40 Gallon Tank Restock and rescape!

[Cowardlyslimeball]

Hi everyone!
I've been trying to figure out what to do with my 36 gallon bowfront, the goal is a heavily planted, low tech tank with a good hardscape (I'm exceptionally bad at aquascaping so any advice is much appreciated haha)
Currently it's got salvinia minima, java fern, anubias and a tall grass looking plant, just kind of thrown in the tank. No hardscape or anything. It has a black sand substrate with potting soil underneath, and a nicrew led planted tank light.
The stocking is:
- one juvenile bristlenose pleco
- my platy, Rosie
- a really old glowlight tetra
-and a glass catfish
This tank was a rescue tank I got several years ago, and that's what's left of the fish.
I kind of want to move towards a community tank, with lots of cover and some more glass catfish so I can have a proper school, but I want to keep it under stocked. Any thoughts or suggestions on good plants, scaping, and stocking are welcome!

 

[DuaneV]

The Bristlenose WILL tear up the sand and make a huge mess of the potting soil. Youll need to pick which one you like more and get rid of the other. Mine all dig huge holes/burrows in the sand non stop.

The rest of your fish are schooling fish. They need others just like them. If you dont want them, Id rehome them.

If you want to build a community tank around your Glass Cats, here is some advice:

They like plants are they are a very skittish fish. Any tankmates MUST be pretty chill and definitely not aggressive. They are a schooling fish, youll need a minimum of 6. They are a mid-column fish, so dont house them with a Gourami (Gourami's are mid-column too and can be aggressive). They like mid to upper 70s so you have options as far as tankmates. Tankmates could include Platys, Mollies, Swordtails and Corys. Depending on how light you want to keep the stocking, Id probably do 6-8 Glass Cats as the centerpiece, then do a school of Corys with them and call it good. Since they get fairly large at 5 inches, 8 would be great in a 36 gallon with a school of 8 Corys.

 

[Cowardlyslimeball]

The Bristlenose WILL tear up the sand and make a huge mess of the potting soil. Youll need to pick which one you like more and get rid of the other. Mine all dig huge holes/burrows in the sand non stop.

The rest of your fish are schooling fish. They need others just like them. If you dont want them, Id rehome them.

If you want to build a community tank around your Glass Cats, here is some advice:

They like plants are they are a very skittish fish. Any tankmates MUST be pretty chill and definitely not aggressive. They are a schooling fish, youll need a minimum of 6. They are a mid-column fish, so dont house them with a Gourami (Gourami's are mid-column too and can be aggressive). They like mid to upper 70s so you have options as far as tankmates. Tankmates could include Platys, Mollies, Swordtails and Corys. Depending on how light you want to keep the stocking, Id probably do 6-8 Glass Cats as the centerpiece, then do a school of Corys with them and call it good. Since they get fairly large at 5 inches, 8 would be great in a 36 gallon with a school of 8 Corys.

Thanks for the reply!
I've had the pleco in the dirted tank for a couple months and uts good so far, she doesn't really dig. I wish I could rehome my glowlight tetra but he's so old I don't think he'd even survive shipping. Do you think the pleco, a school of glass catfish and a couple platys would be good? I really like interesting fish so if there are some more cool ones that would go well with the glass cats that would be good.