New to fishkeeping - could use some advice on setup

[FishFan]

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping to get into the world of tropical fish, and am about to buy my first aquarium. I want to make sure I'm doing everything right from the start, so I've been doing a lot of research, but there's a lot of conflicting advice out there!
I'm looking to get a 105L tank (37x76x48cm). My water is hard (11.3-16.8 german degrees), not sure of the pH.
My two big aims are to create a compelling aquascape with plenty of plant life and to house an interesting variety of fish with different body shapes/colours/personalities. I intend to do this very slowly, first stocking the plants and allowing them to settle, then cycling the tank, then adding the livestock. That being said, I want to make sure that the environment I make is going to be suitable for future fish, so I want to at least have a rough idea of what fish and how many I can introduce ahead of time. I've played around with aqadvisor, but it seems to miss a lot of subtleties when it comes to fish behavior and certain water parameters, and there's nothing like experience to see any potential pitfalls.
My potential fish list goes something like this:
1x bristlenose pleco
2x platy
2x dwarf gourami
2x african dwarf frog
2x molly
6x guppy
plenty of shrimp.
There seems to be some conflicting advice about keeping two dwarf gourami together, but I'm hoping with plenty of places to hide/distinct territories they might be okay. I'm also not sold on the guppies, but I like the idea of a group of small fish.
Any advice on the list, or other major pitfalls I should be aware of, would be great.
Thanks,
Rick

[plankton]

Welcome to the forum.
Mollies will eat shrimp, and I wouldn't keep them with guppies as they will (a) bully them and (b) interbreed as they are the same family (poecilia).
All livebearers are greedy so I wouldn't keep frogs with them as they are very slow feeders and really do best in a species-based tank.
Dwarf gourami are ok if it's a male and female, but they do better with soft water, mainly nowadays due to the way they're bred in the Czech and Far Eastern farms in water that's laced with meds. They seem to show the incurable iridovirus that is sometimes called "dwarf gourami disease" more in hard water.
Platies and guppies usually get on pretty well, but have a look at goodieds and limias instead (or as well). They don't breed as prolifically and are much less bonkers.
X-ray (pristella) tetras are ok in harder water.

[Flex365]

Welcome Home

[FishFan]

Thanks for the advice, plankton. The frogs were requested by my wife, who thinks fish by themselves are 'a bit boring', but I think she'd understaind if it was for their wellbeing. I could always get her a tank of her own...
I kept guppies and mollies together as a kid, but we won't go into all the things I did wrong back them. I'd much rather have the mollies than the guppies - would that work, and is there a good option to replace the guppies with?
I plan on having plants carpet the bottom, with plent of small crags and caves for shrimp to hide in. Still a no go for the shrimp?
I had originally hoped for some dwarf puffers, but it seems like there's no way to make that work.
Thanks again!
Rick

[plankton]

Mollies can get grumpy, I'm not a fan of them with anything else small. They will search out small shrimp and sometimes rip bigger ones to pieces.
I'm also very loathe to keep them in anything smaller than 3', preferably 4', as they have the potential to reach 8", depending on the dominant genes (from which species of molly they originate).

[FishFan]

Ok, radical rethink, here's take two (or two thousand, really) for a stocking list:

plenty of shrimp
5x dwarf gourami (I've heard keeping bigger groups of males together can be better aggression-wise)
6x platy (all male if I can manage it)
1x bristlenose plec
3x guppies (1 male, 2 female - this might sound mean, but I like the idea of some fry around for an extra snack for the others, and if a few make it to adulthood, that would be fine)

This brings me to about 75% stocked, which seems about right.
I know the dwarf gourami do better with softer water, but I'm a big fan, and my lfs highly recommends them and has had good success with the same water.
Thoughts?

[Suse]

I really wouldn't keep more than one dwarf gourami. I've had one - I loved him, but they are fiercely territorial by nature and will just be miserable if forced to co-habit a 3 foot tank. They might survive but you want happy fish that can act naturally. Just get the one and he will love being king of the tank. If you want multiple fish, get fish that like being with conspecifics e.g. the Pristella tetras Ian (Plankton) mentioned.

Platies and guppies are great choices with your water. Don't know anything about plecos as never had one.

Your plan to plant heavily, allow plants to settle and start growing, and then gradually introduce fish, is an excellent one.

[FishFan]

Suse, that's good to know. Definitely don't want the little guys to suffer if large groups won't stop their aggression. Sounds like I'll stick with one.
I've heard that tetras can be a bit nippy - is that a worry with having guppies in there too?
I've been playing around with a few different 'community creator' sites (not sure if we're allowed to reference other sites here, so I won't name them), and am getting massively different stocking densities - 77% on one website and 110% on the other with the same amount of fish. Is there a particular one you recommend, or another way to calculate stocking density? And what level to people generally feel comfortable at?

[Suse]

I like Aqadvisor - it's not perfect but it's a really good tool. About 75-80% is a comfortable level in my opinion to give an interesting and busy tank with some room for manoeuvre. Though it depends on a lot of factors. Remember it's about physical space as well as bioload.

I've never had guppies and tetras together so can't really comment on the combination specifically, but I have several types of tetras (rummynose, cardinals, Bentosi) and there aren't nippy at all.

[plankton]

X-rays aren't nippy unless they are attacked.
The BN should be fine, but they are quite messy fish, so make sure the filter is up to dealing with their waste.
Whereabouts are you? Maybe someone close by has a surfeit of BN fry?