. It would be good to know whether or not her water goes through a softener.

If the water is actually soft, then it would be great for Amazon fish.

A lot of people are suggesting live bearers. In acidic water I'd avoid them and stick to some Asian or amazon fish, most (but not all) will enjoy the acidity.
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