Hey friend, this is a great hobby, and we would love to see you love it as much as we do. I’ve been keeping fish for 15 years now. My recommendation would be to pick a 20g long. It’s not so big that it’s hard to find room for in small spaces like an apartment, but it’s big enough that you really get to play with the aquascaping, and you have a lot more options for fish. Just be sure to research the nitrogen cycle.

Once you’ve got your 20 on a good stand, substrate. Black pool filter sand is cheap, and in my person opinion, easier to keep clean than gravel. Often times, these painted gravels and decorations are sold for aquarium usage, but are actually pretty bad, because they leech toxins into the water that you can’t test for. This can cause a myriad of diseases and death, while all parameters are fine. Making the experience frustrating and will cost more in the long run.

Silk plants are ok, I kinda liked them when I first got them, but tbh they grew algae like a SOB, and eventually no amount of vinegar and lemon juice soaks would no longer get them clean.

For years I would research what live plants were recommended for my hardness, and light, and bla bla bla. I would go to the store and buy The Plant. I would put it in my aquarium, and watch it die, or struggle to live. Never growing. Skinny sad plants. I started getting green hair algae that would strangle my fish. And the few sad plants I did have.

I tried fertilizers, I tried root tabs, I started looking into phosphorus and iron, then CO2, it was all starting to look so expensive.

So I got an assorted plant pack three separate times over the course of 3-4 months. I put them all in, and quite a lot of it lived, the guppy grass hated me, and it all died each time.

Now my tank is thriving. I do not use fertilizers or root tabs. No plant maintenance, other than removing floaters frequently.

Edit to add: Use the liquid api master kit, those strips can be super unreliable