Kinds Of Fish Can I Have?

[bluesword23516]

My tank is 40 US Gallons  it is 3x1x1.5 (LxWxH  in feet) There are guppies, neon tetras and a white skirt tetra. I think I might rehome the white skirt and all of the guppies but 8 of them (about 20 guppies). I also want to get 3 new neons to help the old ones school. 
 
Can I have:
Pleco (if so what breeds)
Gourami
Kuhli Loach
Shrimp (probably ghost) 
Otocinclus (is that an otto?)
 
Any advice on them would be helpful.  I don't plan on putting all of those fish in.  If I can I definitely want the shrimp and the gourami. I also would like some sort of algae eater, but no snails.  Also if they need groups let me know what size and how they act. 
 
Thanks!

 

[fishlover101]

I probably won't be much help, I have never owned such a large tank... however when my 29 gallon was fully stocked, I had 5 zebras, 5 neons, 5 tetras of some sort, and 2 blue gourami. the gourami can be extremely aggressive (one of mine killed the other) however if they can't catch the fish then the can't hurt it... so try getting something fast to put with the gourami, from personal expieiance I wouldn't put 2 together, but that could've just been my luck. As well as I wouldn't put them with guppies since they have long flashy tails. Gourami have great personalities and are exciting to watch... I wouldn't put shrimp with them either, as they will most likely just eat them. As for a pleco, I would try a bushy nose, they seem to be best for tanks under a hundred gallons... as they can grow extremely large... I'm not very experienced as far as community fish go ( I house only bettas). But I have had several tanks with community fish such as zebras and tetras. I would add : bushy nosed pleco, 5-10 zebras, and a gourami. However if the gourami becomes aggressive, remove it. Good luck!

 

[Ninjouzata]

There are many small plecs you can get, THIS may be of use to you. I highly recommend the bristlenose ones though, they come in a variety of colors and there are long-finned ones as well.
Most plecs would appreciate driftwood and some require it. May I ask why you want an algae eater? If you have algae then you should figure out why you're getting it and fix that. 
 
Some gourami can be quite aggressive as mentioned above, but one that should be very peaceful and stays small are honey gourami.
 
Kuhli loaches are really neat, and they have little bioload. They need groups of 6+ though more is always better as they can be quite shy. Make sure you have hiding places for them and sand substrate.
Shrimp may get eaten but ghosts are cheap so you could certainly try it out. They don't add much to bioload either.
 
Ottos need groups of 6+ as well and should be in a mature tank. You may need to grow algae to put in the tank for them but some do take algae wafers.
If you do get some make sure their bellies look nice and plump and not sunken in.

 

[DreamertK]

You could probably go with a fancy shrimp species if you wanted, at the very least red cherries. My gouramis didn't care too much about the shrimp. Though you definitly want to have a lot of wood/hiding spaces for the loaches/shrimp. Though I see more shrimp out and about than loaches.
 
I would get a couple pearl gourami.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Honey Gourami go well with shrimp, I have a pair with amano shrimp and they live peacefully.

 

[FishMonkey]

I have 2 Dwarf Gourami and they are fine with my Tiger Shrimp, never bothered them at all.
 
The Gourami are very boisterous when kept in pairs (in my experience), but great to watch!

 

[fm1978]

I agree totally with the honey gourami, beautiful fish and a more peaceful sort you could never find. I couldn't in all good conscience recommend dwarf gourami, though. They're lovely little guys and very interesting to watch, boisterous but farly well behaved, it's just the fact that they're very prone to dwarf gourami disease and it's very difficult to treat save for adding antibiotics regularly.
 
I'm biased on the shrimp angle, I love them... Amanos would easily be the most hardy of the shrimp that would be readily available. You'd need quite a lot of cover and hiding places to give any smaller more colouful species the best chance as well as careful fish selection. Crystal bees are lovely (red or black), all the different types of cherries are lovely, too.
 
Oh, meant to say, if you do decide on dwarf gourami (males) you could rule out a few other fish choices...for example, I wouldn't add guppies in with them. Anything with strong colouring and/or flowing fins/tails could be threatening to the boy DGs.

 

[DerpPH]

loaches eat shrimps in the wild so for me its a nono.
 
plecs that are small are peckoltia, zebra and BN but I recommend the zebra

 

[DerpPH]

but you could try your luck with amano shrimps.
 
Gouramis-pearl would be most suitable
 
otocinclus-you can if you had perfectly soft water

 

[bluesword23516]

Ok, so no on the loaches because I have gravel as substrate. So will the ottos be ok on gravel substrate? 
 

There are many small plecs you can get, THIS may be of use to you. I highly recommend the bristlenose ones though, they come in a variety of colors and there are long-finned ones as well.
Most plecs would appreciate driftwood and some require it. May I ask why you want an algae eater? If you have algae then you should figure out why you're getting it and fix that. 
 
Some gourami can be quite aggressive as mentioned above, but one that should be very peaceful and stays small are honey gourami.
 
Kuhli loaches are really neat, and they have little bioload. They need groups of 6+ though more is always better as they can be quite shy. Make sure you have hiding places for them and sand substrate.
Shrimp may get eaten but ghosts are cheap so you could certainly try it out. They don't add much to bioload either.
 
Ottos need groups of 6+ as well and should be in a mature tank. You may need to grow algae to put in the tank for them but some do take algae wafers.
If you do get some make sure their bellies look nice and plump and not sunken in.

I don't ever have algae, but I just love to see the fish stick to the glass. I would like to try a bushy nose pleco.  How large do they get? 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I think the ottos should be okay as they aren't usually on the bottom anyway.
 
Understandable. I have my plecs because I think they're cute/pretty

The bristlenose get 4-6".
 
They come in regular, albino, calico, super red, leucistic (pale yellow with blue eyes, also sometimes called lemon drop) and you can get these in regular or longfin. I love longfins. c:
I think I have heard the term green dragon but not sure if that is an actual color morph or not. Same for peppermint.