New tropical set up...stocking?

Question
QUESTION: Hi, about 3 weeks ago i set up a tropical tank. 45 litres 50x30x30cm. heater, good internal filter, hood with light, 5 lie plants and bog wood create hiding plces, gravel ph is 7.1 added bacteria and nutrifin aqua plus.

this week i went to buy fish. got 1 female swordtail 1 neon tetra 1 glass catfish

woops! shouldn hve so now im looking to re home glass cat and sword.

so i will get 3 more neons so i will have 5 neons tetras

i was looing to set up a community tank with a big variety of species rather shoals. i love angelfish bu know my tank is too small for them. what can i add in my tank? and what order? i defiantely want a cherry shrimp and a snail, but also fish, fancyish fish but easy care that dont need shoaling, but dont mind pairs of fish.

so what do you suggest i could stock with 5 neon tetras 1 golden apple snail and 1 cherry shrimp?
or any other ideas etc?
thanks

ANSWER: Hi Josh,
Since you just set your tank up 3 weeks ago, your tank is not fully cycled yet.  A cycled tank contains a fully saturated tank with 2 sets of bacteria which break down ammonia-to-nitrite and nitrite-to-nitrate.  The only way to get rid of nitrate is by doing water changes OR have fully planted tank that soaks up nitrogen.  But the planted tank path requires more light and CO2 and is quite costly.  Do water changes every 2 or 3 days until you tank is cycled.

Now about your tank, you are right about 45 litres being too small for Angelfish.  Neons are should be fine.  If you are planning to keep Red Cherry Shrimp with your tank, the tank has to be fully cycled first.  Shrimps are very sensitive to nitrogen and should be introduced ONLY if the tank is fully cycled, or you will be scooping out a bunch of dead shrimps.  Fish are more nitrogen tolerant.  Dwarf shrimps can tolerate nitrates up to 10ppm and fish can tolerate it up to 30ppm or 40ppm.  Neons however need to be lower as they are more sensitive than other fish.  I would say to keep nitrates 20ppm or lower for neons.  Be aware that neons are known to eat baby shrimp, so not all of the Cherry Shrimp will grow to adult hood.

Theres another type of fish called Endlers.  They are live-bearers and stay very small, maybe about 3/4 of an inch max and are quite colorful.  You keep 10 and in about 3 months you will probably have a hundred Endlers.  You should look into them.  If you decide to keep shrimps and fish together, be sure to have a lot of ground cover so the shrimps can hide.  

I myself also keep cherry shrimps and crystal shrimps.  They are with my Platy fish which are about the same size as neons.  And I do see my platies eating shrimps but I have a ton of ground cover so many of them make it to adulthood.

Let me know if you have any further questions.
-Matt-

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for letting me know about cycling etc, i do already know a air bit about it thoughso i wont be adding fish for a while. i like the endlers you suggested, but wouldnt want loads. see i was looking to set up with as many DIFFERENT fish as i can, i will definately have 6 green neon tetras, and few cherry shrimp (to be added later) if i list the fish that i like below, could you give me some sort of combintaion that could be stocked over time to give a varied tank, with lots of different fish rather than shoaling ones. thanks

interested in :
golden apple snails
green neon tetras
black widow tetras
cherry shrimp
pencil fish
endlers guppies
male guppes
siamese fighting fish
leopard and zebra danios
electric blue ram
mollies
platy
leopard cory


so yeah thats the fish i like. if you could pick out a good stocking list with numbers there for me, with the biggest variety possible that would be fantastic thanks again!!

ANSWER: Hi agian,
The big fish such as rams will eat the cherry shrimps that you want.  Mollies, platies, guppies, and saimese fighting fish are the only ones there that I believe are not shoaling fish.  All tetras and cories are shoaling fish.  Keep in mind that these fish can still eat baby shrimp.
-Matt-

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi, thanks for your reply, it helped a little. but it hasnt completely helped me. i asked for a stocking suggestion with numbers of each specie, or a couple of stocking ideas? if you could get back to me with this it would be great. thanks.

Answer
The stocking is up to the aquarist but if you want the most variety you can put in a tank 1-3 Mollies, 1-3 platies, 1-3 guppies and either a set of 6 of any of the tetras or corys.  Snails and shrimps can be as many as you want.  Saimese fighting fish are not good to add with guppies because the guppies tails resemble the fins of a male saimese fighting fish.  
-Matt-