I have a 40 litre (10 gallon)mature tank, heavily planted with an Eheim AquaBall filter with:
2 otos 1/2" (1.25cm)
1 peppermint bristle nose-1" (2.5cm)

I am going to be adding 2 blue rams in the near future, and another fish forum said that I could also have a small school of tetras. I was wondering if that would be overstocked, as it seemed to be quite a lot of fish for a 10 gallon with the tetras. If it would be ok, what type of tetras do you think I should have?

i think you could be pushing it a bit but you could think about neons or cardinals

If you want some obvious color, Cardinals, or Neons. You'll have nothing there that will eat them, so small size in not a worry. You could probably have a good dozen of them. Cheap as, available everywhere. I think young Neons were au$1 ea at Hi-Fin, Syndal, last week.

Chochu's Blue Tetra is another I like. Not much more in length than a Cardinal, but a higher body. And a nice shimmery blue tint. You have to shop about for these. 1 in 5 shops?

Rummy Nose Tetra. Nice looking fish. Interesting behaviour at times. The one's I've had tend to shoal more (my Hockeysticks don't!). Readily available.

The thing is, there are lot's of Tetras, but you don't get to see many of them. Some of the little drab one's may take your eye, so it really is worth doing the rounds, to see what's out there.

Are the Oto's ok for Algae? eg, are they getting enough to eat? I'm thinking maybe another 2 ?

i hate to be a spoiler, but i'd be wary of putting blue rams in this tank for a couple of reasons.

1 being that blue rams in my experience dont get on too well with other bottom dwellers especialy if they decide to breed. hence there could be quite a few battles with the rams and ur bristlenose. not enough to directly kill either fish i would hope but enough to cause a lot of stress to the fish in the long run and could lead to illness etc.

it would also concern me that although the eheim aquaball is a decent filter, it might not be sufficient for keeping the water clean enough for cichlids such as rams, especialy if u add a school of tetras and include the current fish.

i am not sure about peppermint bristelnoses but i assume that, like an 'ordinary' bristlenose, they grow to 5 or 6 inches in length and like all BN's they produce quite a lot fo waste. hence as it gets older it will add to the bio load quite a bit.

one other small concern worth mentioning i think is that in UK terms a 40 litre tank is 8.8 gallons. if u dont fill the tank right to the top and u have gravel and furniture the actual tank capacity might actualy be only 8 gallons or less. doesnt sound like a lot of a difference but it is 20% less than 10 gallons, obviousy, and means that u need to stock accordingly and also be aware that if u have to dose with meds then to dose for 8g and not 10g.

one other final worry for me, based on my experience (and then i'll try to be more constructive) is that as ur bristlenose gets bigger it may decide it isnt happy in a 'small' tank and leave. this may sound silly but i have lost 3 plecs from this. the fish basically crawled out the tank at night and not having anywhere to go as it would in the wild died a not very nice death.

if this was my tank i'd maybe do one or 2 of the following. leave the current fish in and then add up to 8 small tetras. ones that dont grow much bigger than an inch but no rams. OR i'd move the plec and otos to a bigger tank. the otos may be happier this way too as a small tank like this may not provide quite enough algae for them to eat. then if i wanted to add rams i'd add a male and female and either no other fish at all or maybe 4-6 small tetras. the tetras would add some colour and movement to the tank and give the rams something to chase out of the way when they felt like it. if i didnt add the tetras and had just the rams i would sit a mirror against one of the walls of the tank as i find that rams do better with a little stimulus. the mirror makes them think they have competing rams, keeps them active and also seems to encourage breeding a bit i find.

above advice is based on my experience and i never claim to be an expert, but i hope i atleast give u food for thought and wish u luck with what ever u decide to do.

I wouldn't do rams in this tank. Too small and the L183 will need a little room to grow. The rams will get aggressive during spawning and will damage the fins of the other fish. There is alot of live plants so I think you could get away with quite a few smaller fish and not have to worry too much about the bioload. The L183 doesn't eat wood like other plecs, but still produces more waste than other fish its size. I've read that cardinal tetras are immune to neon tetra disease, with that being said I would go with 8-10 cardinals. Have fun and good luck.

If you really want rams do just two by themselves in a 10 gallon, i usually wouldn't do them in anything but at least a 20, but you could do this. I would do some livebearers, there are aslo a fish known as the killifish, most people say you shouldn't get these cuz they are hard to keep but i completley disagree, you just have to be dedicated to the hobby wich you should be anyways, if you are keeping anytype of fish, and that means good quality food, and once a week water changes of about 50%, and keep a good eye on nitrate never above .10ppm. Oh and they are just plain friggin gorgeous freshwater fish, about as pretty as african cichlids.
Your tank looks very good by the way. I personally would do neon tetras, and one killi of your choosing, and 3 coriecats. Ooooh i like that set up must count money i see another 10 gallon in the works Multiple Tank Syndrome has STRUCK again!!!!!!!!

