fish suggestion wanted

tgwthf · May 25, 2017

not sure if this should go here? as i'm new and its a beginner question really but, i have a large tank that is
cycling at the moment its about 55 UK gallons, about 66 US gallons, its a tropical tank. ANYWAY my question is:

what type of fish would be a good display fish for the tank? sorta like a killifish or a gourami fish, but i'm not sure if there are any other larger fish that would work? preferably with large flowing fins?

I will be keeping my sailfin plec and a bunch of guppies in there too so i'm hoping for a fish that wont be nippy? like i don't want a fish that will nip at the guppies fins or the sailfins fins preferably
thanks in advance for anyone who can give me a suggestion ^^

Byron · May 25, 2017

We need to know your water parameters for the source water, as some fish have preferences and will be healthier if they are in suitable water. The GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) and pH. You should be able to get these from your municipal water authority if you are on municipal water; check their website.

Byron.

tgwthf · May 25, 2017

my water companies website has no info on the water info in my area, everything says N/A, guess i'll never find any new types of fish then :unsure:

Essjay · May 25, 2017

That sounds a bit odd. Are you in the UK - you did mention UK gallons? If so, which water company?

Of course you could always either buy a GH and KH tester (you should already have a pH tester) or ask a shop to test GH and KH - get them to write down both the number and the unit their testers use.

tgwthf · May 25, 2017

essjay said:
That sounds a bit odd. Are you in the UK - you did mention UK gallons? If so, which water company?

Of course you could always either buy a GH and KH tester (you should already have a pH tester) or ask a shop to test GH and KH - get them to write down both the number and the unit their testers use.

the company is dwrcymru a welsh water provider and i put in my area code and it was coming up as N/A, i purchased one of those.. test stick things? it should be here tomorrow so hopefully i can find out then... can anyone still mention some cool looking fish for me to look up?

Baker · May 25, 2017

He municipal company is legally obligated to answer your inquiry if you call their HQ or office.
Rosy barbs are pretty long finned schoolers. They get larger than some of the more common barbs and tetras and are pretty docile barbs.
Tiger loaches are always a staple, as are rainbows.
youve kind of got yourself in a weird spot where you want to add peaceful larger fish, but at the same time you want to keep a bunch of guppies, even the most peaceful larger fish will easily suck up a guppy if they get the opportunity.

tgwthf · May 26, 2017

Baker said:
He municipal company is legally obligated to answer your inquiry if you call their HQ or office.
Rosy barbs are pretty long finned schoolers. They get larger than some of the more common barbs and tetras and are pretty docile barbs.
Tiger loaches are always a staple, as are rainbows.
youve kind of got yourself in a weird spot where you want to add peaceful larger fish, but at the same time you want to keep a bunch of guppies, even the most peaceful larger fish will easily suck up a guppy if they get the opportunity.

yeah i know i didn't mean larger as in huge compared to the guppies just a little bit bigger so its easier to see their colours haha, also i just got a test kit to test the water and the colour chart said my KH is between 40 and 60, and my GH is between 60 and 120 and my PH is 7.0, i'm assuming that these are all in the middle?

Byron · May 26, 2017

tgwthf said:
yeah i know i didn't mean larger as in huge compared to the guppies just a little bit bigger so its easier to see their colours haha, also i just got a test kit to test the water and the colour chart said my KH is between 40 and 60, and my GH is between 60 and 120 and my PH is 7.0, i'm assuming that these are all in the middle?

I will assume the unit of measurement for the KH and GH is parts per million (ppm)? This would be soft water. If the unit of measurement is in degrees (dGH), you would literally have liquid rock, which is not at all likely.

That being the case, the pH of 7 will likely lower in the aquarium as the water acidifies. This is very normal/natural.

What all this means is that you want to be looking at soft water fish species. Forget all livebearers, they need moderately hard or harder water. Guppies are today so inbred they are weak fish, and while better in harder water they might manage, but I would not include them. Most fish from South America and SE Asia are soft water. The pleco is fine.

