What fish for large tank?

Question
QUESTION: I currently have a large 150 gallon freshwater tank.  I had huge two butterfly koi and an 18 inch placo in it but when we went on vacation, lightening hit the house and tripped the breaker running the pumps.  The koi were killed but the placo survived.  I miss my koi but now want to set the tank up with several schools of fish (I love angels and neons and maybe even a beta) and a lot of plants.  Can you recommend fish that would get along together and do you think the placo (a very mild mannered fish with the koi) would have any agression issues?

ANSWER: Hi Shari,
Sorry to hear about the lightening tragedy. What a loss.

There are so many suitable community species for your aquarium its hard to know where to begin!

Angelfish are fantastic community fish. If you'd like to keep them with neons then try to raise young angels with the neons so that way the angels won't consider the neons as food.

Other compatible species would be-

Harlequin rasboras
Cardinal tetras
Lemon tetras
Danios
Rainbowfish
Swordtails
Corydoras catfish
German Blue Rams
Gouramis
Black neons
Loaches
Hatchetfish
Kribensis
Most other tetra species

You could have an absolutely gorgeous tank with large schools (perhaps two dozen of each of a few species) of tetras or other schooling fish that would make a dazzling display with Angels parading through and some corydoras catfish and Blue rams foraging around on the bottom. Your pleco shouldn't mind the other fish at all.

A betta might be a bit too intimidated by a lot of other community fish swimming around. His long dragging fins would make it difficult to swim if the filter is creates a lot of current so it may be best if you do get a betta to let him have his own smaller tank (which could house several peaceful tankmates) like a 5-10 gallon.

There are endless possibilities with your large tank. Just depends on what you like. Try doing a little research on the species I suggested. Oh how awesome it would be to have an (almost) empty 150 gallon just waiting for someone to stock it with something gorgeous and interesting!

*One note about the plants, unless they are plastic. Your 18 inch pleco may bulldoze through live plants and constantly uproot them. :)

I hope this helps!!
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much Karen.  Yes, I've been doing lots of research.  I'm in love with rainbow fish and many others.  Have ever ordered fish from an online source?  I've been looking at liveaquaria.com and they have some great fish.  re: pleco.  I've though about that and am going to anchor/surround all the plants with large rocks.  He may also be distracted by the algae on the rocks.  He's not eating much right now - perhaps he's stressed by missing tank mates although that's probably anthropormorphizing a bit.  Anyway, thank you again.  I do think this is going to be fun although miss my koi.
Shari

Answer
Hi Shari and you're welcome!

Unfortunately, I've never ordered from an online source before but I plan to someday. I found this short article on the risks and precautions on online fish ordering--it might help-

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fishqa/f/faq2010.htm

Anchoring plants to rocks definitely would help! I bet he would enjoy some zucchini slices and romaine lettuce!

Best of luck with everything!!
Karen~