it works well- the only odd-balls are the sword taill (moved him because he fought in another tank) and the mollies. I add a bit of GH boost (I have soft water) and I regulate the PH with a controller at 6.8. They do really well. In my experience they've done really well outside of the expected ranges. I have some sunshine neon tetra that I keep with my shrimp and black bar endlers- they are about 7.8 PH and 9 degrees GH- they are happy as clams and almost a year old. On the flip side of that, I have black bar endlers in a small tank downstairs with some apistos at about 6.6 PH and very soft water (I moved them there "temporarily" because I had way too many babies). They do well also. I keep the water very clean, I over filter all my tanks, and in my experience, the fish stay happy and healthy.