Stocking questions

[FBCoach]

Hey all,

I just finished a fishless cycle on my 50 gal non-planted tank last week and have stocked it with 5 cory cats and 11 neon tetras, all are doing great.
Water chemistry is 0 ppm for ammonia and nitrites and 20 ppm for Nitrates. Water change due tomorrow.
I would like to add two bristlenosed cats in two weeks and a pair of drawf gouramis about 2 weeks after that (I might have to reverse the order if I can't find the bristlenose cats).
My questions are 1) Will all of these fish get along? 2) After the above are added will I have room to increase the numbers of the Neons? If so, how many more could I add.
I would rather understock than overstock, but I don't want the tank to look bear either. Right now my fish seem kinda lost in there.

Thanks,
Coach

 

[GobyGuy5]

I certainly think so, but I do tend to over stock a little. I think if you doubled your neons you would be nicely stocked still, If you stopped with the Gouramis you'd define understocked

 

[FBCoach]

GobyGuy5,

Thanks for the reply. I just starting out and I guess I'm a little worried about killing the little guys due my lack of knowledge.

I'll put them in about every two weeks and hope for the best

Thanks again,
Coach

 

[Frank_Carr]

On the dwarf gouramis....it is possible that if both were male that they would fight, the stronger bullying the weaker. This is more of a factor in a smaller tank but it is still possible that one of them might take a "this tank ain't big enough fer the both of us" attitude in your 50 gallon. From what I understand, it might work better if you added 3 females and 2 males. However, females can be hard to find since they aren't as colorful.

You would have enough space to do this and to add the bristlenoses as well. You might be able to gradually squeeze in a few more neons (up to 16-20) since they're so small. However, I wouldn't suggest putting any other large fish if you were stocked to this point.

Another option would be to forget the gouramis and go with another tetra species, like a rummy nose, lemon, glo-light or cardinal.