Noob Stocking Questions

[Zanderwolf]

Hey! I'm extremely new to aquariums and I'm try to plan my first tank. I've been looking into setting up this aquarium for a couple years and I was just able to start my 37 gallon aquarium in February!

Short backstory:
Since then I've gotten my first aquatic pets, a bristlenose pleco named Elliott and a nerite snail named Philip. Unfortunately Philip lasted only for a little over a week, I tested my water parameters and couldn't find anything wrong. So I'm guessing, stress, old age, or possibly sick. It's been almost 3 weeks since I lost my poor snail. Elliott, on the other hand, seems to be thriving.

But with the loss of the snail, I'm on the edge if I should try again or not. So I'm looking at options, it'll be a good while before I can get another animal. So I have plenty of time to weigh my options and I'm looking for advice or recommendations. I would prefer aquatic pets that are easy to care for or are not very expensive as I'm still learning.

Main Point:
Here is my current plan for my aquarium:
Planted tank (current plants in tank: java fern, dwarf sag, water sprite, cryptocoryne tropica)
(Maybe) 1 betta
1 pleco (Elliott)
10 neon tetras
(Maybe) 6 khuli loaches

That feels way overstocked in my opinion, according to AqAdvisor that 84% stocked. Is that high? Should I be aiming for 50% or lower? Should I try snails again instead of the loaches? I went with nerite snails because I'm worried about other snails eating my plants or laying eggs and taking over.

I added images from AqAdvisor and my tanks current condition. Please keep in mind I'm dumb and new ^^; I'm just trying to weigh my options, it'll be months before I get more fish.

***Note on the betta - I'm well aware the betta is controversial in a community tank. It will be the very last fish I add, if I do add it in. I will have a second plant 20 gallon aquarium for it as well. It's my plan B if I try to add it to the 37 gallon and it doesn't go well. Or I might just give it the 20 gallon with a smaller pleco (clown or bristlenose) tank mate.

 

[fishkeeper123]

Hey! I'm extremely new to aquariums and I'm try to plan my first tank. I've been looking into setting up this aquarium for a couple years and I was just able to start my 37 gallon aquarium in February!

Short backstory:
Since then I've gotten my first aquatic pets, a bristlenose pleco named Elliott and a nerite snail named Philip. Unfortunately Philip lasted only for a little over a week, I tested my water parameters and couldn't find anything wrong. So I'm guessing, stress, old age, or possibly sick. It's been almost 3 weeks since I lost my poor snail. Elliott, on the other hand, seems to be thriving.

But with the loss of the snail, I'm on the edge if I should try again or not. So I'm looking at options, it'll be a good while before I can get another animal. So I have plenty of time to weigh my options and I'm looking for advice or recommendations. I would prefer aquatic pets that are easy to care for or are not very expensive as I'm still learning.

Main Point:
Here is my current plan for my aquarium:
Planted tank (current plants in tank: java fern, dwarf sag, water sprite, cryptocoryne tropica)
(Maybe) 1 betta
1 pleco (Elliott)
10 neon tetras
(Maybe) 6 khuli loaches

That feels way overstocked in my opinion, according to AqAdvisor that 84% stocked. Is that high? Should I be aiming for 50% or lower? Should I try snails again instead of the loaches? I went with nerite snails because I'm worried about other snails eating my plants or laying eggs and taking over.

I added images from AqAdvisor and my tanks current condition. Please keep in mind I'm dumb and new ^^; I'm just trying to weigh my options, it'll be months before I get more fish.

***Note on the betta - I'm well aware the betta is controversial in a community tank. It will be the very last fish I add, if I do add it in. I will have a second plant 20 gallon aquarium for it as well. It's my plan B if I try to add it to the 37 gallon and it doesn't go well. Or I might just give it the 20 gallon with a smaller pleco (clown or bristlenose) tank mate.

First of all I wouldn’t do neon tetras they are weak. Look at cardinal tetras if you want that blue/red colour but there are many tetras available. I wouldn’t do a betta instead I would do a gourami or cichlid(like a Bolivian rams, kribensis) instead. How much do you want to do water changes. I would aim for 100-110 percent stocking and not 50 percent as it will look bare.
I would do
• 1 cichlid/ or a honey gourami
• 10-12 cardinal tetras if you like the blue/red colour but I prefer emperor tetras which are nice
• kuhli loaches
• a snail depending on what cichlid/gourami you choose.

