I currently have 5 different species of fish in my aquarium, most of which originated from South America in the areas of the central Brazil, Peru, Columbia, and the Central Amazonian Regions. These fish are:
Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) I have 2 of these. They are mainly white with verticle black stripes. They reach a maximum length of 6", and prefer softer water.
Ram (Microgeophagus ramirezi)
I also have pair of these. They are brightly coloured with light blues, yellows, reds, black, and brilliant white. They are peaceful towards other fish and reach a lenght of about 3".
Black Neon (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) I have a 6-fish school of these guys. They're interesting to watch school and have a grey-black coloration with a "glowing" reflective white stripe horizontally down the middle of their body above their lateral line. They get a maximum of about 1 1/2".
Oto Cats (Otocinclus affinis)
These are active little fish that are great at cleaning algae of leaves without damaging them. My two are a brownish-yellow-grey. They stay small, mine are a bit more than an inch. Don't keep more than one for every ten gallons of water or there won't be enough algae to go around.
False Siamensis I bought this fish from PetsMart where it was labeled as "Siamese Algae Eater" but upon further inspection, at home i realized that it was a false siamensis. I found this out after reading the article Algae Eating Cyprinids from the krib. This fish still eats algae, has a yellow-brown body with a black horizontal stripe and a pink-white underbelly. It's a fast swimmer, and reaches a maximum length of 6". I've never kept more than one in a tank, but I've heared that they can be quarrelsome with species of it's own kind, even though it is peaceful towards other fish.
I currently have 9 plant species in my tank which grow vigorously and FAST!! I owe this to: Lighting, CO2, and nutrients/fertilization.
Most bunch plants are rather undemanding and are easily propegated by re-planting trimmings and on its own.
Giant Hygro (Hygrophila corymbosa) It's much larger than most hygros or bunch plants (implied by the name). It's stems are thicker, leaves are larger, roots are HUGE with a capital hu, once when i uprooted it, it was a flat sheet or tangled roots 7" in diameter!!!! I keep mine in the back right side of my tank, growing close-to-the-surface hight. New leaves are lighter green than older larger ones.
Sunset Hygro (Hygrophila polysperma) It's one of the most common of the hygro's and a common plant. It's light green and has a thin stem with twin leaves on either side. A very vigorously growing plant that does well on almost all conditions. I keep mine in the back left hand corner of my tank, sloping doward with the rotola sp. towards the center of the tank. This plant needs regular trimming.
Green Rotola (exact species is unknown) This plant is kept in the back left corner of my tank, infront of the Sunset Hygro, and is cut at a downward slope towards the center. The leaves are small (2 cm) and there are many. It grows a bit slower than my other bunch plants.
Corkscrew Vallisneria (Vallisneria americana var. bewaensis) This plant wasn't doing so well before i made the adjustments to my tank. It wasn't growing at all and was about four inches tall. When i made the changes, the leaves were at the surface in 7 days!!! it must have grown 8 inches in that time!!! I was amazed. this plant is infront of my rotola and sunset hygro.
Amazon Sword Plant (Echinodorus bleheri) This is my centerpiece plant and because of it's large size it does a great job of this. It seems to grow at a medium speed and to trim, just cut the larger leaves off.
Crypto (Cryptocoryne undulata) It's in the front righthand corner f my tank. It's a slow grower but is healthy. It's a dark green with a reddish tinge.
Pygmy Chain Sword (Echinodorus tenellus) It looks like a grassy lawn and grows outward with runners shooting out in all directions. It's a great foreground plant and space filler. I keep mine in the center foreground of my aquarium. It's about 2-3 inches tall.
Nana (Anubias nana) This is a slow growing short plant that has broad spade shaped leaves and is dark to medium green. It grows on a rhizomes and side shoots. I keep mine in the front left side of my aquarium.
Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus) I keep this wedged between two rocks and it grows roots that attach themselves to the rocks. I keep it in the center right if my tankinfront of my CO2 reactor and giant hygro, but behind my crypto. This is a very easy plant to keep and it looks great.