Would this be too much fish for a 40 gallon fish tank?

[YellowOnYellow]

Hi everyone.

I'm looking to set-up a 40 gallon planted (with live plants) breeder fish tank. I will throw in a big driftwood and a bunch of hiding spots. Before I even do anything else, I want to have a plan of what type of fishes I will be keeping. Here is a rough idea of what I want. Will these be too much?

3 (1M 2F) dwarf gourami
1 male betta fish
1 swordtail fish
7 panda cory catfish
1 bristlenose pleco
8-12 neon/ember/cardinal tetras (haven't decide which one/might mix them)
Some red cherry shrimp (which might breed? idk)

If you go by the 1inch per gallon rule, the adult size total would be about 34-40" ish minus the shrimp.

With all those fishes, will my 40 gallon tank be able to support all these fishes or am I being sel-"fish" in wanting them all. Also, any suggestion to my collection will be greatly appreciated.

I have been posting around other places and it seems that the betta will cause problems so I thinking that I'm gonna add that last and go from there. Either return it or new tank.

Lastly, I have no intentions of breeding what so ever. Just want more room for the fishes to swim.

 

[thebrandon]

Here are my concerns

3 (1M 2F) dwarf gourami
Gouramis can be aggressive. IF you can actually find two females, then I think you would be ok.

1 male betta fish
Bettas as you know are each very unique. I think the Gouramis and betta might have a slight problem with each other depending on their individual personalities.

1 swordtail fish
I think are best kept in groups.

Cherry shrimp
It's always a risk putting these in with fish. Many times it works, but many times it does not and they just all get eaten. I can see fish like the Swordtail, betta and gourami eating them. Some people keep shrimp with bettas no problem, but others have not been able to. My betta would chase my shrimp around from time to time, but not enough to destroy their population.

 

[cicrush13]

The issue I see here is the betta and the swordtail.

The betta can be perfect with what you have or he could be the killer of all you have. It really depends on his personality.

The swordtail - is it a male or female?
Female may mean you have many more than you want.
Also, swordtails will need salt added and cories do not like the salt being added.

I would lean towards removing both of these mainly b/c you have all south american fish and the betta is from SE Asia.
The swordtail for the salt issue with the cories.

I might look to add a bolivan or blue ram instead.

Hope this helps!

 

[thebrandon]

If you do get bolivians or german blues I wouldn't add shrimp. I have two bolivians that ate each every shrimp they would find in my 120 tall.

 

[YellowOnYellow]

Here are my concerns

3 (1M 2F) dwarf gourami
Gouramis can be aggressive. IF you can actually find two females, then I think you would be ok.

1 male betta fish
Bettas as you know are each very unique. I think the Gouramis and betta might have a slight problem with each other depending on their individual personalities.

1 swordtail fish
I think are best kept in groups.

Cherry shrimp
It's always a risk putting these in with fish. Many times it works, but many times it does not and they just all get eaten. I can see fish like the Swordtail, betta and gourami eating them. Some people keep shrimp with bettas no problem, but others have not been able to. My betta would chase my shrimp around from time to time, but not enough to destroy their population.

I have read that female gouramis are gonna be hard to come by. Guess I'll have to be patience and try and find 2 at one time. Until then the Male will probably get the tank to himself for a while.

For the male betta I guess I will have to find one that is shy-ish but its so random.

As for the shrimp...they are a most.

The issue I see here is the betta and the swordtail.

The betta can be perfect with what you have or he could be the killer of all you have. It really depends on his personality.

The swordtail - is it a male or female?
Female may mean you have many more than you want.
Also, swordtails will need salt added and cories do not like the salt being added.

I would lean towards removing both of these mainly b/c you have all south american fish and the betta is from SE Asia.
The swordtail for the salt issue with the cories.

I might look to add a bolivan or blue ram instead.

Hope this helps!

The swordtail fish is going to be male. I love the "sword" like tail. Never thought about that with the salt and the conflicting issues with the cory catfish. Are other cory cats ok with some salt? Peppered and green?

The shrimps are a must. I was even gonna add them first along with the tetras to have them settle down and colonize before anything. Are there other fish you would suggest?



Also just an idea. I was gonna do a tank that resembles this.

 

[vwill279]

The swordtail - is it a male or female?
Female may mean you have many more than you want.
Also, swordtails will need salt added and cories do not like the salt being added.

