Starting up again

[Afterburned]

Good morning from Yorkshire, UK!

I first picked up a fish tank at University, we had a shared house and we had loads of pets - between the 4 humans we had 2 russian hamsters, 1 rat, 2 gerbils, 5 mice, a snake, occasionally a bunch of tarantula's and scorpions, and two three foot fish tanks.
One tank was mine and I inherited the other when the guy left. I took them home with me and had them for a good 5 years before moving country and giving them to the local fish shop.
Near the end I had the 2 tanks on a stand with the lower tank having the larger fish and a 'deep' look to it - no plants, a bit of bogwood type hollow ceramic thing, sand and a 12"bubbler, the upper tank had a 'shallow' feel to it with gravel, a couple of plants, a matching bubbler to tie the tanks together, and smaller fish.
Lower tank - 2 4" T-Barbs, 2 5-6" Tinfoil Barbs, 13" plec and an eel (I think it was an eel, it had a wobbly nose and hid in the sand, liked eating platy babies so had to go in the lower tank)
Upper tank - 2 dwarf gouramis that were the only things to survive the heater malfunction, and a variety of platy's, neon tetra type things and harlequin rasboras.
Most of the big fish were bought as small from Pet City (nicknamed Pet Cemetary after we realised) - now called Pets at Home - we were assured they would be suitable for a community tank with Neon's
Looking back probably had both tanks overstocked, but they survived!

But that's history, and now 20 years on I am married with 2 kids and a dog, and just managed to get the wife to agree to (and in fact bought me for Christmas) a small (2ft) tank.
Some soil substrate covered in gravel in one diagonal half of the tank, the other half sand. Bogwood & plants on their way (hopefully) in the post. The plan is for small Corys and Guppies - crowd pleasers to get the family hooked - especially if we get a few babies!
Ammonia went in last night - never done a cycle before, or used dechlorinator so this is all new to me! Tanks got moved almost empty and filled with tap water, fish got put in plastic bags then straight back in - setup was probably the same & didn't lose a fish that way! ? (pic of the tank attached)

One last thing - I grew up in Slough and remember going to Maidenhead Aquatics (Maidenhead is near Slough), so imagine my suprise when my 2 nearest fish shops on Google (all the way up in Yorkshire) were Maidenhead Aquatics!!

 

[Fish4dawin]

Good morning from Yorkshire, UK!

I first picked up a fish tank at University, we had a shared house and we had loads of pets - between the 4 humans we had 2 russian hamsters, 1 rat, 2 gerbils, 5 mice, a snake, occasionally a bunch of tarantula's and scorpions, and two three foot fish tanks.
One tank was mine and I inherited the other when the guy left. I took them home with me and had them for a good 5 years before moving country and giving them to the local fish shop.
Near the end I had the 2 tanks on a stand with the lower tank having the larger fish and a 'deep' look to it - no plants, a bit of bogwood type hollow ceramic thing, sand and a 12"bubbler, the upper tank had a 'shallow' feel to it with gravel, a couple of plants, a matching bubbler to tie the tanks together, and smaller fish.
Lower tank - 2 4" T-Barbs, 2 5-6" Tinfoil Barbs, 13" plec and an eel (I think it was an eel, it had a wobbly nose and hid in the sand, liked eating platy babies so had to go in the lower tank)
Upper tank - 2 dwarf gouramis that were the only things to survive the heater malfunction, and a variety of platy's, neon tetra type things and harlequin rasboras.
Most of the big fish were bought as small from Pet City (nicknamed Pet Cemetary after we realised) - now called Pets at Home - we were assured they would be suitable for a community tank with Neon's
Looking back probably had both tanks overstocked, but they survived!

