I would disagree and say that a BN is too big for that size tank, a BN will equate more than 3 neon tetras. They are much bigger and create much more waste than any tetra ever will. Also when people start talking about taking into account how many liters in the tank are off set against decor forget it, you have a 60 liter tank stock accordingly. As long as you dont get fish that will get so big it becomes an issue which should be avoided.
Cockatoo cichlids are a type of family called apistograma, there are loads of species in this family in the hobby now with quite a few becoming readily available. Now even though they are all dwarfs some stay smaller than others. Apsitogramma Panduro is one of the smaller ones and is a stunning fish for a small tank like this the male is a steel neon blue and the female has panda markings in black and yellow thats the species I would go for in a tank like that
Apistos are best kept in trios with 1 male to 2 females, in this kind of scenario the females would be busy tending to eggs and fry and keeping a nest to interfere with each other.
With dwarf cichlids in that size tank I would avoid getting any bottom dwellers and just give them the bottom layer to themselves. Guppies might be okay though it will depend on the individual apistos as to what happens but because the guppies stay high up you might be okay. Tetras would be really good and a school of rummy nose tetras would look fantastic
An other option that would work pretty nice would be marbled hatchet fish which stay at the surface all the time and are little triangular schooling fish. Having these schooling fish will also increase your apistos confidence as when they can see smaller fish in upper water it tells them that the area is safe and there are no predators, without the smaller schooling fish apistos and other dwarf cichlids can be very shy and hide in caves all the time because there are no signals that there are no predators in the water.
So that said the stocking list I would consider would be
3 Apistograma Panduro (1M 2F)
10 Marbled Hatchets or 10 Rummy Nose Tetras (or similar small tetra)
5 Cherry shrimp (maybe, something for you to think about the cichlids may eat them but there is a good chance they wont)
The reason I have said 1 school of 10 is to encourage more natural behavior, in bigger schools the fish will be happier and give off a better schooling look to the tank. Although you could go for 5 of each as an other option but its upto you really. The above list goes beyond the inch per gallon rule but IMO that rule is balls the small schooling fish wont produce 10 inches of waste if you see what I mean the shrimp create next to nothing and the majority of the filter colony will be supporting the apistos.
Dont be put off cichlids though, there is a lot of confusion about them. There are two types, african and american. Most african need a species aquarium but most of the smaller american ones can be mixed in some kind of community set up with some careful consideration.
Hope thats helped
Wills
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