Advice on stocking a new, tiny aquarium

I used to be an avid hobbyist and had a really well established 55g Amazon themed tank. Unfortunately, I had to move states and went from owning to renting and could not bring my tank. It's been about 6-7 years and I recently decided to slowly get back into things with a tiny 5-gallon custom made tank.
Tank is set up and doing well and I'd like some advice on stocking. Current inhabitants are 4 neon tetra and 4 red cherry shrimp. I've got some low light plants (mostly java fern relatives) and a few moss balls on the bottom that the shrimp graze.

My questions:
1. Can I fit more fish? I was planning on staying around 5 ~1" fish but I will admit the tetra are smaller than I remember (I used to have a nice school of cardinals in my old tank) and I was surprised how hard it is to even see them sometimes (They hang out in the plants a lot). I was thinking of adding either a drawf gourami OR ~2 serpae tetra. Too much? Anything else you'd recommend?

2. How many more shrimp can I add? I've read that red cherry shrimp have almost a net zero bioload and that people keep a ton in relatively small tanks. Is this true? They're too expensive for me to really stock up on but if I could get up to 10 I think it would add a lot of movement (I sometimes have trouble finding the 4 with all the hiding spots)

Thanks!

What are the dimensions of the tank?

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but neon tetras need a swimming length of 60 cm/24 inches so unless your tank is an unusual shape I'm afraid they are not suitable. They also need to be in a group of at least 6 with more being better.
The tank is too small for dwarf gouramis - and they have health issues.
It is also too small for serpae tetras which are renowned fin nippers unless kept in a group of at least 10 and a tank at least 80 cm/32 inches long.

However it is perfect for shrimps. Without fish to eat the baby shrimps, assuming you have at least 1 male and 1 female you should soon have a tank full of shrimps. You could also add a snail to the tank.

The only other fish suitable for 5 gallons is a betta but many bettas will eat shrimps. I tried some with my last betta and there were bits of shrimp all over the tank

Thanks for the quick reply! I've never heard of a minimum tank length for neons (can you point me to a website or something that discusses this? I tried googling but came up with nothing) - I chose them initially because of an article I read and also I recalled them being easy and my water tends to be a bit on the softer side. Unfortunately, I can't rehome them at this point so will just have to make do. They're doing well currently. Sad to know they won't be at their best

Really appreciate the info on the serpae. Will avoid those.
What do you mean by gouramis have health issues? Curious to hear more about that as I had a dwarf gourami in my previous tank for many years and I really enjoyed him

I'm not interested in adding a beta at this point for a couple reasons (1 - my filter puts out a decent current and i don't think the beta would be happy and 2 - i'm not big on supporting sale of beta given the conditions they're kept in). Any other small fish that can be recommended?

Most of the dwarf gouramis bred in Asia are infected with dwarf gourami disease by the time they arrive at the store. They commonly die a few months after purchase.

Anyone can set up a website claiming to be an expert with very little knowledge. But there is one site which is written by experts and is the site most of on this forum rely on for information.

This is their profile on neon tetras

This is super helpful, thank you! So would it be better to add 2 more neons knowing the tank dimensions don't meet their needs (I checked, and it is indeed not 24" long) or leave them at 4 which is fewer than their ideal school size? Realize this is a bit of frying pan/fire but not sure I see an alternate solution at this point

Won't consider for this tank obviously, but do honey gourami also suffer the same breed issue that drawfs do?

Are there any fish other than betas that can live in a 5gal tank happily?

I agree with @essjay, neon tetras need room to swim, I keep my neon tetras in my 55 gallon soft water tetra tank. They are also shoaling fish that should have at least 6 fish-the more the better.

Sorry, a 5 gallon tank is like living in a closet for most fish. Snails and shrimp do well in that small of tank as do betta. I have a 5 gallon tank sitting empty in my basement. I keep it to use as a QT tank in an emergency.

I would not add any more tetra.
How long have you had your shrimp? Unless you are really unlucky and have 4 of the same sex it won't be long before you have a lot more. Cherry shrimp are fascinating to watch and highly entertaining. No harm in adding more but may as well just wait a couple of months. They can produce 30-60 shrimplets in a batch. Your tetras will snack on them but, as long as there are hiding spaces, more will survive than get eaten.

Retired Viking said:

I agree with @essjay, neon tetras need room to swim, I keep my neon tetras in my 55 gallon soft water tetra tank. They are also shoaling fish that should have at least 6 fish-the more the better.