But that's history, and now 20 years on I am married with 2 kids and a dog, and just managed to get the wife to agree to (and in fact bought me for Christmas) a small (2ft) tank.
Some soil substrate covered in gravel in one diagonal half of the tank, the other half sand. Bogwood & plants on their way (hopefully) in the post. The plan is for small Corys and Guppies - crowd pleasers to get the family hooked - especially if we get a few babies!
Ammonia went in last night - never done a cycle before, or used dechlorinator so this is all new to me! Tanks got moved almost empty and filled with tap water, fish got put in plastic bags then straight back in - setup was probably the same & didn't lose a fish that way! ? (pic of the tank attached)

One last thing - I grew up in Slough and remember going to Maidenhead Aquatics (Maidenhead is near Slough), so imagine my suprise when my 2 nearest fish shops on Google (all the way up in Yorkshire) were Maidenhead Aquatics!!

Maidenhead is one of the best places to go for in turns of purchasing fish and fish food.

Are you able to tell us the tank dimensions (I'm assuming 60cm x 30cm x 30cm) and your pH and GH? That way we can all suggest fish for your tank, and ones that will please your kids

That's a lot of pets up top lol. I don't know how you could keep tarantulas. I'd be too scare to have one in fear of it running off and me not knowing where it went.

 

[Afterburned]

Hi Fish4dawin, thanks for the reply, the scorpions and tarantula's were my (at that time) girlfriend's - hence they came & went! Never bothered me really. The snake was mine, a green house snake (like a corn snake without the bright colours).

But on to the present...
Tank is a Marina Vue 60
30 x 61 x 39cm

Testing kit yet to arrive, but the local water board say my water is:
pH 7.3
Water hardness type: Very hard
Water hardness average: 128.3mg/l calcium

What's in your water?​

Substance	Typical Value	UK/European limit	Unit
Aluminium	8.6	200	µg Al/l
Calcium	117.5	-	mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - free	0.29	-	mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total	0.36	-	mg/l Cl2
Colour	1.1	20	mg/l Pt/Co Scale
Conductivity	616	2500	µS/cm
Copper	0.0204	2	mg Cu/l
EColi	0	0	no/100ml
Fluoride	0.1	1.5	mg F/l
Iron	20.8	200	µg Fe/l
Lead	1.51	10	µg Pb/l
Magnesium	6.5	-	mg Mg/l
Manganese	1	50	µg Mn/I
Nitrate	31.31	50	mg NO3/l
Nitrite	0.009	0.5	mg NO2/l
Sodium	19.9	200	mg Na/l
TotalColiforms	0	0	no/100ml
Turbidity	0.19	4	NTU
pH (Hydrogen Ion Conc.)	7.3	6.5 - 9.5	pH Units

Interesting to see nitrate and nitrite levels!

 

[ClownLurch]

Welcome. You’ve chosen the best most helpful forum on the internet. Well done.
I just got back into it after 23yrs away myself.
The “science” side has certainly moved on as you say. The Water hardness stuff is now considered almost as important as water temp on here. Have a check on your water suppliers website where your figures will be once you enter your postcode.
Those figures will help your fish thrive instead of merely survive.

The best website for fish knowledge is seriouslyfish.com. It’s science led as opposed to hearsay. Just enter the fish you’re interested in on the search function and click on it when it appears. Recommended water temp, water hardness, water PH, min tank size, shoal numbers, food, tank planting, tank mates, breeding etc etc are all listed. It’s a god send.

edit. If I hadn’t gone to put the kettle on I wouldn’t have been beaten too it!

 

[Fish4dawin]

Hi Fish4dawin, thanks for the reply, the scorpions and tarantula's were my (at that time) girlfriend's - hence they came & went! Never bothered me really. The snake was mine, a green house snake (like a corn snake without the bright colours).

