Hello!

[Indigodragonfire]

Hi I'm Indigo!I used to have a 20 gallon freshwater tank years ago and recently decided to get back into the hobby after some of my other pets passed away recently.I'm here to learn and decide what kind of fish I might be interested in!

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Welcome! Sorry for your loss, remember to express your feelings properly in a time like this. A distraction might be just what you need. Hope all is well!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

One of the first things to do before getting fish, is to find out what the water chemistry is. Then get fish to suit your water.

The GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, most tetras, barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

 

[Indigodragonfire]

Welcome! Sorry for your loss, remember to express your feelings properly in a time like this. A distraction might be just what you need. Hope all is well!

Hi and welcome to the forum

One of the first things to do before getting fish, is to find out what the water chemistry is. Then get fish to suit your water.

The GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, most tetras, barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

I'm about to go check,but I will say I had very good luck with those one silver tetras with the 3 stripes.They never died,stubborn little fish.

 

[Indigodragonfire]

I found some information on my city's water!

 

[Colin_T]

you soft water with a high pH
GH 123ppm
KH (alkalinity) 69ppm
pH 8.7

You should get a glass of tap water and test the pH straight out of the tap. Then leave the glass of water for 24 hours and test the pH again to see if it changes. If the pH is still really high (sea water is 8.5), then you might need to add something to drop the pH to a more manageable level.

The GH and KH is fine for tetras, barbs, rasboras, Corydoras and suckermouth catfish, angelfish

It's too low for livebearers like guppies, platies, swordtails and mollies. And way too low for African Rift Lake cichlids.