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Have you been following the guide? Did you get the ammonia up to the stated 3ppm to start and then add more when the instructions say to? How often have you been testing the water for ammonia and nitrite? Would recommend you have another read through of the guide and follow it. If you haven't...

The Honey Gourami/s could be the centre piece fish, and you could get a school of small thin-bodied tetras or rasboras which will make the honey gourami stand out. Neon tetra (normal or green variation) if you love colour, ember tetras, chili rasbora are tiny so would make the honey gouramis...

Haha all good. Don't think I've seen that brand here. Likely will get an Aqua One Clearview

Large tanks? This is for a 35L quarantine / plant storage tank :)

Actually.... if I ever won lotto.... A large Discus tank would be pretty epic

Thanks all, sounds like sticking with the HOB will be the best way to go :)

I'm exactly the same. If I could have 5 different tanks I know the various setups and fish I'd have in each, but I don't really have a dream fish or anything like that.

Yea. The only thing I don't like about the HOB filters is the lack of water flow having the outlet just dropping straight down in front of the inlet. I think internal filters with spray bars provide much better water circulation

You're welcome :) And yep, definitely wouldn't be getting any more fish advice from general pet stores - but this forum seems like a wealth of knowledge to use and learn from. Good luck with the betta, hopefully doing these water changes and getting the beneficial bacteria in there he will...

I hadn't heard of them before, but a quick Google search and it looks like they would definitely be better than nothing for now - do a 75% water change, treat the water with Prime & then once refilled add in 1 of those balls. I'll let someone else who's knowledgeable on them say if they're as...

Awesome that you're using the Prime for your tap water, keep that up along with removing the uneaten food and fish waste daily. Since your tank wasn't cycled before the fish went in, you're effectively doing a risky fish-in cycle now. Would recommend daily min 50% water changes with the Prime...

I'll let someone else more clued up about fish diseases give advice on what might be wrong and any appropriate treatment, but to start with the basics... - How long has the tank been set up, and was it cycled before you put the fish in? - How big is the tank? - How often are you cleaning and...

My 200-250L tank will have an AquaOne Aquis CF1200 as its main filter. I'm planning to have a second tank which will probably be about 35ish litres and used primarily as a quarantine and plant storage tank. Trying to decide if I want an internal or hang on back filter for that one. The filter...

Yea good point about the size, especially the female platys. Perhaps just another couple of colour varieties of the platys to make the whole tank more interesting instead of a single centerpiece fish? A nice mix of reds, sunsets and wagtails always looks good

There's very limited options for centrepiece fish with your tank size and water hardness. What about a single honey gourami? I know you said no gouramis, but the honey's are a small, quiet, peaceful fish compared to their bigger more aggressive cousins and only get to about 2 inches. You can...

You say here ammonia was zero, but in your post about the cories you said you only had test strips (known for being innacturate) and they don't test for ammonia - so which is it? You also cleaned out the filter with tap water when you first noticed issues, so it's quite possible you ended up...

More than likely it was the tank conditions that either directly caused the sicknesses, or significantly contributed to weakening the fish which made them susceptible to illnesses that a healthy fish would normally be able to fight off naturally. So, don't worry about anything except those...

What to do next time? Refer to all of the excellent advice you've received around appropriate water parameters (pH, hardness & temp) for the types of fish you want to keep, cycling tanks properly, stocking levels, fish compatability, checking for ammonia nitrite & nitrate, water changes using...

Thanks for the knowledgeable advice! Definitely looking forward to going driftwood and stone hunting down at the Waimak. Might actually head out there after this latest weather front pushes through- bet there'll be heaps of cool bits. Going to close the thread down now, have the advice I was...

Christchurch at the moment. Have kept fish in Auckland, both on rain water out on a farm and in the city on their gross tap water haha

All good. It is a very important point! I watch a lot of MD Fishtanks, and he is always saying that if you don't like your tank or the fish in it then you won't have the motivation to look after it properly. So true ay

I'm not sure what makes you think I'm looking at fish I don't like? I'm only looking at fish I like, and selecting from them which ones work best together and can thrive withing my water parameters. I love the harlequins, neons, cory, otos & golden bristlenose that I've already decided on as the...

It's definitely unusual to have soft water with a high pH or hard water with a low pH, but it is possible and is our situation - that info is straight from our city council's water management.

Thank you everyone - always good to hear different opinions and ways of setting up a tank and deciding which fish to put in :) I personally like having a tank which has 2-3 types of schooling fish, then a feature fish that is slightly larger (or at least looks larger due to body shape) and...

What sized tank and filtration are you using where the betta currently is for quarantine, and was that cycled?

Just for clarification, as it seems some things have gotten a bit lost in translation :) - MOST of our city's water is currently & temporarily lightly chlorinated while they're doing maintenance but they are hoping to go back to chlorine free this year, as is standard for our city due to the...

Sorry, I think you might have misunderstood my post. I'm talking about using pure, clean, soft tap water that has ZERO chlorine in it.

Sweet, thanks! Our city's water is all from underground aquifers and has always been known as being very pure and clean naturally. Usually the water isn't treated, but they have been doing some minor chlorinating to most areas for the past 4 years while they've been upgrading the system, they're...

Not new to the hobby, but this seems like a newbie-type question so thought I'd post it here. Haven't kept fish anywhere that didn't have chlorianted or tank rain water before, so of course always used conditioners when doing water changes. If your water isn't chlorinated, is there still a need...

Our water hardness (CaCO3) is 45, very soft. It just also happens to be alkaline, which isn't common but is possible.

6-7.5 pH for the Bolivian Rams. The water is very soft, so the slightly higher pH wouldn't be an issue as long as it's stable.

Yea I was wondering about the Diamond Tetra if I went with Honey Gourami or Bolivian Ram, as they would be a similar size. Wondering now if I skip the diamond's altogether and just stick with the other 2 smaller tetra/rasbora species, then do both the rams (4 - 1 male 3 female) and the honey...

Oh a dwarf cichlid could be cool too! How about some Bolivian Rams? I've had German rams in the past and absolutely loved them, but they're a bit higher needs than for this community tank, but apparently the Bolivians are more peaceful, hardier and like the slightly lower temp?

Yea, my understanding with pH is that as long as they're captive bred fish and the pH isn't excessively low or high, it's more important that the pH remains stable than fluctuate between good and bad, so I probably wouldn't try and bring it down at all. This is with 1 more of each cory and 2...

Haven't tested mine, but according to the city council website our water is soft with a total hardness of 45 mg/l, and more alkaline with a pH of 7.8. Don't know KH value.

Putting together ideas for a new planted community 3ft / 200L tank. This is my stocking plans so far: 10 x Neon Tetra 10 x Harlequin Rasbora 6 x Diamond Tetra 4 x Panda Cory 4 x Julii Cory 5 x Otocinclus 1 x Golden Bristlenose Pleco AqAdvisor doesn't have any concerns about having these fish...

Thanks for the great replies everyone, really useful stuff in there :) I will definitely replace my bulbs and look for light in that 5000-6500K range. I think we are quite limited in brands available here, so will just have to see what I can use in my light fitting.   I'm still deciding on the...

Something else that comes to mind. How long do the lights last?? Mine must be about a year old now, so perhaps they are past their usefulness and I need new ones?