Need some ideas!

[ya girl]

So I have a 10 gallon fresh water tank, with 7 kuhli loaches and a pair of apistogramma cockatoo (I think, I know its apistogramma not sure the specific name). I have a 5 gallon betta tank, that I magically balanced the plant to fish waste! I regularly test the tank but haven't needed to change the water. I still clean up from time to time. We also have a 20 gallon long, with tetras, corys, pair of Kribinses, a bristle nose pleco. I honestly think it's over stocked but, it's more my boyfriends. So he choose the fish, plants and scaping. He does a 30% water change once a week. My boyfriend is setting up a 40 gallon breeder and is going to take the apistogrammas from the 10 gallon tank. So I am brain storming now what I can add to my kuhlis! 

I want the mind set that the kuhlis are the "star of the show." Maybe something that stays in the middle of the tank. I lean more toward hardy guys. I have a few cave like things, that are fake I know it bothers some people but not me lol. Right now I have a java ferns and am trying to carpet pearl weed without co2. I'll probably add some water sprites eventually but am waiting to grow it out of our 20 gallon. I think it would be cool if some of yall could mentally just treat it as your tank and throw some ideas out there. 

Sorry I don't have any pictures. 

[Camille]

I love your enthusiasm!  Aquariums bring joy and beauty to our homes, don't they? I'm no expert like some on this forum but I would hazard to guess that you should not add any more fish to your 10 gallon. The old rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. Kuhli loaches can grow from 3-5 inches, is my understanding.

I hope others respond because I could be wrong about this. I love loaches too and have 3 golden dojo loaches. One is about 8 inches long and the other two are catching up in size. I ordered them online and when they arrived I saw that they were almost fully grown unlike other fish I've ordered from this vendor that were young and not their full size. The loaches are in a 60 gallon along with a few other fish. My tank is overstocked in my opinion especially taking into consideration that 1 inch rule. I'm having to do a water change every week.

[Isaac M]

Hi @ya girl, as far as stocking goes, it will depend on your plant mass and general water parameters. If you find that your 10 gallon is able to handle the fish you have now and your nitrates are within a reasonable level, somewhere around 10-20ppm, you can add fish for sure. 

For a 10 gallon, I would be looking into some nano fish. I would personally go with a school of 8 of a small rasboras species. Aquarium coop has some top 10 videos as well on nano fish, that may be helpful to look at.