10 Gallon Stocking

[faywayway]

This is my first ever tank as I'm new to this hobby, but I've done loads and loads of thorough research to prepare myself. The only info I haven't been able to find is how exactly I could stock my tank, as there are so many different variables that go into decisions like this. I have a 10 gallon long tank, very heavily planted, and my fishless cycling process has been complete as I first set the tank up 3 weeks ago, and I used live bacteria supplements and some old filter media. This is how I would like to fill it:
1x male betta fish,
2x amano shrimp,
2x ghost shrimp,
2x green jade shrimp,
3x tiger/zebra nerite snails,
4x thorn nerite snails,
3x male endler's livebearers, and
7-9x ember tetras (however much you reccomend).
As of right now, I do already have two amano shrimps, two thorn nerites, and a tiger and a zebra nerite snail comfortably living in this tank. I will also note that I plugged all this info into the website AqAdvisor.com and my stocking level is under 100%, so if that's a good stocking limit, great. Waste issues for this highly stocked tank would not be a problem for me as I have too many plants to list, a Top Fin power filter for up to 20 gallons, and I am prepared to do the necessary frequent water changes if the nitrate levels rise too high. However, if you think that amount of animals would simply create too little space for everyone to be happy, please let me know.

 

[Sprinkle]

I would just do 1 male betta, bettas bio load is enough for a 10 gallon. Betta might kill shrimp, especially the small ones.
Endler guppies are hard water fish whereas all tetras are soft water fish and AqAdvisor is often inaccurate.
Snails are fine to keep bettas with, but the only concern with nerites is poo, they poo a lot, therefore 1-2 snails with betta is enough in a 10 gallon tank.
You need a heater for a betta and keep his tank temperature at 26 C. Keep live plants with bettas, have a black background as well as dark substrate or sand, nothing white as white colour will blind fish temporarily.
Bettas are not community fish, fish send out pheromones that other species read as allomones which lead to tensions between the fish. Smaller fish might nip at bettas fins or he might snap out of the blue and kill all of the fish in the tank or be stressed and not show any signs of stress.
Bettas are not called "Siamese Fighting Fish" for no reason, these fish have evolved for many years to be highly territorial, for their aggressive behaviour they should be kept by themselves, even females tend to be on their aggressive side.
When spawning, male betta will display to female and will build a bubble nest on water surface, but after laying eggs, the female will swim away, or will be chased or killed by the male. Yes, males after the female laid her eggs will have to get away or be killed by the male, and the male will put the eggs into his nest and will guard and protect eggs and fry from other males, even his own territory. When breeding bettas, remove the female when eggs laid.
Weekly water changes should be carried out to keep nitrates as low as possible, ideally 75% of water should be removed weekly to dilute out the harmful microorganisms that are potentially harmful to fish.
My only concern here is, how long the tank has been running for? Is the tank cycled? Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle?

 

[fishorama]

Welcome to AC!

I would say you can have 1 fish species. A betta OR 3 or 5 male endlers OR 7-9 embers.

Do you know your water parameters for pH, GH & KH ("alkalinity" on some tests)? You can look at your water supplier's numbers or have your lfs test for you if you don't have your own. Both maybe given in GDH ( 1 German degree of hardness = ~17ppm) or ppm but you need to know which. Ask to see the lfs strips, don't just take "OK" as the answer.

Snails & shrimp need some level of hardness (GH) to maintain the shell & help with molting. My water is a little too soft at ~3gdh of both. KH is needed by both plants & nitrifying bacteria. You may need to dose for KH (baking soda works). That's another reason to do weekly water changes.

If you have very hard water you maybe better much better off with endlers than trying to "fix it". That can cause problems you don't want. Soft water is easier to fix, if you need to...really it's best if you can use your tap water!!

Do you fertilize your plants? With lots of plants you may need to but it depends on what plants you have. I almost never see much nitrate, maybe 5ppm at most. I use root tabs for plants like crypts & rarely dose others. Don't let nitrate get higher than 20ppm in a well planted tank. Again, WCs!

1 other thing, I only had a nerite once & it would only eat "brown alga". I never found a food it would accept, sniff. I hope yours are eating well for you. What are you using?

Your tank sounds nice! Maybe post a pic or 2 when you can, we like to see! & we may be able to help in some other way.

 

[Sprinkle]

Actually, nitrates should be kept below 20ppm.. otherwise 20ppm nitrate will be toxic to fish. How do I know? In my 10 gallon betta tank my nitrates were 20ppm, my betta started hanging near surface for too long and that's when finrot started, same with my 33 gallon. Now I keep nitrates stable between 5-10ppm.
I'd suggest doing the same for everyone. Worth keeping NO3 below 20ppm than let fish suffer.

Do you know your water parameters for pH, GH & KH ("alkalinity" on some tests)? You can look at your water supplier's numbers or have your lfs test for you if you don't have your own. Both maybe given in GDH ( 1 German degree of hardness = ~17ppm) or ppm but you need to know which. Ask to see the lfs strips, don't just take "OK" as the answer.

See? I forgot about that ?
In a nutshell:

pH = Shows if your water is acidic or alkaline.

GH = is the permanent hardness, you can't remove it but you can lower it by using RO (reverse osmosis) and tap water 50/50 mix.

KH = is the carbonate hardess, this can be removed to total 0 by boiling the water or reverse osmosis system, can be lowered with RO water as well.