Recommend Me Some Tetras

[hamfist]

Looking to add a school of tetras in a large tank with a pair of severums. So musn't be edible size. the other key factor here is that my water is hard and pH8.
I love red eye tetras but they never thrive with me. I have tried for years, with constant disappointment. I'm sure it's because of the water parameters.
What larger tetra species would you recommend for hard, alkaline water ?

 

[Wills]

Buenos Airies Tetra? They usually do a bit better in hard water?

Wills

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

How about emptying the tank from which my Yellowtails came from at Aquajardin (got the last 7 yesterday to make a school of 12), by buying the school of Congos?

They will do well in our Southampton water, nice and chunky so will do well with your cichlids!

 

[hamfist]

How about emptying the tank from which my Yellowtails came from at Aquajardin (got the last 7 yesterday to make a school of 12), by buying the school of Congos?

They will do well in our Southampton water, nice and chunky so will do well with your cichlids!

There's something about Congo's that I just don't like. I think it may be to do with their large eyes, which I do not find aesthetically pleasing. And they're not really tetras are they ! They don't come from S.America !!

Buenos Airies Tetra? They usually do a bit better in hard water?

Wills

Yup, defo on my radar. Can anyone confirm success with these in similar water to mine ?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

How about emptying the tank from which my Yellowtails came from at Aquajardin (got the last 7 yesterday to make a school of 12), by buying the school of Congos?

They will do well in our Southampton water, nice and chunky so will do well with your cichlids!

There's something about Congo's that I just don't like. I think it may be to do with their large eyes, which I do not find aesthetically pleasing. And they're not really tetras are they ! They don't come from S.America !!

In that case, add a school of Distichodus from Aquajardin and tell your Sevs to not worry, as these 30cm+ adults won't be real tetras (no, each adult Disti has a trip to the fish dentist for some false teeth)!!!

On a more serious note, Cadnam Garden Centre (Southern Aquatics?) had a tank load of baby Columbians a couple of weeks ago. They also had some tasty "mackeral barbs" aka. Barilius

 

[Asp]

I've kept colombians very successfully in a hard water area, but I normally do my best to keep the PH down at around 7.

 

[hamfist]

How about emptying the tank from which my Yellowtails came from at Aquajardin (got the last 7 yesterday to make a school of 12), by buying the school of Congos?

They will do well in our Southampton water, nice and chunky so will do well with your cichlids!

There's something about Congo's that I just don't like. I think it may be to do with their large eyes, which I do not find aesthetically pleasing. And they're not really tetras are they ! They don't come from S.America !!

In that case, add a school of Distichodus from Aquajardin and tell your Sevs to not worry, as these 30cm+ adults won't be real tetras (no, each adult Disti has a trip to the fish dentist for some false teeth)!!!

On a more serious note, Cadnam Garden Centre (Southern Aquatics?) had a tank load of baby Columbians a couple of weeks ago. They also had some tasty "mackeral barbs" aka. Barilius

Interesting idea, but Distichodus not really what I'm looking for !

Columbians definately fit the profile better (and I was already intending to visit Southern Aquatics tommorow morning). I'll check them out.

The mackerel barbs seem a bit too hectic for what I'm wanting. The same reason as I'm discounting all the danio species.

I've kept colombians very successfully in a hard water area, but I normally do my best to keep the PH down at around 7.

Cool, thanks. Yes columbians definately in the frame at the moment !

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Distichodus are generally not recommended for anything more than one per tank, I was just yanking your chain about "real tetras" and the fact these guys have some serious teeth

Good luck down Cadnam tomorrow. I've never bought fish there, but a member of staff came out with the random comment that ALL fish are in RO water (

), which might definitely be worth confirming before coming home with anything

Another idea that came to mind were some of the schoaling Headstanders (Anostomus ternetzi), not the Striped or Marble at Aquajardin (which are both very conspecific aggressive)... I think "Wills" has a lovely group.

