Stocking

[minnnt]

Because you don't want to run any risk what so ever of any chlorine being present when you add your media as it will be harmed if there is. I always double dose, even when doing normal water changes. I find it beneficial and my fish have never looked so healthy!

 

[Meggie :)]

Okay thank you so much! So final stocking plan: if I get this right this will probably be pretty close to my final stocking if I can go down the route of lower PH:

GBR or BR: 2 pair
Mollies or Balloon mollies: 3 or 4
Panda cories: 8
BN pleco: 1 pair
Rosy tetras or Harlequin Rasboras: 16?
Can I get shrimp too? And if so, how many? I would make it a mix of different kinds...

 

[minnnt]

Personally I would go with one pair. I think 2 pairs would work though.

Unsure on Shrimps, Possibly Amano's/Ghost? I think Cherries would be too small and may get preyed upon by the Rams and BN's. And probably the Mollies too tbh.

 

[Wills]

Minnnt has this pretty much covered but just wanted to suggest Alder Cones (like pine cones) and Almond Leaves they are quite easy to get hold of via ebay now and lower the ph really steadily if I was ever going down that route they would be top of my list to use.

To throw a slight curve ball in here I have to raise the issue of live bearers in low ph though as they are a more hard water fish and also need it cooler than blue rams. Though captive bred strains could do okay but if you could leave them out I possibly would.

OR you could go down a Central American cichlid route which would suit your water quite well, something like Rainbow Cichlids or something a bit rarer like Geophagus Iporangensis a group of them would do well in a tank this size and they would appreciate your water - stick to things like your Mollies (though go for regular rather than balloons as they are better at swimming) Swordtails and hardwater tetras like Blind Cave Tetras or Buenos Aires - Barbs do quite well in harder water Panda Barbs spring to mind but quite a few others.


Wills

 

[minnnt]

I am going to be adding Alder cones to my tank tomorrow. (See thread in tropical section)

As i stated, i would go with Bolivians for the pure ease of them and normal Mollies.

 

[Meggie :)]

okay I will think more about it...deciding between bolivian rams/german blue rams/C.A. cichlids...I really am partial to the German Blue Rams, though...though I might want to start out maybe with the Bolivian Rams to start with something a little easier...Are there any neat characteristics of GBRs and BRs? Oh yea are apistos an option instead of rams?

And thank you, Wills...I think I will end up doing the Alder cones how do I go about using those?

And minnnt I have cherries in my ten gallon with my balloon mollies...I know that balloon mollies are smaller than normal ones but not once have they gone after the cherries...which might be because my cherries have grown almost as big as my ghosts...a little over an inch long...they are big.