Swordtails do not NEED salt to live or thrive. Salt can be beneficial for all livebearers, but it is not necessary to have healthy, happy swords. I have 2 trios of swordtails in tanks (plus a 20L with dozens of fry) with no salt added and they thrive. Always in full fin, active, beautiful coloring, and the females drop large healthy batches of babies every 34 days. However, with any fish, make sure you know what conditions the fish were being kept in before you got them. It is often much more dangerous to change water conditions suddenly then it is to keep them in less than "ideal" conditions. If you want a swordtail, try to find one that was bred and raised in a tank without salt if you can. That will make it much easier to acclimate him and keep him healthy in your aquarium.

Edit: One of my male swordtails ate a juvie shrimp that tagged along on a plant that I was moving from my shrimp tank. To be honest, if shrimp are a must, you should seriously reconsider your stocking because I can assure you that chances are high that either your sword, gouramis, or betta will decide that they are tasty. The most shrimp safe fish are small tetras and rasboras.

 

[Fozzybear]

Both the betas and gouramis are labyrinth fish. When I had my male colisa lalia he had to have paper between his tank and the male beta tank next to him because otherwise they would stress themselves to death trying to fight through the glass. I'd pick one labyrinth fish, maybe a pair of gouramis and stick to that. Other than that your stocking looks hunky dory. I do have to say, I had some live bearers in my SA community tank and really wound up disliking them a great deal, I like them much better in their own tank, for some reason they just didn't fit real well with the standard community. That being said one male probably wouldn't be a big deal. in fact I'm pretty sure I still have a male swimming around in there somewhere bullying my Priscilla tetras.

 

[YellowOnYellow]

Both the betas and gouramis are labyrinth fish. When I had my male colisa lalia he had to have paper between his tank and the male beta tank next to him because otherwise they would stress themselves to death trying to fight through the glass. I'd pick one labyrinth fish, maybe a pair of gouramis and stick to that. Other than that your stocking looks hunky dory. I do have to say, I had some live bearers in my SA community tank and really wound up disliking them a great deal, I like them much better in their own tank, for some reason they just didn't fit real well with the standard community. That being said one male probably wouldn't be a big deal. in fact I'm pretty sure I still have a male swimming around in there somewhere bullying my Priscilla tetras.

There are so many opinions being thrown around. Going to have to research some more on these swordtail fish.

 

[YellowOnYellow]

Swordtails do not NEED salt to live or thrive. Salt can be beneficial for all livebearers, but it is not necessary to have healthy, happy swords. I have 2 trios of swordtails in tanks (plus a 20L with dozens of fry) with no salt added and they thrive. Always in full fin, active, beautiful coloring, and the females drop large healthy batches of babies every 34 days. However, with any fish, make sure you know what conditions the fish were being kept in before you got them. It is often much more dangerous to change water conditions suddenly then it is to keep them in less than "ideal" conditions. If you want a swordtail, try to find one that was bred and raised in a tank without salt if you can. That will make it much easier to acclimate him and keep him healthy in your aquarium.

Edit: One of my male swordtails ate a juvie shrimp that tagged along on a plant that I was moving from my shrimp tank. To be honest, if shrimp are a must, you should seriously reconsider your stocking because I can assure you that chances are high that either your sword, gouramis, or betta will decide that they are tasty. The most shrimp safe fish are small tetras and rasboras.

Sad day for your shrimp bro. How big was the swordtail fish? Have you seen them eat a adult RCS before? Can they?

I expect them to breed and I expect some of the baby RCS to be eaten. I don't want them to overrun my tank but I want a healthy amount.

 

[vwill279]

My male is 4.5" including his sword (which is over an inch long). He hasnt had the opportunity to go after an adult because I dont like to take that risk, but I'm sure he could easily kill one if he wanted to, though probably couldnt eat an adult in one bite. I have heard on many occasions of bettas eating shrimp, or just simply killing them for the heck of it. I've heard of multiple instances of a single betta destroying a shrimp population in a single day just to entertain himself. However, I have also heard of bettas coexisting just fine with shrimp. I've never had gouramis, but I believe they get bigger than your average betta and since they're from the same family, I would not consider them to be shrimp safe. Some might not eat shrimp, and there are probably stories of them all doing just fine together, but you are taking a big risk putting predator and prey together in the same tank.

Also, not a bro