Which nano fish for a big, colorful, community tank?

Question

I'm planning to set up a big (150 x 65 x 50 cm) tank with lots of small colorful fish and shrimp.

• I want the tank to be heavily planted
• I want the tank to be very colorful
• I want to keep a few species of colorful shrimp
• I want to keep a few species of colorful fish
• I don't want the plants to be destroyed by the fish
• I don't want the shrimp to be eaten by the fish

I'm thinking about some small shrimp species that won't interbreed (form this chart)

As for the fish, I was thinking about:

• Some nice species of a guppy (single species to avoid interbreeding)
• Neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi)
• Boraras brigittae
• Hatchet fish, to fill up the surface
• Some Pangio kuhlii, to add variety to the bottom (not too many though, because they'll probably harass baby shrimps a bit)
• Maybe a single Betta male

This still feels not enough for a 400 l tank. What else do think I could throw in there?

Answer 1

Shrimp and fish is not a really good idea. The explanation is simple, the problem is the "zoeas" (baby shrimp).

All small fish, like tetra neon, etc. can eat them so this is a problem for the reproduction of your shrimp as well.

Some options can be:

• Use only herbivorous fish, some examples can be Otocinclus affinis, Stiphodon sp., Corydoras pygmaeus or Gyrinocheilus aymonieri. These fish doesn't eat zoeas.

• Use rasboras or fish like Boraras brigittae or Poecilia wingei, these fish can eat zoeas so you need to put plants in your tank to make refuges for your shrimp. Other examples:

  • Celestichthys margaritatus
  • Hemigrammus rodwayi
  • Ember Tetra
  • Flame Tetra
  • Crystal Red Tetra

• You can try to put "big fish" in your tank, like Metynnis argenteus, this is an herbivorous fish and is cool to see when it grows to its maximum size. They don't attack other fishes.

• Surface fish like hatchet fish can be a good option in this tank, because the shrimp are bottom dwellers of the tank. You have another great options here, just make a search and you can find some good candidates for the aquarium.

Bad options:

• Single Betta male, this is a really aggressive and territorial fish so you will have problems with other fish in the tank and with the shrimps.

• Pentazona barbs or other barbs are a big problem, because these guys grow to a significant size and you will lose all your shrimp if they find them.

• If you put assassin snails without putting others snails, assassin snails will die because they eat other snails, so you would need to feed them with other snails. They can eat other animal-based foods, but with other snails you don't need to keep feeding them with other alimentation.

• Put fish with a large size, because you will have problem with other fish and with the shrimp.

Answer 2

Tetras and snails.

Small neon colored tetras swim in groups and would swim around the middle and at the bottom of your tank.

Snails, avoid mystery snails since they do breed. I would go for assassin snails, some of them dig into the rocks!

Hope my suggestion works out for your future colorful tank!