Could i add kuhli loaches to my aquarium?

[Obsessed with fish]

Hello, i was wandering if kuhli loches would be happy in my aquarium. I have sand as a substrate and it is a taller aquarium. The tanks volume is 23 US gallons.

My current stock is

5 sterbai corydoras

5 neon tetras

1 swordtail

Plants

2 anibius

1 java fern

2 unknown plants

 

[anewbie]

As long as the substrate is 'soft' and the water is not too hard they should be fine. What I mean by 'soft' is rounded edges and not sharp as kuhli will bury themselves. Btw swordtails are hardwater fish while sterbai and neon tetra are a soft water fish.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

As long as the substrate is 'soft' and the water is not too hard they should be fine. What I mean by 'soft' is rounded edges and not sharp as kuhli will bury themselves. Btw swordtails are hardwater fish while sterbai and neon tetra are a soft water fish.

Ok thankyou, I will test my water when i get home

 

[Colin_T]

depending on what the GH is, you would be better off adding more neon tetras so there is at least 10 of them.

khuli loaches spend 99% of their time hiding. you won't see them.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

depending on what the GH is, you would be better off adding more neon tetras so there is at least 10 of them.

khuli loaches spend 99% of their time hiding. you won't see them.

More neons are probably a good idea, maybye anothet swordtail

 

[Essjay]

Depending on the hardness of your water, either more neons (if the water is soft) or more swordtails (if the water is hard). One or other of these two fish will not be happy as they need different hardness.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Depending on the hardness of your water, either more neons (if the water is soft) or more swordtails (if the water is hard). One or other of these two fish will not be happy as they need different hardness.

Ok I'll test my water right now and tell you the results when i can

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Depending on the hardness of your water, either more neons (if the water is soft) or more swordtails (if the water is hard). One or other of these two fish will not be happy as they need different hardness.

I tested my ph twice and both readings where extremly low. They both read 6! Should i add some bicarbonate soda to my tank to try increase the ph

 

[Essjay]

No. That contains sodium which is not good for fish.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

No. That contains sodium which is not good for fish.

Ok, what would you recommend doing?

 

[Essjay]

Firstly, what is the pH of your source water (tap water or whatever)? Test some freshly run water and a glass of water that's been allowed to stand overnight. If that is also low, that's why your tank water is low pH.

If the water that has stood overnight is over pH7, then it's not the source water. Do you know the hardness (GH) and alkalinity (KH) of the source water? The natural tendency of tanks is to become acidic. KH stops pH changing and when KH is low it gets used up leaving nothing to stop pH dropping. I have low KH and a couple of decades ago I was lazy about doing water changes, and my pH dropped. I started doing regular weekly water changes and the pH didn't drop again.

What is the water you use in the tank? Is it plain tap water, RO water, bottled water, water that's been through a water softener etc?

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Firstly, what is the pH of your source water (tap water or whatever)? Test some freshly run water and a glass of water that's been allowed to stand overnight. If that is also low, that's why your tank water is low pH.

If the water that has stood overnight is over pH7, then it's not the source water. Do you know the hardness (GH) and alkalinity (KH) of the source water? The natural tendency of tanks is to become acidic. KH stops pH changing and when KH is low it gets used up leaving nothing to stop pH dropping. I have low KH and a couple of decades ago I was lazy about doing water changes, and my pH dropped. I started doing regular weekly water changes and the pH didn't drop again.

What is the water you use in the tank? Is it plain tap water, RO water, bottled water, water that's been through a water softener etc?

I use tap water, I will try finding the paramaters of my tap water onlinr

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Ph isn't a massive concern as long as it's close enough and consistent, most fish tend to adapt to that but it's the GH that's the concern.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Firstly, what is the pH of your source water (tap water or whatever)? Test some freshly run water and a glass of water that's been allowed to stand overnight. If that is also low, that's why your tank water is low pH.

If the water that has stood overnight is over pH7, then it's not the source water. Do you know the hardness (GH) and alkalinity (KH) of the source water? The natural tendency of tanks is to become acidic. KH stops pH changing and when KH is low it gets used up leaving nothing to stop pH dropping. I have low KH and a couple of decades ago I was lazy about doing water changes, and my pH dropped. I started doing regular weekly water changes and the pH didn't drop again.

What is the water you use in the tank? Is it plain tap water, RO water, bottled water, water that's been through a water softener etc?

It says online that the ph of my tapwater is inbetween 6.5 and 8.5

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Ph isn't a massive concern as long as it's close enough and consistent, most fish tend to adapt to that but it's the GH that's the concern.

I do not have a gh test kit, but i looked it up and the gh of my tap water is 50 mgl