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I recently got an 85 gallon hexagon tank from my aunt, and I have some questions.

Im wanting to make it a natural looking tank, with live plants and peaceful schooling fish. Any suggestions on live plants? I have never really had any true plants, just the ones that you drop a bulb in and the plant starts growing I plan on getting a piece of driftwood that is tall going up the middle of the tank or leaning on the back glass.

As far as fish go, I would like peaceful fish that are not extremely hard to take care of. I already have about an 11\" Plecostamus that will be going into the tank after it has been cycled. Fish that swim around the top and middle would be nice, and I will have some that are bottom dwellers, too. What suggestions do you guys have?

I can't help you on the plants. I use plastic only.

Peaceful fish usually are tetras, danios, mollies, etc. You should check out the Profiles section here and look under freshwater fish and look at the different types of fish. I found it extremely helpful in mostly narrowing down the kind of fish I want. Though, I'm still undecided in my final grouping of fish that I want. I really did find the Profiles section very helpful though. And if you find a fish you're interested in, there's a section on the bottom of the page that has a link you can click on to see compatable species of fish with the one you're interested in. That wouldn't necessarily be a complete compatability list, but it will give you an idea of the types that tend to go together.

Hi,
I'd suggest that you look at the "Planted Aquaria" forum
on this site. The top of the message listings has several
"sticky notes" that are chuck full of information for both
the newcomer and the advanced person considering live plants.

In the 84 gallon tank you should be concerned with the
type of light that you would be using. Normal aquarium
lighting is adsorbed and scattered by the water column
on the way to to gravel (where the plants are planted.)
If the depth of the tank is two feet or more, then you will
want to use light in the 8800 to 10,000K range. Use only
a bulb labeled DAYLIGHT or SUNLIGHT as part of its name.

While the tank is 84 gallons, and that is allot of water,
it is a hex configuration and has very little surface area
as compared to a rectangular tank. Surface area is what
determines the quantity of fish that the tank can hold.

The surface is the place where the exchange of oxygen and
CO2 takes place. It determines the size and quantity of
fish that can safely be kept in an aquarium.
For a hex:
http://www.howmanyfish.com/hex.htm
Fill in the blanks and see the results.

For additional plant information please ask your questions
in the Planted Aquaria section of Fish Profiles.
Thanks,

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

how tall is the tank if its 2'+ tall u could do a pair of angel fish ike three pictus catfish and maybe a small school of 4-6 of a smaller speices but u wil need to geed the bottem feeders in that tank cuz in tall tanks some times other fish get it all........for a school of fish for the middle id say rummeynoes tetras and get like 8-10
and 1 BN Pleco and ur tanks is gona looked packed but should be fine..... so the stocking would be

1-BN pleco
2-Angel fish
4-Pictus catfish
14- Rummey noes tetras

id use a lot of driftwood so u could attach some anubias to them with some sewing thread so they could be closer to the light and some hornwort or rotla to plnat in the substrate...... try to get it to have like 3-4 wats per gallon in that deep of a tank.......

ur pleco might pull eat and or bite cuncks out of leaves....... and will damage the plants....... ooopps didnt mean to make 2 posts meant to be 1 only.....