PH READING

[Luke]

I just took a reading of my water and it showed around 7.6. I was thinking about getting some neon tetras next week. Is that ph level ok for the tetras???

 

[William]

Neons prefer soft slightly acidic water... however if you acclimitise them to your aquarium they should do fine. You may want to get cardinals which are very similar but avoid some of the diseases and weaknesses neons have.

To acclimitise them just add a bit of tank water to the bag of the neons and do this slowly say every 15 mins a cupful of tank water in with the water in the bag. Also ask the LFS what their pH readings are as you may not even need to do this if they have alkaline water also.

I think thats about it you may be interested in http/fish.orbust.net/neontetra.html

 

[Luke]

How do i soften my water???

 

[ostrow]

don't. you'll give yourself a headache and there's no reason to ... your fish will acclimatise. as some here have said, if you are trying to breed picky fish or have extremely sensitive fish then you may have need to soften, but 7.6 isn't unreasonable.

mine's 7.8. course, i have had fish dying of late

but it ain't the pH that's thwacking 'em.

 

[hellstorm]

driftwood in ur tank will help to soften the water, or peat filtered.

 

[Sharkey G]

Also ask the LFS what their pH readings are as you may not even need to do this if they have alkaline water also.

Thats a v. important point from William, as there is a good chance that the Neons haven't been kept in the preferred pH level at the LFS. Then again, they could have been, depending on how professional your LFS is.