First week water results

Characf said:

4ft, 300 Gallons.
and I got 4, the tropco website said 3 or more, but tbh 6 would be too many considering my tanks not huge. I have family that keeps bostorious community so I'll have to monitor

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There is a misunderstanding here, I'll try to explain. You need five or six minimum of any of the botine loaches (the species in the genus Botia and similar species). Four may or may not work, but I strongly suggest another one or two--but make sure all five or six are added to the tank at the same time. These fish are very highly social, and an hierarchy will be established within days. Once they do, "intruders" like another loach or two are usually not tolerated.

Within the group hierarchy one fish will be the alpha, usually a female. The alpha loach will run the group and indeed the tank. This is fascinating behaviour, a delight to any aquarist. Provided it works of course.

Never but never rely on sites that sell fish for information. Ask here on TFF, or use reliable sites like Seriously Fish.

You need chunks of wood so each loach can choose one and make that its home. This too is crucial to their hierarchy. You have a good start on this from the photos, but two or three more chunks lying on the substrate would be advisable.

Thanks for all the advice guys, fish order day..

Thanks to your help my water test today came back with 0 ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. (Although it took a whole 12 hours to do a 75% water change on my tank due to the nitra zorb filtering process) I have also bought a few floating plants.

AbbeysDad said:

It's pretty common these days to have somewhat high nitrates in source water, especially in agricultural areas. I had a heck of a time with my well water due to a 95 acre farmers field across the road. I believe they used to use a fair amount of chemical fertilizer. Fortunately for me another farm began leasing the land and they rely on liquefied manure for fertilizer....lower air quality when the spray, but better water! So my friend @Byron pointed out a couple of my articles on high nitrates and here's a deep dive into filtration and water quality.

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Abbey, quick question as I didn't see it anywhere on your article, does this nitra zorb filtering process remove some hardness from your water? As my water is very hard and if I can bring it down to around 190 it'll open the window for more species of tetra

Guys I've made a terrible mistake, I thought I read Black widow tetras would be fine in hard water but they're more suited to soft. What should I do?

Can you cancel the order or is it too late?

Not only are almost all tetras soft water fish but black widow (aka black skirt) tetras are well known fin nippers so tank mates have to be chosen carefully.

Essjay said:

Can you cancel the order or is it too late?

Not only are almost all tetras soft water fish but black widow (aka black skirt) tetras are well known fin nippers so tank mates have to be chosen carefully.

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They're already here now, I'm hoping the filter system I done a 75% water change yesterday has taken a lot of the hardness out. They seem content now and I've already noticed they're chasing anything smaller. On the site it said they're a community fish.. I haven't seen them bite yet but they don't particularly like other fish next to the shoal? I'm loving these yoyo loach they've non stop been sifting through the substrate since I got them

The original guppies keep chasing the platies, almost looks like they're trying to mate

Male guppies will try to mate with anything


Never trust anything a fish seller says, they want your money so will make fish sound attractive.

Seriously Fish makes this comment, so provided you've bought enough of them they should be OK.

Although it has a reputation as a bit of a fin nipper, this behaviour can usually be rectified by keeping it in a small shoal of at least 6-8 specimens. When maintained in these kind of numbers any squabbling is generally contained within the group.

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Essjay said:

Male guppies will try to mate with anything


Never trust anything a fish seller says, they want your money so will make fish sound attractive.

Seriously Fish makes this comment, so provided you've bought enough of them they should be OK.

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I got 6 so hopefully it works, I've monitored and they don't seem that aggressive. I'm more worried about water parameters.

Some pics

How hard is "hard" water here? This tetra is one of the species bred for years and even naturally it has a larger parameter range than many other species.

The number in the group is significant though, as @Essjay noted.

Byron said:

How hard is "hard" water here? This tetra is one of the species bred for years and even naturally it has a larger parameter range than many other species.

The number in the group is significant though, as @Essjay noted.

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It's 16 or 268 depending how you read it, but through the nitra zorb filtering process it may of removed some of the hardness?

API's website says Nitra-Zorb removes ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It does not mention hardness. The safety data sheet says it contains ion exchange resins and zeolites.

Zeolite removes ammonia. It also removes medication when it is used in a tank. If you use it to prefilter the water, this is not a problem, and as it's not in the tank it won't starve the plants and/or bacteria of ammonia, it'll just remove any in tap water.
It doesn't specify what the ion exchange resins swap with what, though presumably they swap nitrite and nitrate for something else. Since it's recharged with salt, they may swap them for chloride.

Essjay said:

API's website says Nitra-Zorb removes ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It does not mention hardness. The safety data sheet says it contains ion exchange resins and zeolites.

Zeolite removes ammonia. It also removes medication when it is used in a tank. If you use it to prefilter the water, this is not a problem, and as it's not in the tank it won't starve the plants and/or bacteria of ammonia, it'll just remove any in tap water.
It doesn't specify what the ion exchange resins swap with what, though presumably they swap nitrite and nitrate for something else. Since it's recharged with salt, they may swap them for chloride.

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I don't think they'd sell a product that replaces Nitrates with Chloride that'll be ridiculous surely? A lot of people have filtered water using these products without an issue?