Suggestions for my 120 litre tank?

[Gonefishin]

Hi,

I had a much smaller tank with 6 neons, 3 cherry barbs, 5 snails and a male betta. Over the last week I have been setting up my new 120 litre planted tank, and today was moving day for them.
I obviously wanted to give them some time to settle (although luckily I have mature filter media and have used the old water and the fish have appeared settled all day). But, planning ahead, I just wondered how others would add to this community? There are very deliberately lots of plants, caves and tons of little hiding spots for any tinies. Would mollies fit in ok here? How about bottom feeders as we seem short of these? And obviously I am considering getting more cherry barbs and more neons to school too? Where to start planning first?
Thanks for any ideas.
PS. My friend has offered me some danios, which I do love and had years ago. But am I right in thinking they might be a but temperate for this tank?

I'd get some more neons or cardinals, they do look lovely on a shoal.

I've always liked guppies, cheap and you could set up a small breeding tank.

How about a kuhli loach for the bottom and a couple of young dwarf cichlids?

Yes, I'd defo get more cherries, they can be quite shy in a small group.

Danios, it depends on the species but they might be a bit boisterous for the cherry barbs anyway. If you're keeping those then you need other fish that won't scare the crap out of them. You'll also need something that's not going to nip the betta's tail.

Kuhli loaches are ace, they're funny little things. What's your substrate? They need sand really, they like to bury themselves a bit. Sand or smooth gravel is best for bottom feeders.

What's your pH and hardness like?

Thanks both of you.
Eaurouge I have a layer of JBL aquabasis plus with a layer of JBL sansibar in black. I have lots of rooted plants, a piece of coral with lots of hiding spots, a hollow log, a cave and another ornament with lots of hiding spots. I have heard that the black jbl Sansibar is causing corys some problems (anecdotally).
Water is a little on the harder side.
I may have had a kuhli loach in my previous fish keeping life actually! I had a Chinese Algae eater too which was the cause of much death.
What about an oto?

JiltedJohn'sJulie (love the name). I was avoiding guppies because of the betta and the clashes that could happen there. I do like live bearers and had mollies and platys and guppies in my old tank (20 plus years ago). Definitely yes to the neons though. They look a bit small a group at the moment although all of the fish seem happy with the new tank and are behaving quite normally at the moment.

PS Thanks both for knowing that my cherry barbs are not typical barbs and actually not aggressive as on another forum the main worry was them and also that my betta would eat everything (the betta that has never bothered the other fish - and yes my main worry was him being nipped).

Is it real coral you've got or a resin model? Just worried it will mess with your pH.

Corys are prone to get infected barbels if there's a sharp substrate- damaged barbels and rooting around in crap is not a good combo. If it's smooth it should be OK, but IIRC it's quite gritty.

There are species of fish that hang around the bottom of the tank but are not bottom feeders as such. My cherries tend to stick near the bottom, not sure if that's because all my plants are quite short though.

Some rasbora species might go well, there are some that are not too zippy but not too shy either. Some of them do best in low pH though so it depends what yours is like.

Otos need a more mature tank, so they might do OK in the future depending on your pH. What about a small plec?

Had a bit of a laugh at someone thinking cherries are aggressive Mine are in a heavily planted tank in a shoal of 7 and they're still shit-scared of everything. Mild mannered doesn't even begin to cover it!

No, don't worry, it's pretend coral. It is effectively a resin thing with lots of holes in.
I definitely need a few more cherry barbs I think. And yes, it us laughable that they blame them for stuff. About 6 months ago I bought a couple of guppies at PAH (yes I know!) and they were dead the next day. Everyone honed in on the barbs and the betta, who had been nowhere near. The fact that these guys had hung around the top looking sad and not doing anything led me to thinking that it was just sickly guppies. Went back to PAH and they told me they had now changed their supplier because the guppies were dying at a rate of ten a day!

Would platys get on ok in there?

Ph is around 6.8 if that is relevant?
I have never had rasboras but they look quite nice.

Hmm, platys can be quite boisterous and they are fairly chunky. With a pH like that you'd be better off with some tetras or some of the smaller barbs- platys, guppies, etc do better in higher pH and quite hard water. Ember tetras might be a good pick, they are quiet little fish.

Have now bought four more neons to make it a shoal of ten. This turned out to be a good decision as they instantly seemed more confident and less wary to be out in the open. I see a lot more of them now .

Oh, that's good. You might even end up with babies :)

Just an update, my small (BN) plec is now installed and is one of my favourites so far. It is currently eating one of those plec algae things.