Thoughts on Proposed Stocking?

[Knightia]

I like your stock list but I do thing cherries will get eaten by the gouramis or rainbows. You'd be better trying amano shrimp. A bit bigger (and actually much better at clearing algae). I would keep far more Otos in that big tank. 6 isn't enough. I have 10 in a 120 litre tank and you rarely see them out. If you have heavy planting I'd chuck in at least 20 (and they'll be far happier as they are nervy fish).

Remember that many planting substrates can lower pH. I have ADA substrates and they all lower the pH of my tap water by 0.5-1.0. I've heard they also soften it too but I've not tested this yet.

[talldutchie]

Good point about the ottos. 10 sounds about right for starters. Even though this is a lot of water it's also a hefty stock list.

Gouramis will eat shrimp but if OP provides a load of dense plants and starts with a dozen he may end up with a stable population (then again, there's also a significan chance of failure)

As to the substrates. The ada is known for that, same goes for manado I know from personal experience that clay pellets and sand are pretty much neutral. Same goes for tetra substrate and a good quartz gravel.

[dr_lew]

Some interesting points have been raised. Perhaps per the suggestions, I should cut the schools down to no more than 20 each, and do 10 each on the cories and otos?

As far as substrate, I am currently leaning towards using black Eco Complete, possibly all by itself. It *looks* like it should be pH neutral or close to it, and should be harmless to the cories, but provide good root medium and nutrients for the plants.

I will definitely have to look into those peat pellets and see about adding those to the filter boxes. Thanks very much for the information, talldutchie!

The shrimp sound like the riskiest proposition overall. One reason I was favoring Red Cherries over Amano shrimp was their ability to reproduce in fresh water, which would allow them (as tallductchie pointed out) to keep their own population going, so long as any losses aren't too heavy.