10 gallon stocking

[StephanieFish]

We have a 10 gallon, planted, half moon tank. It's running a sponge filter and a Fluval aquaclear 50 hob (good for 20-30gals and the flow is adjustable so no the water isn't crazy turbulent) with the addition of purigen, ammonia remover, and extra biomedia. It's fully cycled and planted. I know the general guidelines for stocking is 1inch of fish per gallon. There are currently 10 happy guppies in there. My question, from a space stand point, is would adding a small school of dwarf chain loaches be okay since guppies stick to the top 90% of the time and loaches stick to the bottom and prefer to school anyway therefore not getting in the guppies way? I'm strictly asking from a space and social interaction aspect. We know about water changes and keeping the parameters in check as we have multiple other aquariums with happy healthy fish. We do frequent tank maintenance almost daily and check the parameters every morning. Assuming water quality will be maintained, any thoughts on this combo? Thank you in advance!

 

[toolman]

The 1"per gallon rule is not an acceptable stocking guide.

Your tank is already overstocked, I wouldn't add any more fish. IMHO only nano fish or a single betta should be kept in a 10 gallon tank. I keep endlers in one, and even then I am going to upgrade to a 40b.

Aqadvisor is not perfect, but it's a better stocking guide than the 1" rule. I ran your stock, filter and 10 gallon tank. It also agrees your tank is overstocked at 141%.

 

[toolman]

Had to change the screenshot to get the app to load it but...