But on to the present...
Tank is a Marina Vue 60
30 x 61 x 39cm

Testing kit yet to arrive, but the local water board say my water is:
pH 7.3
Water hardness type: Very hard
Water hardness average: 128.3mg/l calcium

What's in your water?​

Substance	Typical Value	UK/European limit	Unit
Aluminium	8.6	200	µg Al/l
Calcium	117.5	-	mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - free	0.29	-	mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total	0.36	-	mg/l Cl2
Colour	1.1	20	mg/l Pt/Co Scale
Conductivity	616	2500	µS/cm
Copper	0.0204	2	mg Cu/l
EColi	0	0	no/100ml
Fluoride	0.1	1.5	mg F/l
Iron	20.8	200	µg Fe/l
Lead	1.51	10	µg Pb/l
Magnesium	6.5	-	mg Mg/l
Manganese	1	50	µg Mn/I
Nitrate	31.31	50	mg NO3/l
Nitrite	0.009	0.5	mg NO2/l
Sodium	19.9	200	mg Na/l
TotalColiforms	0	0	no/100ml
Turbidity	0.19	4	NTU
pH (Hydrogen Ion Conc.)	7.3	6.5 - 9.5	pH Units

Interesting to see nitrate and nitrite levels!

If you can, try and lower the nitrate to under 20. Your nitrite is very low which is good.

Do you not know your exact GH? If you go to your local water company and put in your area, it should tell you your GH or dh which is german degrees but that can be converted.

 

[Fish4dawin]

Welcome. You’ve chosen the best most helpful forum on the internet. Well done.
I just got back into it after 23yrs away myself.
The “science” side has certainly moved on as you say. The Water hardness stuff is now considered almost as important as water temp on here. Have a check on your water suppliers website where your figures will be once you enter your postcode.
Those figures will help your fish thrive instead of merely survive.

The best website for fish knowledge is seriouslyfish.com. It’s science led as opposed to hearsay. Just enter the fish you’re interested in on the search function and click on it when it appears. Recommended water temp, water hardness, water PH, min tank size, shoal numbers, food, tank planting, tank mates, breeding etc etc are all listed. It’s a god send.

edit. If I hadn’t gone to put the kettle on I wouldn’t have been beaten too it!

You know @ClownLurch, I was literally about to post about the water company website but you beat me to it lol.

 

[ClownLurch]

I think that crosses straight over to 128ppm which is about 8dh which isn’t very hard at all. Though just about everyone on here is more knowledgable on the matter than I am.
ph isn’t hardness but a acid-alkaline measurement though it is very linked with hardness.
edit:ignore me I know nowt

 

[Afterburned]

Thanks guys - I have had a quick look at seriouslyfish.com after reading a bit on this forum
The table above is from the water supplier - also on their site is a conversion for water hardness:

Water hardness conversion​

128.3 mg/l as calcium = 17.962 German degrees = 22.4525 English (Clarke) degrees = 320.75 mg/l as calcium carbonate = 32.075 French degree

 

[Fish4dawin]

So using the calculator on the right of the page, I have figured out that your GH is 322ppm. This is pretty hard water and I am in near enough the same ppm as you ( I have 290ppm).

For fish I would suggest guppys or endler guppys. Look for some different types of shrimp such as the blue velvet, red cherry and amano shrimp as I would suggest you a bristlenose pleco but they get a tad too big unfortunately. You could have a school of 10 guppys either male and female or just females or just males. If you want baby guppys I'd go with 2 males to 8 females. This way the pestering is reduced a little bit. This is the same with endler guppys.

In terms of shrimp you could go with 10 blue velvet or red cherry shrimp or 5 amano shrimp.

If you had a bigger tank like a 30 gallon, I would suggest dwarf neon rainbowfish but your tank is too small right now.

 

[ClownLurch]

I stand corrected.
18 dh/320ppm Hhhhhhhmmmmmm. Mines one up at 19dh/340ppm.
Livebearers, Rift Lake, Ricefish and Rainbowfish are your main fish family options for a healthy tank I’m afraid. Though there are other outliers. Tank size and tank temp become the next headache!
Ive gone down the Guppy, White Cloud Mountain Minnow, Medaka, Least Killifish route myself. All small and don’t require a heater under normal circumstance.....as I’m a tight northerner at heart.
Ill hoy a list of possibles I rejected up in an hour or so after a water test and gravel Clean with my new Xmas gravel vac.

