Serpae Tetras

[fozziebear]

so i just went out and bought a couple of serpae tetras (first fish in my tank apart from a cycling danio that died)
my levels are ph 8.0 (a bit high for serpaes i know trying to get it down) ammonia 0mg/l nitrite 0.1mg/l GH 13 drops KH 8 drops nitrate 40mg/l (not much i can do about nitrate because its the same as my tapwater, just need to get some more plants.

i only have 2 in at the minute as i dont want to whack a load of fish in straight away and overload the filter, just wondering what goes well with serpaes? im planning on getting a shoal of 5 to 8 that leaves me with a lot of room for other fish, my tank is 29us gal.

whoops wrong forum could a mod please move this?

 

[nry]

No fishless cycling then eh?

Can't imagine any issues with serpae, not sure if any of the smaller tetra eat plants?

 

[fozziebear]

No fishless cycling then eh?

Can't imagine any issues with serpae, not sure if any of the smaller tetra eat plants?

only learnt of fishless cycling once id started cycling with a fish apparently serpaes are a little nippy ive heard.

 

[fozziebear]

bump, anybody?

 

[vinylman]

They are indeed nippy. Really need to be kept with more lively, short-finned fish. Can you take them back to the shop until you get your ph sorted and, preferably, the tank cycles. Altering the ph with fish in the tank has to be done very gradually. Might be easier in the long run to keep to fish that suit your ph.

 

[vinylman]

They are indeed nippy. Really need to be kept with more lively, short-finned fish. Can you take them back to the shop until you get your ph sorted and, preferably, the tank cycles. Altering the ph with fish in the tank has to be done very gradually. Might be easier in the long run to keep to fish that suit your ph.

 

[fozziebear]

They are indeed nippy. Really need to be kept with more lively, short-finned fish. Can you take them back to the shop until you get your ph sorted and, preferably, the tank cycles. Altering the ph with fish in the tank has to be done very gradually. Might be easier in the long run to keep to fish that suit your ph.

thanks for the advise mate, i could possibly take them back to the LFS, but ive fallen in love with em now, what will a higher ph do to them? will it affect them severely? my tank is full cycled, its just the ph is high, im going to be adding c02 soon so that should lower the PH a bit serpaes werent my first choice but my LFS doesnt stock cardinals.

 

[vinylman]

It all depends on the ph of the shop you bought them from. If it's within a couple of points of yours, then no problem, but some fish just don't tolerate a change in ph very well. Can you find out the ph of the tank water where you bought them?. Killer avatar, BTW.