Suggestions for inhabitants?

[Ophy]

Hi all I'm about ready to add some fish to my tank but trying to figure out what species would do well and get along with each other has been super overwhelming so I was hoping for some input here!

Current occupants are 14 shrimps and 1 nerite snail but he might have bit the dust, we'll see how he's doing tomorrow.

I'm planning to get 10 more shrimps, 2 more snails, and a school of neon tetras. Is there a kind of "centerpiece" fish that would work well in this community, or would adding another larger (like 2-3") fish be overstocking it?

Here's some info about the tank:

• Standard 10 gallon
• around 10-12 hours of light a day through a combo of sunlight and LED grow lights
• one HOB filter and one air stone (i don't always remember to turn on or off the air stone though, oops)
• Lots of live plants throughout, no floaters but quite a few that live on the rim and have roots trailing down
• Two natural wood roots pieces about 9" long each (monkey wood?? I don't remember the name) and two dried cholla cactus pieces about 6" long each
• substrate is small gravel with some smooth river pebbles and larger river stones throughout but not entirely covering the substrate
• Water is fairly tannin'ed from oak leaves
• the left third has more hiding areas with taller plants and more twisty wood, the right third has more open water in the middle of the water column, and the middle third is kind of in between those two in terms of hiding space/ planted-ness
• ph is 6.8-7.2 and so far I've been keeping the temp at 74F, but neither of those are set in stone.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Gertrudae]

IMHO, this aquarium is too small to house a larger fish as an eye-catcher.

I would even go for smaller tetras such as Paracheirodon simulans, the green neon tetra. Or take a look at Boraras – they are perfect for small aquariums like this. I have Boraras naevus and they are great little fish and interesting to watch.

Nerite snails depend on biofilm and aufwuchs in a mature tank. One ist enough for this size. They rarely take other food.

 

[Ophy]

I didn't realize there were smaller tetras. Green neon tetras would compliment the palette of the tank well.
That is a thought I had in the back of my head- that the tank may not large enough for a larger fish. it is good to know that my initial gut feeling of not having enough space for a larger fish seems to be correct. With so many conflicting opinions and ai-generated content/misinformation floating around out there about fish keeping it has been hard to know what guidance is good guidance.

Perhaps after the tetra school passes I will turn this into a betta tank.

 

[Essjay]

In a 10 gallon tank, one school of small fish is fully stocked. These fish need an absolute minimum of 6 with 10 or more being better. 10 tetras will be fully stocked.

 

[Gertrudae]

I have about 15 Boraras naevus in a similarly sized, densely planted aquarium without filtration. This works very well. They are not as fond of swimming as many tetras, but they need soft, warm water.

They are not shy and will eat dry food if I cannot get live or frozen food.