Ok 'overload of different people saying different things'
-Firstly, I'm not sure exactly what species the peppermint bristle nose is because it does eat wood and it only grows up to 8cm, not 12-15cm like the other bristle noses. (Aquarium told me because they breed them)
-Catfish hides all day, don't think it would disturbe rams because it is hiding under the bogwood all day and night. (I never see it)
-NO LIVEBEARERS PLEASE (Sorry, but I've already had a guppy and molly disaster, and just sent of my last baby platys to the aquarium.
-I would love killifish, but never seen them anywhere in melbourne. (Kana, have you?)
-Eheim AquaBall is the model for a 20-30 gallon tank, so it is probably efficient
-Nitrate is always about 0.5ppm (with the catfish)
-Not too much algae in tank but enough for otos (don't need anymore)
-It is a 10 gallon, minus the gravel and things=40 litres (8.8gallons)

I was really looking forward to the Rams for a long time, but if it is going to cause a problem then I won't get them. (By the way I don't want to sound like i'm not taking any notice of what you are saying because I am)

Would a better stocking list be:
=1 peppermint bristle nose (whatever species it is, It was in a tank with ones that had a white stripe on the dorsal and caudal fin, but now when I get my monthly flash of him I don't think he has a white stripe at all, only spots. I can't remember if he used to, but i don't think it could have completely disappered.)
=2 otocinclus
=6 rummy-nose tetras?-always wanted these, but my mum said we shouldn't get them because some people said they were extremely hard to keep.

Does that sound better?

P.S. My mum controls the MTS!

yes that sounds like a much better list can you get a picture of your bristle nose ? if you could then i could be able to give you an i.d. on it

according to what i've just read on this

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rummy-nose tetras are not dificult to keep but may take a little time to acclimatise to new conditions.

out of curiousity, do u know the pH and hardness of ur tank water? like most tetras they prefer soft, acidic to neutral pH water.

aslong as ur tank water is suitable, i think this is a good choice. plus i ment to say before and forgot that i like the look of ur tank. a small shoal of tetras would finish it off nicely.

regarding ur plec hiding, they usual do a bit but i find if u offer them some food at the same time of day as u feed ur other fish then they lose their shyness and start to come out more during daylight hours.

just to show her off, again, , here is a pic of my now adult female bristlenose i took when she was about 4-6 months old, enjoying one of her fav meals - a nice chunk of zuchini/courgette ...

I would love to get a picture but it is impossible because if you go about within 1m of the tank and the catfish is out it will run away and go back under his bogwood. My camera is also being fixed at the moment so that doesn't help. I do feed him at the same time as the other fish (otos and 1 baby platy, which is being moved) but he still doesn't come out so I can see him. (well not when im around anyway) The ph is 6.8 and the hardness is about 6 drops (im not sure how much that is) I can change the hardness easily though. But the conditions are quite right for tetras. Georgous bristle nose! My bristle nose love zuccini too, but not the peppermint for some reason.

Here is my bristle nose:

Bristlenoses don't eat wood. They eat the algae off of the wood.
"Ancistrus are omnivorous with something of a vegetarian bend. Vegetables and commercially prepared food are avidily taken. They also like to eat blood worms, gammarus and most frozen foods. You can also witness them eating dead fish when they find a carcass before you do." From planet catfish.

That's a healthy looking Bristlenose. You've had him a couple of years I'd guess?.

Your water will be fine for Tetras and most other South American fish. Melbournes water is Soft and Acidic. I was surprised at your 6 drops Hardness. My last test (2 months ago?) was 2 drops.

I'm not sure how Subscape are priced for Rummies. A lot of places had them at au$5.50 - 6.50 early in the year. I saw that some other Tetras had dropped a couple of bucks recently.

I reckon if you could fit a couple more in than do it. They're a bit gregarious, the ol' Rummie.

Killifish? I vaguely remember seeing something way out Boronia, Bayswater way. But again, it's not in my grouping, so I've not paid much attention. I will be visiting Malvern & St Kilda Aquariums in the next few days, I can check there.

And if for any reason, you decide to go another Bristlenose, Don't! Not without checking with me first. "I know a bloke" !

The water hardness depends on how much harder you add (blue crystals).

I've had the bristle nose for nearly 2 years, he is about 9cm long and I also have a female the same size. I don't think another peppermint bristle nose would fit in that tank, and bristle nose do eat wood, it is part of their diet.

I don't go to way out places like bayswater and boronia, too far for my mum to drive!

I don't adjust my water.

There is a couple of good Aquariums out that way.

Well, I've over 30 Bristlenose. Most being 6 months old. I'll be trading some in for a dozen Oto's. The rest I'm keeping or just handing them out.