Stocking upgraded tank suggestions!?

[Sian57]

Hi there!!
I recently had a 22l tank that I have upgrade to a 40L tank (although I am convinced it's about 45L-50L after filling it up). Only replaced it because my 22L cracked and this tank was the best I could get in a few hours notice.
I was hoping to get some suggestions on how to stock it to make sure its not overstocked (I overstocked the 22L for sure sadly, I was fairly new and I don't want to make the same mistake again). During the tank change, I sadly lost my betta and it was definitely because it was such an emergency change (think the stress killed him as everyone else is fine and tests come back clear).
I currently have: 1x bristlenose pleco, 2x aquatic dwarf frogs, 2x harlequin rasbora, 1x cherry barb, 2x shrimp. It's a fairly planted tank and I will be looking at adding some more deco (and getting some wood) to make some hiding spaces. Currently there isn't much cause I doubled tank size!
Was wondering what people thought on how many more fish I could have in my tank or perhaps even just one 'centrepiece' fish. My betta was my absolute favourite part of my tank and I am a bit heartbroken to get a new one - want to try new fish!
Any help would be super appreciated

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum sorry to hear about your cracked tank, nightmare!

Do you know the model of the tank you have got just to check the dimensions and the capacity? At smaller sizes the difference between 40 and 50 litres is quite a bit its 25% bigger.

From your 25 litre there are a few issues that I don't think a 40-50 litre tank will fix. The Bristlenose Pleco is a bit too big for me to go in any of these tanks, you want something 125 litres+ for them as they do get pretty big and messy. I'd personally never keep frogs and fish together - the dwarf frogs are not a risk to the fish, but they can get outcompeted for food by fish and go hungry and even starve. You may get lucky but you might be better having 2 tanks if you want to keep them long term.

With your two species of fish left here the Harlequins and Cherry Barbs you ideally want these in groups of at least 10 which I think if you did this you would struggle to keep both species so you may be better off increasing the school of one of these species to a good level eg 15.

Your 2 shrimp will likely be ok as just the two but you could increase the group to 5-6 without worry (I'm assuming they are either Cherry Shrimp or Amanos?)

Wills

 

[Sian57]

Hi welcome to the forum sorry to hear about your cracked tank, nightmare!

Do you know the model of the tank you have got just to check the dimensions and the capacity? At smaller sizes the difference between 40 and 50 litres is quite a bit its 25% bigger.

From your 25 litre there are a few issues that I don't think a 40-50 litre tank will fix. The Bristlenose Pleco is a bit too big for me to go in any of these tanks, you want something 125 litres+ for them as they do get pretty big and messy. I'd personally never keep frogs and fish together - the dwarf frogs are not a risk to the fish, but they can get outcompeted for food by fish and go hungry and even starve. You may get lucky but you might be better having 2 tanks if you want to keep them long term.

With your two species of fish left here the Harlequins and Cherry Barbs you ideally want these in groups of at least 10 which I think if you did this you would struggle to keep both species so you may be better off increasing the school of one of these species to a good level eg 15.

Your 2 shrimp will likely be ok as just the two but you could increase the group to 5-6 without worry (I'm assuming they are either Cherry Shrimp or Amanos?)

Wills

the tank is the aquamanta nano 40l led aquarium - I do think it's slightly bigger than 40l and I saw some other people online saying the same too
yes unfortunately, I know that I should never have gotten the pleco, I unfortunately can't do much about that now - had him over a year with no issues but I do understand that he needs a much bigger tank and definitely will not be replacing him. at the time, I was told by pets at home he would be fine in the 22l - i know better now and do not take pets at home advice.
getting another tank or a bigger one is not in the picture as I do not have the space.
fish and the frogs have been perfectly fine together as well for over a year - they never seem to go hungry and get plenty of food that drops to the bottom without it becoming overfeeding.
I was looking at increasing the harlequins/cherry barb (didn't even mean to get the cherry barb, he was in the bag with the harlequins so an accident) and yes just increasing one of them makes sense.
and the two shrimps aren't cherry shrimps but are that sort of size (one is yellow and one is clear with a red band if that makes any difference).

i assume then the suggestion is just to increase one of my schools to 15?

 

[Wills]

the tank is the aquamanta nano 40l led aquarium - I do think it's slightly bigger than 40l and I saw some other people online saying the same too
yes unfortunately, I know that I should never have gotten the pleco, I unfortunately can't do much about that now - had him over a year with no issues but I do understand that he needs a much bigger tank and definitely will not be replacing him. at the time, I was told by pets at home he would be fine in the 22l - i know better now and do not take pets at home advice.
getting another tank or a bigger one is not in the picture as I do not have the space.
fish and the frogs have been perfectly fine together as well for over a year - they never seem to go hungry and get plenty of food that drops to the bottom without it becoming overfeeding.
I was looking at increasing the harlequins/cherry barb (didn't even mean to get the cherry barb, he was in the bag with the harlequins so an accident) and yes just increasing one of them makes sense.
and the two shrimps aren't cherry shrimps but are that sort of size (one is yellow and one is clear with a red band if that makes any difference).

i assume then the suggestion is just to increase one of my schools to 15?

