Preplanning a new aquarium with a child

[Louise02]

My ten-year-old daughter ended up with a molly and a gourami in a 5-gallon tank.  Needless to say, we need to plan a larger aquarium.  We live in the middle of nowhere, so I can't run down the street and get supplies.  While I am waiting to receive the tank (It will be almost a month!), I would like to plan this one out better than the tanks I have previously started.  The gourami is getting really nippy, so I don't know if he will go into this 29-gallon tank.  However, the female betta is incredibly mellow.  I think that she might do fine with mollies in a large tank.  Right now I have one female betta, one male molly, and one male mystery snail to go into that tank.  Obviously, we'll need a few more mollies.  I'd like to plan this out to have a more complete eco-system, but I would still like for it to be peaceful.  This grouchy gourami is unpleasant.  Is there a simple guide somewhere that I could use to help my daughter plan this aquarium to be lightly stocked, heavily planted, and easily kept?  Thank you in advance for any ideas!

Also, if you have any suggestions on plants that can be propagated, that would be appreciated.  My daughter likes to watch to plants grow, and it might be a little more affordable to fill in a larger tank with plants that can be propagated.   Thank you!

 

[nabokovfan87]

As far as the two fish, those usually don't go together. Temperature and temperament are the two main reasons why. For the time being you can use tubs, sterilite containers are generally considered safe and can be used for QT as well as holding. I'd try to get a few 10G or larger tubs for now and try to set those up with one fish in each.

Let's say you get a 20L tank, you can use a divider and keep them both in the same tank. A Betta is going to want ~80 degrees while a gourami is going to want a slightly lower temperature.

Someone with a bit more experience there can chime in.

To your point, having plants would help and having something easy to make a jungle style aquascape would help as well.

I'd try something like valisnaria or maybe something lower demand (but slower growing) like anubias and/or java Fern.

Depending what else is in the tank moss can work too if you attach it to rocks and wood.

On 2/14/2023 at 11:16 PM, Louise02 said:

Is there a simple guide somewhere that I could use to help my daughter plan this aquarium to be lightly stocked, heavily planted, and easily kept? 

Best place to start might be the aquarium coop care guide videos and blog articles.