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I hear you and I used to have a wonderful school of cardinal tetras in my 55g but that's unfortunately not possible in my current situation. I've got 4 neons in a 5g tank and my choices right now are:
1. Keep them as a group of 4 (this is what I'm expecting to do)
2. Add 1-2 more to improve their school size but subjecting 2 additional neons to a smaller than ideal aquarium (assuming this is not the right choice)
3. I don't really have a third choice unless I just put them out of their misery which I'm not going to do. Just want to reiterate that these 4 already live in this tank and are established. I can't return them (fish store here doesn't take fish back for fear of contamination) and I can't start another larger tank.

Retired Viking said:

Sorry, a 5 gallon tank is like living in a closet for most fish. Snails and shrimp do well in that small of tank as do betta. I have a 5 gallon tank sitting empty in my basement. I keep it to use as a QT tank in an emergency.

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Unfortunately I feel like there's a little bit of negative judgement inherent in some of this, which feels too bad. I'm not going to take this tank and toss it in my basement and sort of feel bad reading that as it seems like that's what you're suggesting I do.

If you read above, you'll see other have shared a similar sentiment regarding small tanks. However I haven't really received an answer to the question I asked. You said "most fish" and what I'm trying to understand is whether there are any fish other than beta that will live comfortably in a tank this size. I'm not asking whether any fish would do better in a 5g than a larger aquarium (obviously this list would likely be zero - I would certainly do best living in a huge mansion but currently live in what many non-Boston/NYC folks would consider a closet!) but rather are there any fish (like beta fish) that would do well in a tank of this size? If your opinion on that is no, that's still valuable information for me as I plan for the future.

seangee said:

I would not add any more tetra.
How long have you had your shrimp? Unless you are really unlucky and have 4 of the same sex it won't be long before you have a lot more. Cherry shrimp are fascinating to watch and highly entertaining. No harm in adding more but may as well just wait a couple of months. They can produce 30-60 shrimplets in a batch. Your tetras will snack on them but, as long as there are hiding spaces, more will survive than get eaten.

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Shrimp are a relatively new addition - they've only been in there since Friday. Good to know!
If they do breed, will they over produce and crash the tank?

For now, I'll just stick with the few neons and shrimp. Assuming keeping tetra and beta together is a no-go since the neons will nip the beta right? I'm not a fan of supporting the beta business for reasons stated above (makes me feel awful supporting stores that store them in tiny tupperwear size containers) but I could potentially find a more reputable place to order if they could co-habitate (again, assuming the answer is no)

ghorwitz said:

Shrimp are a relatively new addition - they've only been in there since Friday. Good to know!
If they do breed, will they over produce and crash the tank?

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No. They will slow down as their numbers increase. Sometimes I go for months without seeing any berried (i.e. carrying eggs) females in my tank. Keep an eye on them if you can spot them. They are quite sensitive when you move them from the shop to your tank. I originally bought 10, but 3 died in the first week. Today I have well over 100 in a 15G.

seangee said:

No. They will slow down as their numbers increase. Sometimes I go for months without seeing any berried (i.e. carrying eggs) females in my tank. Keep an eye on them if you can spot them. They are quite sensitive when you move them from the shop to your tank. I originally bought 10, but 3 died in the first week. Today I have well over 100 in a 15G.

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Ok, great this is helpful to know! I've made an effort to count them every morning (harder than it sounds!) and so far I'm still 4 for 4. I had one get pulled into my filter on the first day (it's tiny) and managed to rescue it and it's still doing well. They are amazing to observe

here’s a pic

You can get other species of Betta which could be a potential thought for the future but they will also snack on your shrimp.

Just to warn you - if you see what looks like a hollow white shrimp in the tank, it's a moulted skin. Because shrimps have a rigid exoskeleton, they have to shed their old skin and harden a new one to grow in size. It can be disconcerting the first time you see one if you are not expecting it. While the new skin is hardening, they are quite vulnerable so make sure you have hiding places for them.

essjay said:

Just to warn you - if you see what looks like a hollow white shrimp in the tank, it's a moulted skin. Because shrimps have a rigid exoskeleton, they have to shed their old skin and harden a new one to grow in size. It can be disconcerting the first time you see one if you are not expecting it. While the new skin is hardening, they are quite vulnerable so make sure you have hiding places for them.

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It's funny you say that, because one of them did moult very soon after addition. I read that it's important to leave the exoskeleton in the tank as they consume it to restore mineral content. Is that true?