40g breeder stocking okay?

[rhsoto94]

40g breeder heavily planted

5 penguin tetra
5 colored white skirt tetra
5 veiltail cherry barb
1 red tail shark
1 clown pleco
5 amano shrimp

All of them are happy and healthy and my red tail is very peaceful never even touched the Amanos when they were tiny.

My question is would I be able to add anything else.

Aqadvisor says I'm at 63% but it kinda seems like a lot to me. My nitrates stay between 5-10ppm and do weekly 50% changes sometimes less b/c I try to keep nitrates a little higher for plants.

I would like to add a small school of 5 boesmani rainbows which puts me at 89% but like I said that feels a little overstocked. If not then id add a pair of rams but I would really like rainbows.

 

[henningc]

You could add another 4 each to your tetra schools. By the way, great choice, penguins are really cool and I have no idea why they are not more popular. Rams would do a number on the shrimp so their out. If you're looking for more bottom dwellers you could go with groups of 8 corys, but I'd go one better and maybe go with 12 kuhli loaches. If the top level is more your thing, some pigmy gouramis would be different. Due to the structure of a 40B you could have 2-3 pairs no problem as long as there is floating cover.

About the rainbows, that would work but then you are getting too much at mid-water. The shark, all I can say is in my experience their personalities can change in a snap. Just keep a sharp eye on it. I actually have a 4" crayfish that lives in a strip tank with breeder cory cats and never bothers them. Don't suggest trying it, but it goes to show all animals have their own personalities.

 

[rhsoto94]

Yeah I got the penguins because I hardly seem them around and really turned out liking them. I would like Pygmy gouramis but can't really find them anywhere local but would definitely give them a try. And I've done julii cories but for some reason every once in a while one of them drops dead for no reason I know of so I'm going to be switching them out to another tank. As for mid dwellers or top dwellers it's really only the penguins. Cherry barbs are all over the place and for some reason my white skirts like the bottom and don't really school it's a bummer. So I thought rainbows would be good I just thought they'd over stock my tank. Thanks for the input!