Hi Sun,
please dont let your dad's troubles scare you off
from having a beautifully planted tank, nor
let him put you off one of the easiest south american
cichlids to keep!
Aqua science has come a super long way from your dads time.
A Planted tank, if you take the time to choose the right
plants for your setup- can take no effort at all.
My tanks = planted and left alone. Only thing I do is once
every 4-5 months trim the plants out, and add fertilizer sticks
under the gravel. Properly chosen plants make for a gorgeous tank,
and with a good light, you need not much else.
Plants help out with tank maintenance, add oxygen to the water,
keep the nitrAtes low, and eat up crud in the gravel.
I would recommend live plants for any tank. Besides, they just look
the best. Hey, I cant even keep a houseplant alive,
but even I can do aquatic plants!!
And I dont know why he would have trouble with Angels, they are
a highly recommended beginners fish - but little baby angels
can be sensitive- I personally recommend going for larger ones.
Its worth the extra money. Once they get to about a 2-3 inch diameter, they are tough as nails.
Did you look to see what kind of pleco you have?
Really need to know that. Columbian Spotted is not
even a common name I could find for any pleco.
I suspect you have a marble sailfin pleco, or a gold nugget.
Both grow large- marble sailfins to 20 inches, gold nuggets to 8-10.
There are only a few "spotted" plecos that stay barely small enough for
even a 30g tank (less than 10 inches), the gold nugget is one, most are very expensive.
I would lean for a stocking of the 30g tank
as this:
5 Gold Barbs
5 Brilliant Rasbora
Pleco
7 Cory Cats of 1 species
Then your centerpeice could be 1 of these:
Pair of Pearl Gouramis (m/f)
Angelfish
1 Gold or Blue or Opaline or Moonlight Gourami
Firemouth Cichlid
Keyhole Cichlid
Bolivian Ram
Blue Ram
If you choose a bottom dweller like the rams or firemouth,
of course you wouldnt add the cories.
But please,
do a search on planet catfish and find out what your pleco
actually is. If its a marble sailfin or another large common type pleco,
you will need to get rid of it.
http://www.planetcatfish.com
And for plants, once you have figured out your lighting for the tank,
2.5wpg of light would give you the best conditions for a planted tank.
So you would need at least 60 watt light minimum, but less could be worked with as well. Heres a site of almost every common aquarium plant,
and tells you about them. Browse the pet store with a pen and paper,
write names down, and check on this site.
If it says Medium-High or Extra high light avoid. If it says Terrestrial or Terrarium plant, avoid - like Mondo Grass, Draecena, Peace Lily, Etc.
If it says moderate or low lighting, your good to go.
http://www.tropica.com