Newbie to selecting fish

[deonild]

Hey all, I have an empty 30 gallon I want to make a heavily planted tank (back fully covered with swimming space in middle and front) with freshwater fish. My only experience is a small tank with a female betta and a bamboo shrimp.
When I research fish online I see "needs to be in group of 4 or more, 6 or more, or 1 male and 1-2 females, etc." I had a hard time trying to keep a rat single, and want my fish to thrive. I plan to get the 30 inches of fish for my 30 gallon, and since it will be planted I'll get the largest school as something small, like thin 1.5"ers.
Now to the questions: Do schooling fish like tetras need 6+ of their type if it is a community tank, or only if it's just them in a small tank - can I get 2-4 each of a couple different types of schooling fish? Will they be confident, active, and have good immune systems in small groups with other small groups around? And as for gourami's that I read should have 1 male and 1-2 females - Could these fish be kept as 1 of their type in a community tank? I've seen a few gourami's by themselves in community tanks on youtube that looked alright.

Would this setup work well? 1 4-5" gourami, 3 2" tetras, 3 2" tetras, and 8 or 9 1.5" tetras. Assuming they are all compatible types.

Thanks for any experiences, opinions

[invadertoast]

As far as schooling fish go, most people agree that a larger school of a single species looks better and your fish will be happier. In my 23, I somehow ended up with 5 harlequin rasboras, 3 danios, 4 cories, 4 neons, and 9 emerald eye rasboras (I know it sounds crowded but it works) It was not my plan to have 5 different species of schooling fish, and I'd prefer one school of one species, BUT all my fish are happy and healthy and don't bother schooling really. Schooling fish that spread out generally is a sign that your fish are feeling secure and comfortable. My tank is such a mish-mash of fish, everytime I look at it I wish it was full of neons, but there's not much I can do now (besides fix my 15 and move my 9 emerald eyes into it, for a start, lol)

My 20 long had 11 tiger barbs and I loved how it looked being a species only tank. Not sure what happened and haven't talked about it on here because I'm SO frustrated, but I'm down to two tigers, I lost the other 9 over the span of a few weeks and completely out of nowhere. This was maybe a month or so ago... anyhow, I think you might enjoy a single species!

[robnepper]

I would go with a good sized school of cardinals, if you're going to have lots of plants/ Have you looked in to the ins and outs of plant keeping?

[DrNic]

I'm actually running a VERY similar tank right now. I a 29G tank with a large school of tetras (~25 at last head count), 7 corries, and 2 pearl gouramis. With most 'schooling' fish, 6+ fish will make a much better looking school when swimming.

If you want a variety you might think about something like the following;
8 neon/cardinal tetras
6 rummynose tetras
5 serpe tetras
4-6 corries
2-3 dwarf gouramis
In this setup the neons and the rummynose tetras will make 2 schools (although sometimes they may school together). The serpes are a good accent, and the gouramis are a nice 'centerpeice'.

Keep in mind that different gouramis have different attitudes. Most dwarf gouramis are rather timid. As for the larger gouramis, pearls, and kissing
gouramis tend to be rather timid as well. Blue and yellow gouramis can be mid tempered. Snakeskin and giant gouramis can be really aggressive. Keeping 2-3 of the more timid types in the same tank is usually fine as they will tend to hang out together.

[deonild]

robnepper: Have you looked in to the ins and outs of plant keeping?
Yep, planning to get a big lighting system, fertilizer/substrate, make a DIY co2 reactor/diffuser and plant a ton of different plants keeping the back totally covered to the top and trim as needed. Sounds like fun. Maybe a couple small grasses in front.
invadertoast: I think you might enjoy a single species!
I had thought about this for only a second and dismissed it since there's so many interesting fish to choose from. But after a second thought I really like the idea since I want the plants to be half of my aquarium experience, the fish would probably be on 1 side most of the time making the plants more of the view than with a bunch of different fish all over all the time. Thanks for the suggestion!
Atm, I'm looking at 15ish Black Phantom Tetras. Maybe adding 2 gourami's later.
I've read that these males can get territorial, not hurting each other but needing their own areas.
Two questions: Could these fish work with enough of them to fill a 30 gallon, maybe just a couple of the males become dominant, or are their "areas" small enough, not half the tank per male?
Also, I'm sure this has been asked somewhere but, what about breeding. I don't want to be a breeder, how do I make sure I don't wake up to 150 fish lol, and what if i do, would a petco buy them or what would I do? (I live in chicago, petco and petsmart ran all the little stores out of town) Do I have to get all same sex?

Experiences welcome weather you've owned black phantoms or similarly territorial fish in large numbers filling a species tank. The breeding Q is for any fish.

[mac]

Um are you meaning the Gouramis getting territorial, or the Phantoms. As for the Phantoms a nice school of 15 would be great. As for them breeding it is hard to stop them because in a school like this sexing would be a pain till they grow up. But the chances of the fry surviving is low. And more so if you got a Few Corys.

As for the Gouramis IMO I would get some other type o fish. Like some of small south American Cichlids. The Gouramis would be a pain if you wanted more than 1. But if you only wanted 1 a male would work okay.

mac