Compatability

[Ob1]

I am looking to add some more fish to my tank, currently have a 100g 60(L) 24(h) 22(d). with and filtration and live plants.

Can you all help? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I was original thinking of adding the following

4 Livebearers
4 Platy
4 Mollies
4 moonlight or Pearl Gourami
1 Siamiese Fighter

I currently have the following

2 Common Pleco (10inch each)
1 Red tailed Shark Bully (Will have to remove this fish once i can catch it) (5inch)
4 Clown loach Clowns the lot of them (3inch)
4 Angles (2 ½ inch)


The problems is I like the platy / mollies however they need salt and I understand my Pleco and clowns hate the stuff – is there a middle ground between no salt and some salt?

Then PH I do not add co2 to the tank and this means my Ph changes from 7.5 – 8.0 during 24hrs! I have already lost 6 harlequins to PH stress ( I just added them to the main tank) . Not very nice to watch.

I do have an isolation tank which I can maintain at 7.6. (which I will now use)

Help is needed….


Cheers

Jason

 

[rsz]

i don't think mollies need salt, it's just something you can put in with them. platies don't need it at all. so you wouldn't need to bother with salt.

what do you mean by...

4 Livebearers

, what type did you mean? platies and mollies are livebearers too.

i don't think a siamese fighter would like it in a 100 gal - they prefer shallower water.

i'm not sure how 4 gouramis would get along - the tank is probably big enough for them to have their own seperate territories though so they should be ok (but someone will have to second that! ).

i can't help with your pH problem, but that sounds a bit unusual to me - i don't use co2 but my pH doesn't change like that

maybe you could put a school of tetras in there, some black neons or something like that

 

[mrV]

Why do you want to add e.g. livebearers into tank, where is acid/soft water (hopefully, because your other fishes are from acid/soft water)? Livebearers used to live in basic/hard water.

 

[CFC]

When you say pH swings do you mean the pH drops after a water change from 8 to 7.5 or that it goes up and down?

If the pH is dropping this is quite common in mature tanks as the accumilation of organic debries and release of tannins from drift/bog wood cause the hardness of the water to drop which in turns acidifies the water.

If it swinging the most probable cause is the plants which use oxygen at night rather than producing it, this would cause the natural cO2 levels to rise in the tank thus acidifying the water, the pH would rise again as the lights come on and the plants resume using the cO2 as the natural buffers in hard water prevent permament drops in PH.

Although i wouldnt expect this in the confines of tank without the addition of cO2 it is the only possible cause of a pH swing i can think of.

 

[Ob1]

Thank you all.

It looks like my current fish are in the wrong type of water, mine is Hard and slightly Alkaline.

My fish seem fine in the water, and their colours are great. The PH goes up (tap water 7.6)

I am currently using active carbon to remove the tannins from my water. would you all suggest removing the AC and allow the tannins to change the water chemistry slightly – I will not use upper or downers for PH. I think the tea coloured look might be good especially if this is better for the fish.

I have tested this effect in a small tank with no fish in, The PH will drop to 7.2 over 2 weeks - I didn’t test the hardness, however would expect a small drop.

PH testing – day time reading is difficult but night time to impossible – I will test the PH again over 24 to double check the results. I do think it is the plants that are coursing the PH shifts. I really like the live plants so I will obtain a CO2 unit soon. I’m hoping this will stabilize the PH further (during the daylight) and encourage the plants to produce some Oxygen in the process.

Without jumping ahead, again. Anyone suggest a CO2 kit for my tank, I’ve read a couple of articles and they seem to suggest different kits for larger tanks – what is that about. Also I do not want to a Co2 exchanger inside the tank, can anyone explain what I would did to do to attach a Co2 exchanger directly to the outflow of a filter? Would appreciate any ideas.


Thanks again


Jason

 

[AquaNut]

Hey Ob1,

There's no way that live plants are causing that huge of a pH swing in 24 hours. My tanks are jungles and the pH doesn't move more than .2 .... ever. Stop removing the tannins from your water. In fact, until I got to that part, I was going to suggest that you add a whole bunch of bogwood to your tank to help soften and acidify the water slowly. You don't want to dramatically lower your pH levels too quickly. Is there anything in your tank that could be leaching any minerals? Seashells or coral etc? Something is causing your pH to rise quickly after water changes and it's not live plants.

As for compatible tankmates for your existant fish - as someone else said, a betta wouldn't be particularly well suited to life in such a huge tank, and they don't get along with angelfish nor with gouramis. Gouramis and angels aren't ideal tankmates, either, but in a tank your size you can easily keep both. If you would like four gouramis, I would highly recommend you get a pair (m/f) of pearls (or moonlights) and add them to the tank. Allow them to set up a territory (they will do this). Then, get a pair of the other gouramis and add them to the tank as far away from the first pair as possible. Hopefully, they will then set up their own territory with as little squabbling as possible. Your tank is very big; you should be able to house that many territorial fish together with minimal issue. As has also been mentioned, you don't have to put salt in with mollies and platies unless they came from salted tanks in the lfs. They will be fine in a tank which has no salt, if you prefer not to use it. You might want to consider a schooling fish for the mid range of your tank; look into the different types of tetras and see if there is a colour or shape that you find particularly appealing. They will go well with the other fish you have. As for not keeping soft acidic water loving fish with basic hard water loving fish... if you can get your pH to stabilise somewhere close to 7.0, everybody will be fine.