Stocking??

[Essjay]

Platies are also hard water fish like mollies, but gourami, glowlight tetras and kuhli loaches are soft water fish. Cherry barbs are a species whch can live in both.

 

[Demon_Cinders]

Platies are also hard water fish like mollies, but gourami, glowlight tetras and kuhli loaches are soft water fish. Cherry barbs are a species whch can live in both.

I dont know where you get your info from but your wrong. Gourami can do really well in hard water. Khuli loaches can do well in both if it's not extremly soft or extremly hard. I'm switching the glowlights for cherry barbs anyway so that doesnt matter either.

 

[Essjay]

Kuhli loach
GH up to 5 dH or up to 90 ppm

Pangio kuhlii summary page

www.fishbase.de

GH 0 to 8 dH or 0 to 143 ppm

Pangio semicincta – ‘Kuhli’ Loach (Acanthophthalmus semicinctus, Pangio kuhlii) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Platy
GH 9 to 19 dH or 160 to 340 ppm

Xiphophorus maculatus summary page

www.fishbase.de

GH 10 to 30 dH or 180 to 530 ppm

Xiphophorus maculatus – Platy — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[Demon_Cinders]

Kuhli loach
GH up to 5 dH or up to 90 ppm

Pangio kuhlii summary page

www.fishbase.de

GH 0 to 8 dH or 0 to 143 ppm

Pangio semicincta – ‘Kuhli’ Loach (Acanthophthalmus semicinctus, Pangio kuhlii) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Platy
GH 9 to 19 dH or 160 to 340 ppm

Xiphophorus maculatus summary page

www.fishbase.de

GH 10 to 30 dH or 180 to 530 ppm

Xiphophorus maculatus – Platy — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Most kuhlI loaches out there are captive bred which means that they can adapt to any pH (unless extremely acidic or extremely alkaline) and GH (unless extremely hard). Your water should be okay for the kuhlI loaches
Source - a rival fish forum


Gouramis are okay with hard water

Redirect Notice

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Yes while wild gourami are different. Most if not all fish we keep are captive breed. They are used to all the water parameters. I'm not talking about undoing years of evolution but they can adapt to your tank.

 

[Essjay]

The two sites I gave you are written by experts. the two sites you give are not written by experts but by people who keep fish.
Anyone can write a website with little or no knowledge. You need to know the background of the person who has written the website.


I have removed one of your links as it was to a rival fish forum and such links are not permitted under the forum rules

5. There is to be no promoting of other competing general fish forums either in the forum, chat room or private message system. Links to specialist forums containing specific information which is not available on TFF or is above and beyond the detail and complexity available on TFF are permitted. The moderating team will use their discretion to determine whether these links are allowable. If in doubt, members should report any posts, messages or signatures that they suspect may contravene this rule to the moderating team.

 

[Demon_Cinders]

Lol theres rivals..? Well alright but alot of people have kept them in hard water. The ones that you showed arent set in stone there just one of the recommended ones. I've seen and know alot of people who keep them in hard water. Including experts.

 

[kwi]

Having your fish merely survive is not the goal...........they live longer in the correct water parameters, this is proven by actual studies rather than people who claim to be experts because they've been at it a few decades........
"Fish adapt" is the thinking that leads to Old Tank Syndrome.
But it's up to you what you do, all we can advise is you can be doing better for the fish you decided to care for.
You may scoff or you may do proper research,rather than "confirmation bias shopping".

 

[Demon_Cinders]

Then what do you suggest I do? I've put in new fish in the tank a week ago.

 

[kwi]

Do you know your GH?

 

[Essjay]

Then what do you suggest I do? I've put in new fish in the tank a week ago.

If you already have fish you can keep them for the rest of their lives, but before buying any future fish research which fish suit your water.

 

[Demon_Cinders]

I did... all the research said it was perfectly fine to keep those fish. And at this point I'm just thinking about redoing the stocking for the tank. But now idk what would work in the tank

 

[kwi]

The "It's fine to keep softwater fish in hardwater." line of thinking is a bit old school and is still prevalent on the internet as people don't like being told they may be wrong. New research and findings happens all the time and with the way the information posted online persists it can be hard to weed out the old ways of thinking from the new ways. You also find a lot of "I kept x and y together and they were fine" without the "they lived 18 months". A lot of fish can live suprisingly long time.
I kept Orandas about 20 years ago and am now returning to the hobby, a lot has changed, but a lot of what I'm learning now makes a lot of sense, as well as being science backed, and if I knew it then I would of had a totally different tank as today I would of considered it very overstocked and as for large water changes........
Don't think we're trying to tell you off, we're not, but you'll find the general vibe on this forum is that the fish come first, which isn't actually a bad thing.

 

[Demon_Cinders]

Yeah I know. Again. This isnt my tank and I wanted to cover all the basis before telling her. But how I'm not sure what I can put in a 10g???

 

[mcordelia]

I can see your dilemma, because you are obviously trying to support her in the hobby, and being a bearer of bad news is not a fun position to be in. If it were me,what I might try to do is maybe get a second 10gal and separate the fish into two groups, those that do well in hard water and those that prefer softer water. Then, I would test the tap water and see how different it is from "ideal" for each group, and do what's in your power realistically to change it. Maybe if your water is soft for the hard water group you add some substrate/rocks that naturally harden the water and let it ride (being careful to only do small water changes at a time). Likewise, if your water is hard, maybe you have a gallon of DI water on hand and you use a quart from it at every water change. Again, focusing on what is realistic and won't burn her out of the hobby, since I think especially in the fish hobby success builds on success

 

[Demon_Cinders]

I can see your dilemma, because you are obviously trying to support her in the hobby, and being a bearer of bad news is not a fun position to be in. If it were me,what I might try to do is maybe get a second 10gal and separate the fish into two groups, those that do well in hard water and those that prefer softer water. Then, I would test the tap water and see how different it is from "ideal" for each group, and do what's in your power realistically to change it. Maybe if your water is soft for the hard water group you add some substrate/rocks that naturally harden the water and let it ride (being careful to only do small water changes at a time). Likewise, if your water is hard, maybe you have a gallon of DI water on hand and you use a quart from it at every water change. Again, focusing on what is realistic and won't burn her out of the hobby, since I think especially in the fish hobby success builds on success

Unfortunately she can only Have one tank. So I guess at this point best thing is to redo the stocking. So.. what can I have in a 10 gallon hard water tank?