Is World Of Water in Romsey worth a visit? Tempted to maybe check them out myself tomorrow, taking my minicam with me, although I'm tempted to cycle to Aquajardin to get footage of the Congo species :

 

[hamfist]

Is World Of Water in Romsey worth a visit? Tempted to maybe check them out myself tomorrow, taking my minicam with me, although I'm tempted to cycle to Aquajardin to get footage of the Congo species :

WoW usually has little of great interest in the NW cichlid line, which is my usual main area of interest, but is still well worth a visit. For smaller stuff they do get some unusual oddballs in, although most of their stock is based around the commonly found species. They have been having a few nice flowerhorns in recently also, if that tickles your fancy,
The weekend staff are extremely variable in knowledge (unlike the midweek staff who generally know their stuff).
Their main advantage for me is that they are my nearest LFS. They are a good all-rounder without having one particular area of speciality.
The places I go to are Cadnam for dry goods (amazingly low prices on things like silk plants, nets etc), Aquajardin for general oddballs and interest (oh, and nice sumatran driftwood), MA in fair oak for tetras, gourami, livebearers & rainbows (also Discus & African cichlids, although of no interest to me) and Creature Comforts in Totton for NW cichlids.
MA in titchfield has probably the best kept fish I've ever seen, but does not have any area of specialism to tempt me out there too often. I also go to MA in Havant occasionally, which sometimes has some interesting NW cichlids, amongst other stuff, although is a long way to travel.
Unfortunately the shops actually in southampton itself are all small, and their stock is all very predictable. I never go to them any more.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm still undecided whether to go out or not today, feels like my cold has come back with a vengeance plus it really did not help getting out of bed just before 1000... When I'm usually up 0530-0630 (so got a bit of jet-lag feeling)! Zebra Otos have nearly tempted me out there (Aquajardin had some a while back, before I really knew what stock I was going to get, but now I don't think they have any now that I'm getting Microctenopoma congicum instead of the autirostre (which ruled out anything <5cm). However, I'm now toying on either getting

• A small group of different Hillstream Loach species
• Zebra Otos (6-8.. Which will be a bit pricey!)
• A Chaestoma or other suitable small cat (<15cm) that would like my riverine setup

as a natural and more interesting way of algae maintenance (the Garras do not seem keen on this light brown film on the mid-afternoon sun-facing corner of the tank)!

So , more importantly, how did your trip to Cadnam go?

 

[hamfist]

Walked away with an armload of silk plants and a quad of dwarf neon rainbow fish. So I didn't go for tetras in the end anyway ! If all goes well, once the new tank is in situ, I might well add to the shoal.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Walked away with an armload of silk plants and a quad of dwarf neon rainbow fish. So I didn't go for tetras in the end anyway ! If all goes well, once the new tank is in situ, I might well add to the shoal.

Neon Dwarfs, eh? Very nice, one of my regrets about deciding on my stocking. Did you check up on Cadnam's tank water, as one staff member swore blind every tank was pure RO?

They can be quite shy, especially in tanks that aren't densely planted, apparently (so you should be fine with your armload of silks).

Give us some flashless pics sometime this week!

 

[ChilliPepper]

Walked away with an armload of silk plants and a quad of dwarf neon rainbow fish. So I didn't go for tetras in the end anyway ! If all goes well, once the new tank is in situ, I might well add to the shoal.

Good choice. I added to my school of Dwarf Rainbows today, love them

Good choice. I added to my school of Dwarf Rainbows today, love them

 

[hamfist]

Wow, this thread is doing some weird things with everyone's posts !!

NotG, I forgot to ask about the RO, but I am 99% sure that it is a load of bull.

These rainbows settled in a treat and are not nervy in the slightest. All hungrily ate yesterday evening. However, they were un-nerved a bit to start with by being checked out by some large uaru and severums BTW !! Was quite amusing to watch. If they had been wearing pants, they'd have soiled them ! They thought they were gonners for sure.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

So when are you buying at least another one, but ideally another 6 then?

Maidenhead Aquatics in Fairoak plus Winchester Road's P@H (oo, contraversy) often have then in, if of course four was all that was on offer at Cadnam