55 Gallon Fish Stuffer
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fropuf said:
essjay said:
I misread your post
425 ppm converts to 23 degrees, which is very hard. Maybe too hard for even rainbowfish.
Rift Lake cichlids?
I agree completely with essjay on the sodium softener, this water is not suitable for fish. And you have hard water.
Most of the fish from Central America/Mexico will work well. This includes all the livebearers, and some of the cichlids from this area. Avoiding the nasty ones, but there are several that could be housed in with livebearers. A 55g tank was mentioned, so the space provides several options that smaller tanks would not.
You could for example do an authentic habitat with pea gravel, some river rock (rounded stones replicating various sided boulders and pebbles), a few chunks of driftwood. You mention no live plants, so that works well, but some floating plants are always a good idea as these provide the benefit of aiding water quality plus they shade the fish which is completely natural; in the habitat, overhanging marginal vegetation is prevalent. Could be a very lovely aquascape.
Livebearers from the mollies, platy and swordtails would be right at home with the guppies. With or without the peaceful cichlid species.
Byron.
Most of the fish from Central America/Mexico will work well. This includes all the livebearers, and some of the cichlids from this area. Avoiding the nasty ones, but there are several that could be housed in with livebearers. A 55g tank was mentioned, so the space provides several options that smaller tanks would not.
You could for example do an authentic habitat with pea gravel, some river rock (rounded stones replicating various sided boulders and pebbles), a few chunks of driftwood. You mention no live plants, so that works well, but some floating plants are always a good idea as these provide the benefit of aiding water quality plus they shade the fish which is completely natural; in the habitat, overhanging marginal vegetation is prevalent. Could be a very lovely aquascape.
Livebearers from the mollies, platy and swordtails would be right at home with the guppies. With or without the peaceful cichlid species.
Byron.
fropuf said:
I am not too up on cichlids from CA, but a couple that occur to me are the Firemouth (Thorichthys meeki), Blue Acara (Aequidens pulcher), Salvini (Nandopsis salvini), Rainbow (Herotilapia multispinosa). Check these on a reliable site, I am not suggesting they may all work but as far as I can remember they are among the more peaceful. Obviously I would not combine more than one cichlid species in a 55g.
Of course, a 55g could easily be filled with just beautiful livebearers. Mollies and swordtails are not really "small" in size when they are in a good environment and healthy, and you could have some lively colour with a few of these. Stay with males to avoid tons of fry, not all of which would get eaten.
Livebearers shouldn't be used as live food for other fish.
They (and other commonly used 'feeder fish', like goldfish and rosy red minnows) contain a substance called thiaminase, which eventually leads to liver failure in the fish eating them.
They (and other commonly used 'feeder fish', like goldfish and rosy red minnows) contain a substance called thiaminase, which eventually leads to liver failure in the fish eating them.
We sometimes assume that fish will be eating other fish naturally, but that is far from the reality. Except for some few species, most fish that we maintain in aquaria have a diet comprised of insects, insect larvae, worms and crustaceans; the vegetarian species obviously eat algae and plant matter.
The reason we see predation in an aquarium is generally because we are placing fish together that may never be "together" in nature, and we are doing it in a very small confined space. If you watch any of the several habitat videos online you will very rarely see different sized fish species in close proximity. They can and do avoid one another. But in the very artificial environment of an aquarium, a small moving object will obviously evoke the predatory response in a larger fish, plus the fact that fish are naturally always looking for possible food, so they are more likely to go after the tiny fish.
I often see the odd fry in some of my tanks, and it is interesting that the other fish generally tend to ignore them. They certainly do not chase them down in most cases. The eggs are what get eaten readily, but if one or two should survive and hatch, the fry frequently survive by remaining in suitable plant cover. The other fish can't be bothered the effort of hunting them down.
The point of all this is that fish are not a natural food source, and thus the fact that they are not the best source of nutrition is not surprising.
Byron.
The reason we see predation in an aquarium is generally because we are placing fish together that may never be "together" in nature, and we are doing it in a very small confined space. If you watch any of the several habitat videos online you will very rarely see different sized fish species in close proximity. They can and do avoid one another. But in the very artificial environment of an aquarium, a small moving object will obviously evoke the predatory response in a larger fish, plus the fact that fish are naturally always looking for possible food, so they are more likely to go after the tiny fish.
I often see the odd fry in some of my tanks, and it is interesting that the other fish generally tend to ignore them. They certainly do not chase them down in most cases. The eggs are what get eaten readily, but if one or two should survive and hatch, the fry frequently survive by remaining in suitable plant cover. The other fish can't be bothered the effort of hunting them down.
The point of all this is that fish are not a natural food source, and thus the fact that they are not the best source of nutrition is not surprising.
Byron.
Found out a more accurate reading for my GK. It is 140 ppm. With this info, what would work in my water. I'm currently planning on guppies, swordtails, and mollies. I want at least two more species in my tank.
fropuf said:
That is roughly 8 dGH. You are now getting into the soft water area. Mollies will have difficult with this, and swordtails should be higher as well. It might be better though to look at soft water species rather than livebearers. This would be most of the tetras, catfish, barbs, danios, rasbora...obviously not all together but you have a wide range to look at.
fropuf said:
All livebearers are moderately hard water fish. Guppies are a bit unique, as they have been shown to be a fish that seems to manage in less than favourable conditions which is why they have infested so many non-native areas at the expense of the local native fish. So my best answer would be that they will likely manage.
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