 

[jonny-5]

Welcome back to the hobby from Manchester U.K, I have also returned to the hobby recently after a good few years, Only keeping a small 10Gallon in the background for around 7-8 years with minimal fish.
So after more kids took over our lives for a few years am glad to be back to almost where i was all them years ago. Hopefully i have learnt some valuble lessons from previous experiences. Theres a ton of knowledge on here & a great bunch who are ready for any questions

 

[ClownLurch]

Pseudomugil furcatus
Pseudomugil Cyanodorsalis
Medaka & other ricefish
WCMM
Spiketail Paradisefish
EDR
Bloodfin Tetra
Endlers
Guppy
Glass Bloodfin Tetra
Platy
Dwarf Gourami
Wrestling Halfbeak
xray tetra
florida flagfish
cherry barb
scarlet badis
least killifish
tiger teddy
silvertip tetra
redflank bloodfin tetra
dwarf panchax
pygmy swordfish

Are all suited to tank size and ppm according to seriouslyfish.com. Temperature, temperament and size issues would need investigating further. There’ll no doubt be others I’ve missed.
It’s from a list I knocked up when unable to get my hands on any fish during lockdown.
Best of luck.

 

[Afterburned]

Just thought I would update this as I have found an old friend on seriouslyfish...
Bunocephalus coracoideus
Banjo Catfish
Gets to 10-15cm, can be kept alone, likes hard water!
Funny little thing, pretends to be a leaf, likes burying itself in sand. Completely forgot I used to have one back in the day. Might be a good one as half my substrate is sand. Not very social but you know what, I like a fish that you don't see every day, makes it special when you do.
So my plan now (once the tank is ready) is:
2 male 4 female guppies
3 small corys
1 banjo cat
New filter to replace the dissapointing Marina i110 that came with the tank! (something better & quieter)

 

[Fish4dawin]

Just thought I would update this as I have found an old friend on seriouslyfish...
Bunocephalus coracoideus
Banjo Catfish
Gets to 10-15cm, can be kept alone, likes hard water!
Funny little thing, pretends to be a leaf, likes burying itself in sand. Completely forgot I used to have one back in the day. Might be a good one as half my substrate is sand. Not very social but you know what, I like a fish that you don't see every day, makes it special when you do.
So my plan now (once the tank is ready) is:
2 male 4 female guppies
3 small corys
1 banjo cat
New filter to replace the dissapointing Marina i110 that came with the tank! (something better & quieter)

I have read somewhere that banjo cats will eat small fish. However, this is the asian variety so try not to pick that one up. Sterbai corys do ok in hard water around 200ppm however you have hard water of 300ppm. Also there are no corys that can do well in 300ppm. I would say shrimp but whilst the regular banjo doesn't eat fish I'd say that it would try and eat the smaller shrimp. Look at @ClownLurch's list of fish mentioned in the thread and you should be able to find some sort of bottom feeder.

 

[Afterburned]

I have read somewhere that banjo cats will eat small fish. However, this is the asian variety so try not to pick that one up. Sterbai corys do ok in hard water around 200ppm however you have hard water of 300ppm. Also there are no corys that can do well in 300ppm. I would say shrimp but whilst the regular banjo doesn't eat fish I'd say that it would try and eat the smaller shrimp. Look at @ClownLurch's list of fish mentioned in the thread and you should be able to find some sort of bottom feeder.

Yeah, I'm up and down about the Corys, I know the water is not perfect but a few people nearby have said they are keeping them OK. If the banjo eats a few newborn guppy babies I wont be upset, depending on how prolific they are they could otherwise overrun the tank!
I looked at @ClownLurch's list - nothing catfishy in there from what I can see
Thanks for the info.