HardWaterFish

Thanks everyone for the responses! It's looking like from what people are saying here my original stocking plan is fine? I'm planning to get the shrimp first so they can get established and seem like "part of the tank" as it were. I want to get a good bunch of the Kuhli Loaches so they're comfortable. I was thinking 10 since everything I've seen says the more the merrier, but I don't know what a good number would be. I'd also put some pvc pipe pieces in there for them to hang out in. She's beautiful!

Hi from Alabama! I have never kept fish before, and I've mostly been waiting on my tank to get established right now. I'm seeing some good biofilm growth on some of the hardscape. No fish yet, and my recent discovery of how hard my water is kind of threw me off my original plans on what to stock it with. I've got a 75 gallon with the hardness about 12-13 dGH, and a pH on the higher end. I was originally thinking guppies, neocaridina shrimp, and kuhli loaches. Since it's a 75 I could go with "bigger" fish, but I really wanted to get some good schooling going on with a lot of little ones. From my understanding, the water hardness would prevent the Kuhli Loaches from being too happy, and the shrimp requirement really seems to limit what other fish could go in here. I do think I want some live-bearers though, and they should do okay in the hard water, but I'm open to suggestions. Does anyone have thoughts on stocking this?