40 Gallon Tank Stocking Opinions

[Bailey Oswald]

Hi everyone! Hopefully I'll be on more this year xD
I'll be downsizing my 55 gallon to a 40 gallon. I'm not great with figuring out what is overstocked, so I'd like some opinions. The tank will have a Hydor 250 canister filter (and a heater). Here's my stocking plan so far:
x1 bristlenose pleco [already own]
x5 porcelain limpet nerite snails
x1 Taiwan pond mussel
x20 wild form neocaridina shrimp
x4 pearl gourami (one male, three females)
x? dither fish

I'm going for a southeast-Asia type tank, other than my pleco. I'm thinking some form of rasbora for the dither fish, originating from Asia, with colors that compliment the pearl gourami. Ideas? None of these will be wild-caught, by the way.
I am aware that the shrimp may get eaten by the fish. That's why I'll be starting with 20 and allowing them to establish before I get the gourami and dither fish. The tank will be planted, giving the shrimp places to hide.

 

[Bailey Oswald]

My main concern with overstocking is the pearl gourami, as I'm not sure how many should go in a 40 gallon tank. I did some looking online but couldn't find a conclusive answer.

 

[TrichogasterAddict]

My main concern with overstocking is the pearl gourami, as I'm not sure how many should go in a 40 gallon tank. I did some looking online but couldn't find a conclusive answer.

I love pearls, there amazing fish and I'm glad you have an appreciation for them. I find that stocking depends of temperament of fish, size they have, territory for the fish, and the part that you need to know, which is the nutrient export, and the major contributions to that are the how planted your tank is, your water change schedule, and your filter (and another "sub-category" under "filter" is areas for beneficial bacteria to grow, like if you use lave rock or have ALOT of media in your filter you can have a higher bio-load), If your tank is heavily planted with fast growing plants you could easily do 4 pearls and 10-15 harlequin rasboras or a similarly sized fish, lucky for you Asia is a huge place with many fish, so you have boat loads of fish too choose from. And the pearls art THAT bad with shrimp, there super peaceful, but if they see A shrimplet they will certainly gobble it up, but from my own experience it should leave fully grown shrimps alone.

I really hope this helps and I didn't just annoy you with a ramble. Good luck!

 

[Bailey Oswald]

I love pearls, there amazing fish and I'm glad you have an appreciation for them. I find that stocking depends of temperament of fish, size they have, territory for the fish, and the part that you need to know, which is the nutrient export, and the major contributions to that are the how planted your tank is, your water change schedule, and your filter (and another "sub-category" under "filter" is areas for beneficial bacteria to grow, like if you use lave rock or have ALOT of media in your filter you can have a higher bio-load), If your tank is heavily planted with fast growing plants you could easily do 4 pearls and 10-15 harlequin rasboras or a similarly sized fish, lucky for you Asia is a huge place with many fish, so you have boat loads of fish too choose from. And the pearls art THAT bad with shrimp, there super peaceful, but if they see A shrimplet they will certainly gobble it up, but from my own experience it should leave fully grown shrimps alone.

I really hope this helps and I didn't just annoy you with a ramble. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply! It definitely is helpful and not at all annoying. c:
My filter has three compartments. The first is filled with filter floss, the second with bio-rings, and the third with a dense black sponge. I try to do water changes once a week of at least 10%.
The tank will have two pieces of driftwood, along with (as of right now) the following plants:
>> Dwarf Sag
>> Hygrophila Compacta
>> Hygrophila Willow
>> Anubias Coffeefolia
>> Java Moss
>> Ludwigia Repens
>> Java Fern
>> Red Root Floater

 

[TrichogasterAddict]

Thanks for the reply! It definitely is helpful and not at all annoying. c:
My filter has three compartments. The first is filled with filter floss, the second with bio-rings, and the third with a dense black sponge. I try to do water changes once a week of at least 10%.
The tank will have two pieces of driftwood, along with (as of right now) the following plants:
>> Dwarf Sag
>> Hygrophila Compacta
>> Hygrophila Willow
>> Anubias Coffeefolia
>> Java Moss
>> Ludwigia Repens
>> Java Fern
>> Red Root Floater

I love your setup, I have had very similar setups like this in the past, that dwarf sag will look GREAT! May I ask what light and substrate you are using, just out of curiosity?

 

[Bailey Oswald]

I love your setup, I have had very similar setups like this in the past, that dwarf sag will look GREAT! May I ask what light and substrate you are using, just out of curiosity?

For my substrate I'll be using CaribSea Eco Complete Planted Black. The light I'm looking at now is a Beamswork (Beamworks?) DA 6500K light.

Is the four gourami okay?

 

[TrichogasterAddict]

For my substrate I'll be using CaribSea Eco Complete Planted Black. The light I'm looking at now is a Beamswork (Beamworks?) DA 6500K light.

Is the four gourami okay?

For sure, just make sure you have lots of floaters, lots of plants, and one male to three females. If you don't have the substrate yet personally I don't love eco complete, if you want it or already have it I suggest mixing in some sand, black sand if you want it to look normal, and if you want really good plant growth I would suggest troppica soil, its expensive, but you can mix about 70-30 soil sand, and you plants will LOVE IT, for the swarf sag you should put some root tabs under where they are gonna be planted.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bailey Oswald]

For sure, just make sure you have lots of floaters, lots of plants, and one male to three females. If you don't have the substrate yet personally I don't love eco complete, if you want it or already have it I suggest mixing in some sand, black sand if you want it to look normal, and if you want really good plant growth I would suggest troppica soil, its expensive, but you can mix about 70-30 soil sand, and you plants will LOVE IT, for the swarf sag you should put some root tabs under where they are gonna be planted.

Hope this helps.

I'll look into the soil! I don't have substrate yet. I already have root tabs as well as liquid fertilizer that I plan to use as well. :>

 

[Brett S.]

1+ on harlequin rasboras

 

[TrichogasterAddict]

I'll look into the soil! I don't have substrate yet. I already have root tabs as well as liquid fertilizer that I plan to use as well. :>

Alright good luck, you can also continue to use the eco complete, but personally I have found that its just like a sharp gravel, and plants don't love it, but if you want to try it go right ahead, but maybe you could mix in a little black sand to vary what your plants roots are growing in.

Hope this helps.