The fish stock is planned as follows:
2 German Blue Rams
30 Harlequin rasbora
1 Male Dwarf Gourami
6 Corydoras sterbai
Along with:
5 Nerite Snail
5 Amano Shrimp
I’d consider this a relatively heavily stocked tank but I’m sure the Harlequins and Corydoras would still vote for these sorts of numbers
I’d be surprised if 2 rams will really be successful long term (that’s not my experience with M ramirezi) but Mark has stated he’s going to have multiple tanks so I suspect he’ll move fish as needed
I’ve done similar stocking levels in the past, and more recently, much lighter stocking levels ... fish and shrimp have thrived in both systems - and I maintain nitrates at ~5ppm as there’s plenty of fish veterinary etc studies that indicate biochemical changes/immune compromise in the presence of higher nitrate levels (not that anyone embracing EI is going to agree with me
) - I just wouldn’t keep certain fish such as Altum angels or chocolate gourami sp. in heavily stocked tanks or tanks that lack sufficient height or footprint (because they won’t be particularly “happy” in those situations)
I tend to follow the “rule” that fish should have 10-20x body length “swimming room” (in at least one direction)
And I keep my tanks at much less than 5-10X flow as I often keep fish from lower flow “natural” waters
Elsewhere someone mentioned that the Spec 19 was too small for a Betta, instead a Flex 34 was much better ... in terms of tank water volume I agree, in terms of swimming space I’m much less convinced, in terms of flow rate I don’t recommend the Flex for a HM or RtHM Betta unless one has substantially reduced flow ...
I’m retiring my 60F and 45F tank’s as I just don't feel comfortable keeping even shrimp or HMPK Bettas in such shallow tanks - when I move the inhabitants to a more standard height tank, they’re obviously much more “zen”
Anyway that’s my 2cents