Is my 13 gallon freshwater tank adequately stocked?

1 male betta
2 tiger nerite snails
5 peppered cory catfish
3 ghost shrimp
I have yet to get the shrimp but I believe it will add to the tank variety well. Also, my betta is fairly peaceful and chills with the cories often. I have a 13 gallon widescreen aqueon tank, a decent size. I treat the water with conditioner for water changes and add bacteria supplement every two days, in addition to the filter and I have a heater. The tank is densely planted with fake and real plants and moss balls, plus other hideouts. Is the tank stocking adequate?

I would say so, as long as your water parameters are in order, what are your exact water parameters??

May I please see a picture of said tank? If your screen says "File to big to process". then set your camera to the lowest resolution, then take the picture.

Can the peppered cories thrive in their group of 5? Can you see the picture of the tank?

I would get a couple more cories. Five is the minimum recommended but more will always make them "happier" and two or three more will work here.

Bettas (male) are not community fish but here you should have no issues. The cories certainly will not go after the Betta (though sometimes cories do try to "play" with upper fish) and the Betta is less likely to view cories as threats because they are not brightly coloured nor are they up in the Betta's territory. But bee aware of this, and if the Betta decides differently (which can change literally overnight), they will have to be separated.

Other members have mentioned nerite snails being OK. As for the shrimp, I will leave that to thee shrimp experts. Shrimp (crustaceans) are natural food for most all tropical fish in their habitats but some shrimp are less likely to bee eaten than others.

On the bacterial supplement, there should be no need for this, and the less stuff added to the water in an aquarium the better. Partial water changes are primary; change 50-65% of the tank volume once each week, use a good conditioner (but no more than what is actually needed for the fresh water), and you should be fine. Some floating plants will benefit the Betta, the cories (they like shade) and the water quality significantly.

Tank is beautiful. I agree with Byron on a few more cories. Adult shrimp are safe with a lot of fish but very few baby shrimp can survive with fish. They’re just too much of a tempting snack.

I currently have red cherry shrimps in with my betta (and a nerite snail). The population of shrimps halved when we went away for a few days, but the numbers are now higher than they were originally. This betta does seem to eat most of the baby shrimps, though a few have obviously escaped being eaten.
My previous betta was very laid back. He didn't eat the babies; I was always moving some into the main tank. The shrimps were an experiment with this betta, which was successful.
But a betta I had a few years ago want frantic when I accidentally got a wood louse in the tank. He would have killed any shrimps that were in his tank.

Every betta is different.

I say it is good. Less is more with stocking!

Deanasue said:

Tank is beautiful. I agree with Byron on a few more cories. Adult shrimp are safe with a lot of fish but very few baby shrimp can survive with fish. They’re just too much of a tempting snack.

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I was waiting til tomorrow to get more cories but sadly the store near me only has albinos, greens, and emeralds, rather than peppered. Is it ok if i have different species of cories? If so, how many more of a cory species should i get? I think albinos look really cool, but I heard it’s good to have cories of the same species since they school.

Tmoons said:

I was waiting til tomorrow to get more cories but sadly the store near me only has albinos, greens, and emeralds, rather than peppered. Is it ok if i have different species of cories? If so, how many more of a cory species should i get? I think albinos look really cool, but I heard it’s good to have cories of the same species since they school.

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You got me on that one. Anyone else?

Some species of cory are quite happy mixed with other species, but some do prefer their own species. But I can't remember which are which
Byron knows more about which cories can be mixed.

I would ask the store to get you more peppers, or let you know when they will be back in stock

A few comments on cories and shoaling/schooling. Cories are fish that are shoaling by nature, which means they live in groups and this is an essential part of their well being, so there must bee a group of them in an aquarium. Everyone always wants to know the "minimum" number because we so often tend to have rather small tanks, and with cories five is minimum. But more will always mean "happier" fish.

It is preferable to have the group of one species. However, combining species doesn't seem to bother them, and the more cories the better. I have had cories for more than 3 decades now, all wild caught, representing some 20 or so species over this period, and I have sometimes had one or two or three of a species (for various reasons like availability), and up to 10 of other species, and most have chummed around in mixed company, even going through some pre-spawning behaviours across species [I know for certain that a couple species have cross-bred, but that is another story]. My panda cories have tended to be together more I think, though not the entire group, and the Corydoras duplicareus might fall into this as well. But I have often seen C. duplicareus and C. sterbai together as two, three or even four.

So in this case, your five peppered would not mind another three of their own, or three of another species, and vice versa. I would not include albino in this, for no reason other than personal preference I suppose; given the small tank, I would find coloured/patterned cories more "compatible."