 

[fishkeeper123]

First of all I wouldn’t do neon tetras they are weak. Look at cardinal tetras if you want that blue/red colour but there are many tetras available. I wouldn’t do a betta instead I would do a gourami or cichlid(like a Bolivian rams, kribensis) instead. How much do you want to do water changes. I would aim for 100-110 percent stocking and not 50 percent as it will look bare.
I would do
• 1 cichlid/ or a honey gourami
• 10-12 cardinal tetras if you like the blue/red colour but I prefer emperor tetras which are nice
• kuhli loaches
• a snail depending on what cichlid/gourami you choose.

Another option would be zebra danios which are cheap and bulletproof. A betta in a 20 gallon with a clown pleco would be fine but no Bristlenose.

 

[Zanderwolf]

First of all I wouldn’t do neon tetras they are weak. Look at cardinal tetras if you want that blue/red colour but there are many tetras available. I wouldn’t do a betta instead I would do a gourami or cichlid(like a Bolivian rams, kribensis) instead. How much do you want to do water changes. I would aim for 100-110 percent stocking and not 50 percent as it will look bare.
I would do
• 1 cichlid/ or a honey gourami
• 10-12 cardinal tetras if you like the blue/red colour but I prefer emperor tetras which are nice
• kuhli loaches
• a snail depending on what cichlid/gourami you choose.

So I don't want to dive in and be constantly doing water changes. Right now, once a week I do a water change that's about 25% (8 gallons per water change in my 37 gallon tank that has about 5 inches of substrate). I would like to keep water changes around there, maybe twice a week. I'm worried about overwhelming myself, so I'm trying to ease into things.

I'll have to look in to those tetras, zebra danios, and the cichlids. I didn't even consider cichlids, I thought they were all very aggressive and needed larger tanks. I'm not a big fan of gourami, but that bolivian ram cichlid looks interesting. Of course I have to learn about them before I make any sort of choice. I already have Elliott the bristlenose, so I'll have to make sure he can coexist with anything else I get.

I'll probably get the betta with a clown pleco for the 20 gallon then (I always love an excuse to get another pleco lol they are my favorite)

 

[Aiken Drum]

What precisely are your water parameters and what test kit are you using?

Aqadvisor is pretty conservative, so if it says 84% stock level you are more likely the 50% you may be aiming for. What does it say about your filtration capacity?

Personally I prefer cardinals over neons because they are a bit bigger and more colourful. Cardinals are more likely to be wild caught fish than farmed or tank bred though, so neons may be more suited to your water parameters. Id go for whichever you personally prefer.

There are many reasons why your nerite died. Maybe it was not healthy to start with, maybe your pleco outcompeted it for food. Which do you prefer? Nerites or the loaches? The nerites will be better at cleaning algae (although this overlaps the pleco) and loaches will be better general food clean up. Now your aquarium is more established, no reason not to try nerites again if that's your preference, especially once more food is going in the aquarium.

The screenshot says a female betta. While this is safer than male, neons and kuhli loaches are considered a safe choice with male bettas. There is always a risk, but your choices of fish, size of aquarium and adding the betta last make it reasonable risk. You have a back up plan to separate the fish if needed too. Keeping male bettas in community aquariums is for your benefit, not the bettas, but its a risk you could take if you prefer a male over a female.

While your stock level is quite low and 25% water change weeekly will likely suffice, as long as your tap water isn't wildly different to your aquarium parameters then it takes 10 minutes longer to change 50% compared to 25%. My opinion is why not spend a little longer on aquarium maintenance and keep the parameters are little better?

Be aware that your cycle will have established enough to support the fish you currently have. Whether you add more in a day, a week or a month from now your cycle will need to catch up to the increased bioload of any new fish. So don't add all the new fish in one go. Increase your stock level gradually over a number of weeks/ months.

 

[Zanderwolf]

What precisely are your water parameters and what test kit are you using?

Aqadvisor is pretty conservative, so if it says 84% stock level you are more likely the 50% you may be aiming for. What does it say about your filtration capacity?

Personally I prefer cardinals over neons because they are a bit bigger and more colourful. Cardinals are more likely to be wild caught fish than farmed or tank bred though, so neons may be more suited to your water parameters. Id go for whichever you personally prefer.

There are many reasons why your nerite died. Maybe it was not healthy to start with, maybe your pleco outcompeted it for food. Which do you prefer? Nerites or the loaches? The nerites will be better at cleaning algae (although this overlaps the pleco) and loaches will be better general food clean up. Now your aquarium is more established, no reason not to try nerites again if that's your preference, especially once more food is going in the aquarium.

