New Fish Keeper - My 58L Tank

Hey all,

I have embarked on a journey as a fish keeper and purchased a 58L (12-gallon) tank. Currently, I have 2 Assorted Mollies, 2 Bristlenose Catfish, and 2 Golden Gouramis.

I'm curious about the suitable number of fish I can add while maintaining good conditions in the tank. I plan to upgrade to a 90L (20-gallon) tank in a few months, so this setup is temporary.

I'm interested in adding 2 or 3 more decent-sized fish and a shoal of fish. Is this feasible? I would love any insight on suitable options to fill the remaining space in my tank.

I've noticed that water conditions are important, so I've included a photo of my water test strip. The tank dimensions are 60cm x 30cm.

NO3 - 20mg/lNO2 - 0.5mg/lpH - 7.5KH - 240mg/lGH - 180mg/l

If I am missing anything please let me know.

I would love to get feedback on what your thoughts are on the fish tank I am loving this new hobby of mine and I'm trying to take it all in

.

Thanks,

Zishan

Zishan97 said:

Hey all,

I have embarked on a journey as a fish keeper and purchased a 58L (12-gallon) tank. Currently, I have 2 Assorted Mollies, 2 Bristlenose Catfish, and 2 Golden Gouramis.

I'm curious about the suitable number of fish I can add while maintaining good conditions in the tank. I plan to upgrade to a 90L (20-gallon) tank in a few months, so this setup is temporary.

I'm interested in adding 2 or 3 more decent-sized fish and a school of fish. Is this feasible? I would love any insight on suitable options to fill the remaining space in my tank.

I've noticed that water conditions are important, so I've included a photo of my water test strip. The tank dimensions are 60cm x 30cm.

NO3 - 20mg/lNO2 - 0.5mg/lpH - 7.5KH - 240mg/lGH - 180mg/l

If I am missing anything please let me know.

I would love to get feedback on what your thoughts are on the fish tank I am loving this new hobby of mine and I'm trying to take it all in

.View attachment 325244View attachment 325245

Thanks,

Zishan

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Welcome my fellow Londoner. Typical London water there with the Nitrate at 20. The Nitrite is normally 0-0.25 but we can get 0.50 (mine tends to be around 0.10 to 0.25). But your GH is coming up as 180 then? That's quite a bit lower than my tap water.

I have always dismissed gouramis as fish to keep, but your two look stunning. It's good you might upgrade as the BN Catfish might need that in the future, how big are they now? Btw, I keep BN as well. What do you think about buying a small piece of aquatic wood, because they love that, and need it to a degree (I think), others may correct me. It might not suit the theme of your tank, but it will, more importantly, suit the BN. Something like this https://www.swelluk.com/swell-bog-wood that's just to show you what it looks like, I didn't check the size.

Also, interesting tank theme! If you wanted to add a skull we have a specialist on this forum for that @Lcc86

AlexTimothy147 said:

Also, interesting tank theme! If you wanted to add a skull we have a specialist on this forum for that @Lcc86

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You've made me sound like a serial killer there

@Zishan97 how do you find that filter? I had one but it was SO loud, not sure if I had a faulty one perhaps!

The maximum that strip can test for is 180 ppm so your hardness could be 180 ppm or anything higher. The best way to find out is to look on your water company's website for hardness.

Essjay said:

The maximum that strip can test for is 180 ppm so your hardness could be 180 ppm or anything higher. The best way to find out is to look on your water company's website for hardness.

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Wow very well spotted. Impressive, and how stupid for them to cap GH test at 180. My London tap water comes back as 280ppm. What utter nonsense to sell a test kit like that. The difference between 180 and 280 is significant for many types of fish. I use degree's hardness mostly, so that's a difference of 10 degrees hardness to 16 degrees hardness, or am i being too harsh on the testing kit company?

I think you are justified It would be like a nitrate tester only going up to 5 ppm. Having 180 ppm/10 dH max on the strip will lead people with hard water to think they have almost soft water.