Suggestions For New Fish

[bluewolf2173]

Being a newbie to this lovely new hobby I think have made almost every mistake in the book:
- Didn't do a fishless cycle. I didn't know about them when I picked up my tank. I got lucky. The tank has cycled and all of my seed fish survived and are healthy. Not something I am going to try again.

- I managed to screw up the transfer of the fish from the pet store back into a bag of my tank water and flushed one of my poor Back Skirts down the garbage disposal. Again got lucky and was able to scoop him out with a pair of spoons and throw him in the tank. He is still alive 3 months after his ordeal.

- I purchased Mardel Master Test Kit (strips). They reported that my PH was dangerously low. After boosting it 3 times, it still had not changed readings. I had a friend bring his kit, and sure enough my PH was 7.4. Got lucky again (starting to see a pattern?).

I think the only mistakes I haven't made yet is over populating, and adding to many fish at one time. So to head off my next mistake I ask you all for some feedback on what fish I should add to my tank. Currently I have several ugly fish. I like ugly fish, but it has been suggested I should add some color. Here are my tank stats:
40 Gallon SeaClear (tall)
1 Panda Angel
2 Black Skirts
3 Neon Tetras
3 Upside Down Catfish
1 Bristle Nose Pleco

 

[dwarfgourami]

As far as the aesthetics go, isn't that for you to judge, whether you want colour or not?

As far as the stocking goes, you've still got a bit of room in there. The things that spring to my mind is that both the black skirts and the neons are schooling fish; they will feel a lot happier if kept in bigger groups. Plus a good sized school looks really impressive. I would add 3-4 black widows and 4-5 neons, though not all at once.

 

[bluewolf2173]

As far as the aesthetics go, isn't that for you to judge, whether you want colour or not?

As far as the stocking goes, you've still got a bit of room in there. The things that spring to my mind is that both the black skirts and the neons are schooling fish; they will feel a lot happier if kept in bigger groups. Plus a good sized school looks really impressive. I would add 3-4 black widows and 4-5 neons, though not all at once.

Adding to my current schools isn't a bad idea. I guess I don't want my luck to run out and end up getting a fish that gets picked on, or picks on the current residents.

 

[Marcos]

I may be barking up the wrong tree (newbie as well) but you have an Angel in with Neon Tetras?

 

[catxx]

that's true.
an angel's natural food is small tetras.
so keep an eye out for that!

 

[annka5]

I'd go for more black widows as they are more likely to become nippy if they are not kept in a decent sized group.
The neon's: some say angels will eat them eventually, some say that if the angel is added as a small baby then the neons' added at same time the angels don't regard those particular angels as food, so those particular neon's would be safe. IMO you should either rehome the neon's or take the risk of the angels not eating them and buy more to give you a decent sized shoal of them. I don't know the answer to if angels will definitely eat them or not, if you do a search on the forum you'll see it's a topic that has come up a fair number of times.