Starting Again

Hi all.

I've been out of the hobby for 3 years now and I want to start up a tank again.

I'm going to buy a new tank and cabinet but keep the rest of the stuff I have.

It will be around 100L

I would like to start up a community tank but cant decide what I want. I would rather have a larger number of one type of fish then lots of different fish.

I know I want a school of fish that tightly school.

My favourite fish are,
Kribs
Gourami ❤
Otos ❤
Galaxy rasbora
Chilli rasbora
Panda cory
Dainty cory ❤
Peacock goby
Yoyo loach
Cherry barb
Five banded barb
Platies
Bristlenose
Emerald dwarf rasbora ❤
Rainbow fish
Rams
Kerri tetra
Paradise fish
Daisy's ricefish

Long list I know ‍

I dont want a high maintenance tank.

The tank will have a fine black gravel/grit, driftwood and few simple plants, java fern etc

I will attach pics of my 2 filters.

What would you have in it?

Thanks x

Hello!

What are your water parameters? (pH, KH, and GH specifically)

There are a lot of temperature variations that need to noted here. I can't possibly go through your whole list.

What are you wanting specifically? (Ex. BNP, guppies, loaches.) Then we can work from there.

You should be able to find your GH on your water company's website - do a search for hardness. You need a number and the units of measurement rather than words which can be misleading. The unit of measurement is important as water companies in the UK often use some rather odd units.

I agree with PheonixKingZ and essjay. The best approach to deciding which fish to stock your new tank with, would be to determine what your GH, KH and pH are coming out of you tap. It is far easier to set up a tank and add fish that are adapted to the specific water parameters of your tap water, rather than trying to attempt to soften or harden the water in your tank (or lower or raise the pH) to suite a specific type of fish. Messing with water hardness or pH can alter other water parameters as well, and will be a constant battle for you. I suggest you first find out if your tap water is hard or soft (GH), and what your alkalinity is (KH), as well as pH. Then you can take a look at your list and cross off those fish that would not do well with your water parameters. That will help you to narrow down your list, and then you can work from there and look at other criteria such as water temperature, compatibility with other fish on the list, etc..

Buy yourself two x 4 foot long tanks and put them on a double tier stand. Then go nuts.

Sorry I completely forgot to add my water parameters.

The first of your images looks identical to my water company's website, though mine is Northumbrian water. Does the site allow you to click on the word 'hard'? Mine looks as though it's link but clicking does nothing.
The problem with words like hard is that it means different things to water companies and fish keepers. My water is described as slightly had, but it is 5 dH which is soft as far as fish keeping is concerned.

You could try phoning or emailing them to ask what the value is in numbers. Failing that, take a sample of tap water to a fish shop and ask them to test it for GH and KH.

As a last resort, you could buy a GH tester. I left this till last as you'll probably only use it once.




Edit to add - Northumbrian Water and Essex and Suffolk Water are owned by the same company, that's why their websites look the same

Found an old thres with my paras.

Gh 16
Ph 7.8

Is the GH 16 dH (very hard) or 16 ppm (very soft)? Though as your water company say 'hard' it is unlikely to be ppm.

Most of the fish on your list are soft water fish, though some should be OK at 16 dH.

Yes, it is 16 dH or 16 ppm?

Looking at old data from my water company, 16 dH is classed as 'hard' by them so as yours does say 'hard' it will be 16 dH not 16 ppm. Even a water company would call 16 ppm 'soft'.


Running your list through Seriously Fish, your water is too hard for the majority of them. The ones that would work in water with 16 dH are:
Platies - and all the other common livebearers
Most rainbowfish - there are the odd softer water species but most of them need hard water. With 100 litres you would need one of the smaller species.
Emerald dwarf rasbora (Celestichthys erythromicron)
Maybe cherry barb, but they prefer softer water than yours
Paradise fish are a possibility but they need cooler water than most tropical fish so tank mates could be a problem.

Rift Lake cichlids would be another option, though the tank size you are looking at would be too small for most species.




The other option would be to mix your tap water with a source of pure water such as reverse osmosis (RO). A 50:50 mix would halve your hardness to 8 dH. But this would mean always having a supply of RO water on hand in case an emergency water change was needed. Something to think about anyway.

Be aware that Celestichthys erythromicron are incredibly timid and tiny. IF you choose these it should be a species only tank. You would need a heavily planted tank and lots of them to see them regularly. Probably around 50-60 in that size tank. They will not feed from the surface (not ever) so feeding flake would be a waste of time.