The screenshot says a female betta. While this is safer than male, neons and kuhli loaches are considered a safe choice with male bettas. There is always a risk, but your choices of fish, size of aquarium and adding the betta last make it reasonable risk. You have a back up plan to separate the fish if needed too. Keeping male bettas in community aquariums is for your benefit, not the bettas, but its a risk you could take if you prefer a male over a female.

While your stock level is quite low and 25% water change weeekly will likely suffice, as long as your tap water isn't wildly different to your aquarium parameters then it takes 10 minutes longer to change 50% compared to 25%. My opinion is why not spend a little longer on aquarium maintenance and keep the parameters are little better?

Be aware that your cycle will have established enough to support the fish you currently have. Whether you add more in a day, a week or a month from now your cycle will need to catch up to the increased bioload of any new fish. So don't add all the new fish in one go. Increase your stock level gradually over a number of weeks/ months.

My test kit is API Freshwater Master Test Kit
Ph is 7.4 (same as tap)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate is between 20 and 40ppm, so I'm going to go with 30ppm
I also bought an API copper test after the snail died and that test comes back as 0
And tomorrow is water change day.

At the time I still had loads of diatoms in the tank, so I'm guessing food wasn't an issue?? I also tried dropping a piece of blanched zuccini in, but no body wanted it.

If I have to remove more water, that's not so bad. I just would prefer not to need a water change every single day.

As for a preference between the loaches or nerite snails, I don't have one. I don't know enough to make a preference on who is easier for me to care for. I LOVE invertebrates, arthropods, mollusks, all of them. On the the other hand I love watching khuli loaches swim. I also enjoy schools or groups of fish. Both can be inactive or hide, but when you do see either it's fun.

And I've heard to add fish slowly before. But how slow is slow enough? I'm talking specifically about when it comes to the fish that need schools or groups. Should I get all 10 tetras at once? Will they be aggressive at first newcomers if I do get a couple at a time?

 

[Zanderwolf]

According to AqAdvisor, with the fish I was originally planning for my filtration capacity is:
Your aquarium filtration capacity is satisfactory.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 115%.
Recommended water change schedule: 19% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 84%.

 

[Aiken Drum]

At the time I still had loads of diatoms in the tank, so I'm guessing food wasn't an issue?? I also tried dropping a piece of blanched zuccini in, but no body wanted it.

I've read that nerites are good diatom eaters, but they have never eaten diatoms in any of my aquariums. I've never had them eat veggies either. They tend to eat algae and biofilm in my aquariums, and these would be limited in a new aquariums and what there is would be more quickly eaten by a pleco.

And I've heard to add fish slowly before. But how slow is slow enough? I'm talking specifically about when it comes to the fish that need schools or groups. Should I get all 10 tetras at once? Will they be aggressive at first newcomers if I do get a couple at a time?

If you are seeing zero ammonia and nitrite in daily testing over a week, you can add more fish if doing so isn't going to cause you to be overstocked. You don't want to increase bioload by more than 30% in one go. Finger in the air estimate, 1 BN pleco is the same as 5 or 6 tetras. So add a couple of tetras. This is one of the reasons why fishless cycling is a good idea because you can add complete schools of fish in one go, rather than gradually adding them and risking stressing your fish by keeping them in too small a group. Probably 4 tetras is a good compromise between not increasing bioload too quickly, and not keeping too few fish. Expect to see elevated water parameters for a few days after you add new fish and do more frequent water changes until your cycle catches up.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate is between 20 and 40ppm, so I'm going to go with 30ppm

If your nitrate is 20 to 40ppm with 25% weekly water change with just 1 pleco, expect to need bigger, more frequent water changes if you add more fish. Is there nitrate in your tap water? Your nitrate is quite high for such a small amount of fish.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 115%.
Recommended water change schedule: 19% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 84%.

I would be more concerned about the filtration than the stock level. You typically want to half the rating on a filter. So if your filter is rated for 40 gallons, then it's really only good for a fully stocked 20 gallon aquarium. Your 37 gallon aquarium really wants filtration rated for 70 to 80 gallons if you plan on fully stocking the aquarium. The light stock you are planning is probably going to be OK, but consider a filter upgrade, and be careful about how many fish you keep. I wouldn't go beyond your current plans without more filtration.

 

[Zanderwolf]

If your nitrate is 20 to 40ppm with 25% weekly water change with just 1 pleco, expect to need bigger, more frequent water changes if you add more fish. Is there nitrate in your tap water? Your nitrate is quite high for such a small amount of fish.