Thats interesting the Aquamanta tank numbers I think refer to the measurements so the 30 model is 40 litres and the 40 is actually 55 litres so worth checking the dimensions of the tank you have to see which size you have

Sounds like Pets At Home strikes again - a few people here in tricky situations from their advice at the moment. Its your call on if you want to rehome or not I was just trying to give advice on which ways I'd go if it were my tank but if things are working over a year thats great .

A good way to choose which school to increase the size of might be to look at your water hardness too - Cherry Barbs are a bit happier in a broader range of water where as Harlequins do better in softer water.

It sounds like you have a yellow shrimp and possibly a male cherry shrimp with the red band on the back and clear body, some are clear some line bred strains are solid red but the yellows and reds are all the same species just different strains. You'd be able to increase these in number pretty easily with one the schools as well.

Did you have any other species in mind after your Beta?

Wills

 

[Sian57]

Thats interesting the Aquamanta tank numbers I think refer to the measurements so the 30 model is 40 litres and the 40 is actually 55 litres so worth checking the dimensions of the tank you have to see which size you have

Sounds like Pets At Home strikes again - a few people here in tricky situations from their advice at the moment. Its your call on if you want to rehome or not I was just trying to give advice on which ways I'd go if it were my tank but if things are working over a year thats great .

A good way to choose which school to increase the size of might be to look at your water hardness too - Cherry Barbs are a bit happier in a broader range of water where as Harlequins do better in softer water.

It sounds like you have a yellow shrimp and possibly a male cherry shrimp with the red band on the back and clear body, some are clear some line bred strains are solid red but the yellows and reds are all the same species just different strains. You'd be able to increase these in number pretty easily with one the schools as well.

Did you have any other species in mind after your Beta?

Wills

On my receipt it says Aquamanta 35 which online says 40L everywhere - I'll do some proper measuring of it tomorrow to double check but i definitely got more than 40L of water in there! Can see a post on this forum about a year and a half old saying the same - they said they got 48L after substrate, bogwood and hard landscaping. So a bit confusing!
Definitely annoyed at myself for listening to pets at home, my parents have a 300L tank so I'll ask them if they'd take my pleco. Need to check what they even have in it first to see if he'd be okay in there! I know they have a silver shark and a few different catfish off the top of my head. Totally wish I was able to get a bigger tank for my pleco, I am truly attached to him but definitely will rehome if able to. I've tried asking my local stores but they won't accept rehomes unfortunately
Think it might be best to up my cherry barbs since my water isn't particularly soft. But will have a look into that too, thanks!
Yea upping my shrimp as well is something I'd wanna do - I think shrimp are so fun even though theyre so small.
Not particularly sure on the betta side - I would like something thats gonna stand out if possible. Either different colour (got alot of red in the tank with the fish and red/green plants too) or different shaping if that makes sense (why I love the bettas so much because they have such gorgeous fins). But I know my size limits me so obviously I'd rather prioritise not overstocking over a fancy looking tank.

Thanks for your help!
Sian

 

[Wills]

On my receipt it says Aquamanta 35 which online says 40L everywhere - I'll do some proper measuring of it tomorrow to double check but i definitely got more than 40L of water in there! Can see a post on this forum about a year and a half old saying the same - they said they got 48L after substrate, bogwood and hard landscaping. So a bit confusing!
Definitely annoyed at myself for listening to pets at home, my parents have a 300L tank so I'll ask them if they'd take my pleco. Need to check what they even have in it first to see if he'd be okay in there! I know they have a silver shark and a few different catfish off the top of my head. Totally wish I was able to get a bigger tank for my pleco, I am truly attached to him but definitely will rehome if able to. I've tried asking my local stores but they won't accept rehomes unfortunately
Think it might be best to up my cherry barbs since my water isn't particularly soft. But will have a look into that too, thanks!
Yea upping my shrimp as well is something I'd wanna do - I think shrimp are so fun even though theyre so small.
Not particularly sure on the betta side - I would like something thats gonna stand out if possible. Either different colour (got alot of red in the tank with the fish and red/green plants too) or different shaping if that makes sense (why I love the bettas so much because they have such gorgeous fins). But I know my size limits me so obviously I'd rather prioritise not overstocking over a fancy looking tank.

Thanks for your help!
Sian

Thats interesting - if you wanted to try and rehome anything the best place in the UK is usually a Maidenhead Aquatics branch? Do you have one near by? But I dont love telling people to rehome if they've had it working for medium-long term, you're rehoming fish in the hopes that someone else might do better but there is no guarantee.

If you check your water companies website you can usually do a postcode search and work out your areas hardness which is good enough to work with. If you have harder water though I'd agree go for the Cherries maybe a school of 10-12 as they are a bigger fish than some of the nano species I'd like for this size tank but at 10 Cherries, get a mix of different colour Cherry Shrimp (red, yellow, blue) and as a new species maybe 3-4 male Endler Guppies, you can get all kinds of colours - blues, greens, oranges etc.

Though in suggesting that I'm forgetting the bioload of the pleco and frogs.

Wills