Hi
Can see you're on the right track from the start !! Doing your research before you even start.
If serious about angelfish would suggest a 4 foot tank . this allows for lots of variations in the setup as well as equipment choices. Will house at least 6 adult angelfish allowing them to grow to full potential.
as to plants ,gazillions of choices but for an angel tank would suggest a full landscaped setup. complete with a good substrate. low light types are probably best since you'll want to keep the lighting subdued ,
One of the best are "Amazon swords " with many choices of sizes and growth habits. the larger types form nice clumps of growth
Keep doing your reading until you get an idea of what you want the setup. Goodluck!!! gary

What do you recommend as a "good substrate"?

There are a lot of books and online information about fish, but not much about the plants, rocks, set up of the tank.

Do you have favorite sources for aquarium plants? There is a larger variety of plastic plants and day glow colored stones than anything practical an natural in the stores.

Hi, I'm just popping in here after noticing your post in the 'most recent posts' area. I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, but I have a few thoughts and suggestions. Please ignore what you know and I hope that some of this is of help to you.

Absolutely, you are right on to begin with plants only in your fresh water tank. When you (slowly) do introduce fish to the planted tank, the plants can help absorb some of the ammonia and aid with cycling the new aquarium. Also, the fish are less likely to pull and pick at the established plants because they were in the tank already. If you put all new plants in an aquarium that fish are in first, the fish see the plants as new objects and will pick at them just like they do future introduced fish.

I agree, ideally your tank should be at least 18" tall and 4' long for angels. That would be a 55gal and up. Too small of a tank, for certain fish, can be a recipe for disaster. Also, with smaller tanks, when things go bad (ammonia spike, temperature swing) they go bad very quickly. With a larger volume of water in larger tanks, there is a slower movement with spikes and swings and time to catch problems before any real damage is done.

Search the web for a local fresh water aquarium fish club. They will have auctions and swaps at various times of year, usually spring and fall. The auctions and swap meets almost always have live aquarium plants, tanks, fresh water fish of all kinds and hardware such as heaters etc. You can meet a lot of nice folks there.

The 'local' aquarium fish clubs in my area are over 70 miles away. There is one north of me 70 miles, west 100 miles and east 140 miles. It is fun to attend fish club auctions and worth the time and travel for me to get home grown disease free fish.

You are doing the right thing by reading and researching different forums for info before beginning. Aquariums are a pretty big investment both time wise and monetarily. I hope are you willing to do the weekly or every other week partial water changes and monthly filter maintenance. In the summer that 'used' water is wonderful on the garden. Have you read about and understand the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle in aquariums, how to test for those things, the importance of water changes (even in planted tanks) and stocking fish at each level of your tank?

Two other aquarium fish and plant specific sites are ciclid-forum and aquaticplantscentral to read posts for more info and ideas. Just like any forum, some posters can get a little radical, but by reading you can sort through the info and make your own judgements and choices.

The pic is my 90gal with a marble angel as the centerpiece fish. I got it at a fish club auction as a nearly full grown single. I assume it was in a third wheel in a tank with paired angels. Four pelvachromis pulcher are the bottom dwelling fish and the OB cichlid (another fish club auction stray) is tank mate to the angel. Both Lace leaf and regular Java fern are the plants. The substrate is builder grade sand, nothing special since java fern doesn't need to take root in it.

Your tank is lovely. Do you have gravel on top of sand?

In a former life I was a chemical engineer with a background in biochemistry. I understand the concept of eco-balance. I need to learn more about achieving that in a fish tank.

The tank I have is probably too small for angelfish. I am going to start with it anyway and hold off on angelfish for now. I am going to aim for a South African river environment and choose plants and fish that are compatible with angelfish.

the plan is set up the tank with the filtration, heating, substrate. Then add the plants and wait for them to show growth. then add a couple small fish....I think most people get excited with a new pond or tank, buy everything that catches their eye and then fight to maintain and unstable ecosystem.

I remember as a kid getting an aquarium with guppies, mollies, small pet store fish. I had already had two painted turtles. Turtles are really stink. My mother threw the turtles in with the fish. Of course, a turtle ate the prettiest guppy. Back to the stinky tank they went.

I don't have gravel, just course builder's grade sand. It has reds and tans in it, so I guess that is why to you it looks like gravel in the pic. Gravel has spaces that food and poo settles into, so, imo, it's more work to maintain.

Some food for thought:
Inexpensive play sand (that comes in bags from places like Walmart) also works fine. All sand will need to be rinsed many times before being added to the tank. Some folks use pool filter sand because they like the white color.

I keep my sand at about 1" deep. For low light plants the majority typically grow java fern and anubias, which don't root in the substrate much. I have some cryptocorne and a mellon sword in another tank but, for me, those required a seasoned tank a brighter light to get established.

Small tanks can be very pretty and are very plant-able. What size is the tank that you have already: height, width, depth? Do you have a light fixture for it already too?

For example, a smaller planted tank with nice group of neon tetras or black tetra would look terrific with plain black background on the tank. Depending on the size of your aquarium, a group of 6 or 8 Pygmy corydoras would work for bottom dwellers. These little catfish will help clean up the food that the other fish miss and drops to the bottom.

I'd keep your first set up simple.
Less stress and more enjoyment!

Thanks for your advice. I am still researching my setup.

What is your choice for filters? Undergravel/Sand? Side Mounted?

I found an introductory booklet on natural aquariums. My tank is waiting for me to be ready to start filling it...

http://www.adana.co.jp/en/digicatalog/

For smaller setups I've used Hagen AquaClear over the back filters. Self prime-ing and maintenance is easy. Monthly just rinse the filter media in de-clorinated water and re use so you don't loose any good bacteria.
The AquaClears have a good water turn over rate.

Depending on the size of your aquarium, Rena makes a great canister filter.

Be very careful when considering a heater. Cheap ones can go beserk and over heat. You may want to consider setting it up without a heater while you don't have fish and watch what temp the tank stays at. I don't use heaters any more. Our home s pretty consistant temp and the lights add warmth.

Something else I just thought about, placement of your aquarium in the room is important too. Be careful that sunlight doesn't shine or reflect into the tank. That can heat the water or, the larger concern, algae. Also avoid placement of the aquarium near drafty doors or windows..