# fish and plants for 30g tall



## Awsimical (Jul 15, 2013)

i have a 30g tall tank I want to plant and put some fish in, i know i want cichlids, so the ph will be around 7, i have never set up a fish tank before, so wanted to know what plants could survive in 7 ph with african cichlids, i would like to know what the plant is called that looks like grass underwater? i also want tall plants I can plant in the back for the fish to hide in and possible some vine like plants to grow up wood or something, I want to keep ghost shrimp in the tank also, whatever i plant ill plant 1 month before i put fish in, i read that the eco-complete substrate works well so ill probably use that unless theres something better that i dont know about? I plan to pick my light off whichever plants im going to grow, so i dont have that yet and need help picking one, unless the one that i have that grew an anubis will work, the anubis is well established in the tank that my brother gave me (he killed all his fish and gave me the tank) i also want a catfish or pleco maybe to help clean up algae with the shrimp. any help would be appreciated.

p.s.-if this is in the wrong place sorry, this is my first time on the site


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## Awsimical (Jul 15, 2013)

im sorry i meant the ph will be around 8


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

30 high is a tank with a small footprint. 
About the only Africans that will work would be some of the smaller ones like shell dwellers. You can make a pretty good stack of rock and see if some fish would be OK a bit higher up, but that is still a small area, and most Cichlids are too aggressive to tolerate it. No room to run away from a more aggressive tank mate. 

Compatible fish include most of the livebearers, but again, you are limited by the tank size. A tall tank is not very wide, and most fish swim about horizontally. So get small fish. 
Guppies, Platies and similar fish. No Mollies- they can be too aggressive for this small a tank. Guppies swim in the upper part of the tank, so are a good option when you are thinking about bottom fish. 
Some Rainbows will handle the high pH and hard water, but they basically come in 2 sizes: 'Too large for your tank', and 'right size, but live in the lower area' so would be attacked by the Cichlids. 
Other compatible fish would be a couple of the smallest cats native to Lake Tanganyika, they look like the Cuckoo cat, but are smaller. 

Shrimp are highly likely to get eaten but Cichlids, even the smallest ones. Try it, but don't be surprised when all the shrimp disappear.

If you want shrimp, and hard water fish then here is a better list:
Asian Rummy Nose Tetras
Certain Rainbow fish relatives like Pseudomugils
Guppies

Plants: Grass-like plants for an African tank = Valisneria. There is actually a Val native to this area. I do not know if that one (V aethiopica) is in the trade, but one of the smaller Vals would work.


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## Black Hills Tj (Jul 19, 2013)

I don't even feel worthy to make any suggestions after Diana posts. Listen to this Gal. She knows her stuff, and hit the nail on the head. If you aren't stuck on African cichlids, you could look into some angels or apistos, but that's a whole other ball game.


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