With this in mind, gourami are suitable. Gourami males are territorial, and some species are worse than others when it comes to aggressiveness. Gourami are also sedate fish, not active swimmers, more cruisers. So tankmates should be similar, no fast active swimming fish (this leaves out all barbs and danios). Rasbora and some of the tetras would work. But with tetras you need to avoid fin nippers, as some are very good at this, and the sedate gourami would be stressed to death. I'm being very general here, just to point you in the right direction. If you find fish you might like, we can comment specifically.

As one example, since you did mention gourami, and you have a 60g tank, which I will assume is at least 90 cm (3 feet) in length...the Pearl Gourami in a group of five to seven would be lovely (2-3 males, 3-4 females) but the Blue/Gold Gourami would not; the latter is often fairly aggressive, but the Pearls are quite peaceful by comparison. Shoals of rasbora or peaceful tetras would complement a group of Pearls. This is just one example to give you the idea.

Byron.

tgwthf · May 26, 2017

Byron said:
I will assume the unit of measurement for the KH and GH is parts per million (ppm)? This would be soft water. If the unit of measurement is in degrees (dGH), you would literally have liquid rock, which is not at all likely.

That being the case, the pH of 7 will likely lower in the aquarium as the water acidifies. This is very normal/natural.

What all this means is that you want to be looking at soft water fish species. Forget all livebearers, they need moderately hard or harder water. Guppies are today so inbred they are weak fish, and while better in harder water they might manage, but I would not include them. Most fish from South America and SE Asia are soft water. The pleco is fine.

With this in mind, gourami are suitable. Gourami males are territorial, and some species are worse than others when it comes to aggressiveness. Gourami are also sedate fish, not active swimmers, more cruisers. So tankmates should be similar, no fast active swimming fish (this leaves out all barbs and danios). Rasbora and some of the tetras would work. But with tetras you need to avoid fin nippers, as some are very good at this, and the sedate gourami would be stressed to death. I'm being very general here, just to point you in the right direction. If you find fish you might like, we can comment specifically.

As one example, since you did mention gourami, and you have a 60g tank, which I will assume is at least 90 cm (3 feet) in length...the Pearl Gourami in a group of five to seven would be lovely (2-3 males, 3-4 females) but the Blue/Gold Gourami would not; the latter is often fairly aggressive, but the Pearls are quite peaceful by comparison. Shoals of rasbora or peaceful tetras would complement a group of Pearls. This is just one example to give you the idea.

Byron.

wow so i guess i can't have very colourful fish, that sucks, pearl gouramis, tetra's and others are all rather bland coloured and not that interesting to look at, and as for the size of my tank its 4ft long by 18 inches wide and 18 inches high

Byron · May 26, 2017

tgwthf said:
wow so i guess i can't have very colourful fish, that sucks, pearl gouramis, tetra's and others are all rather bland coloured and not that interesting to look at, and as for the size of my tank its 4ft long by 18 inches wide and 18 inches high

I consider fish colourful and interesting...take the photos below as examples of soft water species like cardinals, pearl gourami, red phantom tetra, ember tetra, just to offer a few...what's not colourful with these?

tgwthf · May 26, 2017

Byron said:
I consider fish colourful and interesting...take the photos below as examples of soft water species like cardinals, pearl gourami, red phantom tetra, ember tetra, just to offer a few...what's not colourful with these?

they're just shades of red and grey, that isn't what i'd consider "colourful" to be honest things like blues and greens or bright reds and mixtures of many different colours on one fish are what i'd consider colourful, its kind of why i wanted to get guppies because they have multiple bright colours on them

Byron · May 26, 2017

tgwthf said:
they're just shades of red and grey, that isn't what i'd consider "colourful" to be honest things like blues and greens or bright reds and mixtures of many different colours on one fish are what i'd consider colourful, its kind of why i wanted to get guppies because they have multiple bright colours on them

Red and grey? Maybe you need your eyes tested. Look at that glowing neon blue line on the cardinal tetra. And the Pearl is blue and red. Do some research, you will find many colourful soft water fish.

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