There are nitrates in my tap water about 10ppm
I've also added Aquarium Co-op's Easy Green All-in-One Fertilizer within the past week (3ml, 1ml for every 10 gallons) I do this once a month, since I only have one fish. There is also 4 inchs of an active soil, Fluval 12695 Plant and Shrimp Stratum for Freshwater Fish Tanks idk if that adds to it or not. There is about 1 inches of gravel on top of the soil. Though some of the soil had made it's way to the top layer now.

I do want a better filter some day, this filter came with the aquarium. I don't use the cartridges that came with it. I have a sponge on the intake and a sponge, filter floss, and Fluval BioMaz Biological Material Remover in a mesh bag inside the filter.

If you are seeing zero ammonia and nitrite in daily testing over a week, you can add more fish if doing so isn't going to cause you to be overstocked. You don't want to increase bioload by more than 30% in one go. Finger in the air estimate, 1 BN pleco is the same as 5 or 6 tetras. So add a couple of tetras. This is one of the reasons why fishless cycling is a good idea because you can add complete schools of fish in one go, rather than gradually adding them and risking stressing your fish by keeping them in too small a group. Probably 4 tetras is a good compromise between not increasing bioload too quickly, and not keeping too few fish. Expect to see elevated water parameters for a few days after you add new fish and do more frequent water changes until your cycle catches up.

Thank you! I'll keep this in mind when I get more fish. First I want a quarantine tank for new fish.

 

[joshuakenneth]

Hey! I'm extremely new to aquariums and I'm try to plan my first tank. I've been looking into setting up this aquarium for a couple years and I was just able to start my 37 gallon aquarium in February!

Short backstory:
Since then I've gotten my first aquatic pets, a bristlenose pleco named Elliott and a nerite snail named Philip. Unfortunately Philip lasted only for a little over a week, I tested my water parameters and couldn't find anything wrong. So I'm guessing, stress, old age, or possibly sick. It's been almost 3 weeks since I lost my poor snail. Elliott, on the other hand, seems to be thriving.

But with the loss of the snail, I'm on the edge if I should try again or not. So I'm looking at options, it'll be a good while before I can get another animal. So I have plenty of time to weigh my options and I'm looking for advice or recommendations. I would prefer aquatic pets that are easy to care for or are not very expensive as I'm still learning.

Main Point:
Here is my current plan for my aquarium:
Planted tank (current plants in tank: java fern, dwarf sag, water sprite, cryptocoryne tropica)
(Maybe) 1 betta
1 pleco (Elliott)
10 neon tetras
(Maybe) 6 khuli loaches
acft score calculator
That feels way overstocked in my opinion, according to AqAdvisor that 84% stocked. Is that high? Should I be aiming for 50% or lower? Should I try snails again instead of the loaches? I went with nerite snails because I'm worried about other snails eating my plants or laying eggs and taking over.

I added images from AqAdvisor and my tanks current condition. Please keep in mind I'm dumb and new ^^; I'm just trying to weigh my options, it'll be months before I get more fish.

***Note on the betta - I'm well aware the betta is controversial in a community tank. It will be the very last fish I add, if I do add it in. I will have a second plant 20 gallon aquarium for it as well. It's my plan B if I try to add it to the 37 gallon and it doesn't go well. Or I might just give it the 20 gallon with a smaller pleco (clown or bristlenose) tank mate.

You're doing a great job so far, especially as a beginner. Losing Philip was unfortunate, but it sounds like you handled it well by checking your water parameters and observing Elliott closely. Your current plan with Elliott, neon tetras, and possibly kuhli loaches is solid, and 84% stocking on AqAdvisor is generally acceptable for a well-maintained tank. Just be sure to keep up with water changes and monitor behavior. Kuhli loaches are peaceful and fun, but if you're still unsure, giving nerite snails another try could be a great option—they're low-maintenance and won’t overpopulate. You're clearly thinking things through carefully, and that’s exactly what makes a successful aquarist.

 

[Sesom]

If your looking for a snail that wont take over the tank, you could try nerites again, which cant breed without brackish water, trapdoor snail or rabbit snail, which reproduce very slowly. mystery snails are pretty slow breeders and are very fun to watch. some less widespread snails that I have heard dont reproduce very fast are piano snails and white wizard snails, tho they might be hard to find. assasin snails wont take over but you have to feed them. some other good tankmates could be any form of shrimp, although they might be attacked by the betta and some of there babies will be eaten, but if there are a decent amount of plants then some babies will be fine