New to the forum! :)

[FreshwaterFishie]

Hi! I am new to the forum!
I am getting a 20 Gallon Long aquarium at the end of this month. I was thinking of Cardinal Tetras, Zebra Danios, Beckford's Pencilfish, and Oto Cats. But, my tap water has 18 grains hardness wise. I am not sure how much Reverse Osmosis would bring the hardness down. I am not sure if the 18 grains is before or after the water softener. It is just an amount the city said. My LFS sells RO water and it might be an OK mix with my tap water. I would do a Fishless Cycle and then add the Danios...if the hardness goes down!!!!!!!! But, if it is to hard would Guppies be good, I would get a male Betta but I heard they aren't always good with Guppies because the Bettas are fin-nippers? Are there any other freshwater fish that can live with Guppies, in a 20 Gallon Long Tank, that are pretty hardy, and not fin-nip. Also, will the Oto Cats be OK in harder water???
Here is the tank info.:
30 L x 12 W x 12 H
Comes with:
Plastic top with light
Fluorescent fixture
Light bulb
I think it can come with a bio-wheel filter, they sell them there
Heater
Thermometer
Chlorine Neutralizer
$99.99

I need a stand too. Trying to decide on metal or wood, I might make a poll for it. I am thinking of using BioSpira and NovAqua during the cycle. I heard Hikari is a good brand for food?
Is the Marineland or Emperor (sp?) brand bio-wheel filter better?

Sorry for all the ?'s!

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

But, my tap water has 18 grains hardness wise. 

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I found something on my cities webpage:

"The cities water hardness is 18 grains: a level that responds well to a home-softening device. To avoid adding salt to your drinking water, soften only your hot water supply or leave the kitchen tap unsoftened.
The cities water contains higher levels of iron and calcium than some areas of the country, so you may need to change your *filter more often than the manufacturer recommends."

We have a water softener, but not a filtration system.
*And the filter isn't an aquarium filter.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Hi Freshwater!

If I were you I would not mess with the hardness of the water; very difficult and can easily result in ph swings which stress the fish out more than the actual hardness itself. Just leave it and accept the fact that you will probably not be able to breed neon tetras!

These days lots of fish are acclimatised to harder water and can cope perfectly well.

Livebearers prefer harder water anyway. Apart from guppies, there are also platys (lovely little fish, charming characters and lots of different colours), swordtails and mollies. With any livebearer you need to think over the male/female ratio, as these creatures are very highly sexed (and breed like rabbits). You can go for an all female tank, or if you want them to breed, 1 male to 2-3 females (to take pressure off the females). With guppies and platys you can also keep all males, as long as you keep a group and they have enough room to escape aggression.

Danios don't mind hard water, but like to be in a small shoal.

Cardinal tetras would probably not be happy in your hard water and are quite sensitive anyway, so perhaps not the ideal beginner's choice. Black skirt tetras are supposed to be hardier, but I cannot speak from personal experience here.

Otos are a little sensitive to water quality, so often not a good beginenr's choice- I don't know how they are with hard water, so will leave that for someone else to comment on. Have no experience with pencilfish.

Corydoras should be fine, though they don't eat algae (but do clean the bottom). Again, they like to be in a group.

I keep guppies and platies together, and platies and corydoras, and they get on really well; only problem is that my male platy seems to think he IS a cory, which leads to all kinds of strange behaviour.

If you do a fishless (wise choice!) you should then be able to add most of your fish (apart from sensitive ones) in one go. Remember not to overstock. Later you will get a feel for this sort of thing, in the beginning you can stick to the 1 inch rule: 1 inch of slimbodied fish (like danios or guppies) per gallon of water. Platies and female guppies are about 2 inches, male guppies a bit smaller, corys 2-3 inches, danios about 2 inches.

 

[sylvia]

Otos dislike hard water and are best left for a mature tank (6 months old or more) which has some good algae growth. Don't feed just flake BTW, try to vary their diet with pellets, different brands of flake, live, frozen or freeze-dried bloodworms, brine shrimp, blackworms, daphnia or whatever else you can get hold of and the occasional blanched greens - zuchinni, green peas etc are all usualy appreciated and good for digestion. The rest of your questions I think have been answered but I'd like to emphasize the not changing your pH/hardness part. As long as it isn't extreme, it's fine for most fish. Oh and deffinately avoid mixing bettas with guppies.

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

Thanks guys! I am not that good with fish, but African Dwarf Frogs. They were to sensitive to the hard water. But, what type of those fish would you reccomend? Is there a difference in behavior or is it just color and appearence for these ones...I would want the smallest and most friendly.
The different types I know of are:
Cory Cats: Ornate Cory Cat, Adolfoi Cory Cat, Guapore Cory Cat, Panda Cory Cat, Peppered Cory Cat, Agassizi Cory Cat, Elegans Cory Cat, Emerald Green Cory Cat, Sterba's Cory, Swartz's Cory Cat, Albino Aeneus Cory Cat, Nanus Cory Cat, and Julii Cory Cat
Guppies: Blue Delta Guppy, Lyretail Guppy, Red Cobra Delta Guppy, Endler's Livebearer, Silver Streak Flamingo Guppy, Blonde Tux Guppy, Blue Cobra Guppy, Yellow Tux Guppy, Black Phantom Delta Guppy, Neon Blue Tux Guppy, Lemon Cobra Guppy, Orange Sunshine Guppy, Red Fire Guppy, and Green Cobra Guppy
Platies: Mickey Mouse Platy, Topsail Platy, and Hi Fin Platy
And I decided on Zebra Danios.

Would I add all of these fish at the start or just one breed at a time? Is there a certain number of fish I should have of each breed?

 

[Kopix Nation]

What about odessa barbs they are cool.

claire

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

What about odessa barbs they are cool.

claire

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Don't they need cold, soft water?

 

[Kopix Nation]

No!I have seen them in water that is 75F!!!!I love the look of the males. You should see the ones we have at the shop. They are something else!

claire