Suggested Fish For My Aquarium

[ufo 550]

More than likely you have, yes. Dwarf gourami are especially sensitive fish, and you were already fairly well stocked before. What filter do you have on the tank. You're building quite a fish load for a 20 gallon tank.

Personally, I would say that it is much easier to keep larger numbers of less species than it is to keep 4 of 7 different species. Community fish are typically just that, community fish, however many are not comfortable in groups as small as 4, hence some of the added aggression you are probably seeing. Also, like OM47 said, if you are continually having fish die on you, it would be best to figure out why they are dying rather than just throwing more fish at the tank.

My filter is an external one that came with the tank by Aqua One. It forms part of the hood and consists of wool filters and larger black plastic filters. There are two sides to the filter and water is fed from the tank by a T shaped trickle bar. The wool filters sit above ceramic noodles, which I have on both sides. One side has an activated carbon bag. I have also put some Eheim filter wadding at the base of each filter, to aid filtration (I replace this every two weeks or so, as it becomes clogged). I sort of understand the bacterial colony needed, which the wool filters and ceramic noodles form the basis of.

I regularly test my water for Nitrates, Nitrates, Ammonia, PH and phosphates and I have no worries there at the moment.

I get your point about Community fish though and plan to bolster the Tetras, Neon’s, Plattys, Dinos in commensurate numbers in the coming months. But I won’t take the Missus with me when I do and will be sensible with numbers! I think I’ll post back before I do, to get a steer on which to get.

 

[ufo 550]

Bit of an update. It's been a two weeks since my last post. I have lost both Gourami’s and both Lace Fin Widows. After these deaths I found a dead Zebra hidden amongst the plants, so I don't know if this contributed to the deaths of my other fish. I'm off to my LFS tomorrow, but only to get some RO water, I've taken on board what was said about buying more fish. This week we seem to have lost a Neon. Water test shows everything ok.

 

[Aqua Tom]

I would forget the RO water, it is not necassery for a freshwater set up & is an additional expense that you just dont need.

As I have previously stated, messing with your water chemistry is realy a no-win situation because you will have to match that exactly each time you do a water change.

Just stick with dechlorinated tapwater & you will be fine.

Just for the record, my tapwater pH comes out at 7.6 then rises to 8.2 overnight.


Tom

 

[ufo 550]

I would forget the RO water, it is not necassery for a freshwater set up & is an additional expense that you just dont need.

As I have previously stated, messing with your water chemistry is realy a no-win situation because you will have to match that exactly each time you do a water change.

Just stick with dechlorinated tapwater & you will be fine.

Just for the record, my tapwater pH comes out at 7.6 then rises to 8.2 overnight.


Tom

Okay, I get the RO water free from my lfs, apart from the effort of getting it.Thats the only water I use at the moment. My tap water hardeness is rated as Hard. What do you think?

 

[Aqua Tom]

I would forget the RO water, it is not necassery for a freshwater set up & is an additional expense that you just dont need.

As I have previously stated, messing with your water chemistry is realy a no-win situation because you will have to match that exactly each time you do a water change.

Just stick with dechlorinated tapwater & you will be fine.

Just for the record, my tapwater pH comes out at 7.6 then rises to 8.2 overnight.


Tom

Okay, I get the RO water free from my lfs, apart from the effort of getting it.Thats the only water I use at the moment. My tap water hardeness is rated as Hard. What do you think?

My gH is rated at Very Hard. 21 drops per 5ml or 375.9ppm. My kH is rated as Hard 12 drops per 5ml or 214.8 ppm. My tank pH settles to 8 in a few days. I keep my fish in there without any problems.

In my opinion people worry & stress far to much about pH & water hardness. You fish will adapt, after all they have been in the same water at the lfs before you bought them.


Tom

 

[waterdrop]

Why not get a GH/KH liquid kit and compare your tap water parameters to Tom's and other members, keeping in mind the particular fish you have? It's a very rare and undesirable situation to not use your own tap water.

Also please keep in mind that if you have acclimated your fish to RO water then you will need to take a very long and slow road to acclimating them back to your tap water, otherwise they will die from the shock of rapid hardness changes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ufo 550]

Why not get a GH/KH liquid kit and compare your tap water parameters to Tom's and other members, keeping in mind the particular fish you have? It's a very rare and undesirable situation to not use your own tap water.

Also please keep in mind that if you have acclimated your fish to RO water then you will need to take a very long and slow road to acclimating them back to your tap water, otherwise they will die from the shock of rapid hardness changes.

~~waterdrop~~

Hmmm, point taken. I was advised by my lfs to use RO water, as my PH was high at the time (7.6) and was suffering with some bad brown algae, which wasn't helped by the water hardness where I live. This appears to be a bit of misinformed advice, notwithstanding it gets me back in the shop every couple of weeks!

 

[waterdrop]

A lot of people would love to have a nice 7.6 or so pH.. pretty midling. Also, I've never heard that extra mineral content would exacerbate brown algae, in fact I've wondered sometimes about a subtle opposite effect. All algae is triggered by two simple things: ammonia (in even tiny amounts) and light. Ammonia is one factor to control but it is a very difficult proposition since it's a normal part of the tank. Light is the -main- controlling factor and the light hours must be played with to minimize time for algae but have enough for the species of live plants you have. Once you actually have a particular type of algae then the plan to control it varies a lot by which type of algae it is.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[CletePurcel]

Hmmm, point taken. I was advised by my lfs to use RO water, as my PH was high at the time (7.6) and was suffering with some bad brown algae, which wasn't helped by the water hardness where I live. This appears to be a bit of misinformed advice, notwithstanding it gets me back in the shop every couple of weeks!

My pH is 7.8 (it is 7.4 out of the tap). You can usually get the parameters of your tap water from the website of your water company. Might be worth a look.

 

[ufo 550]

I've bought an API GH&KH test kit. I've tabled the results below:

Tank Water. KH 89.5. GH 89.5. Phos 0. PH 7.

Tap Water. KH >214.8. GH >214.8 (429.6). Phos 2-5. PH 7

RO Water. KH 107.4. GH 53.7. Phos 0. PH 6-7

The reading for GH for the tap water was off the recorded scale on the API chart, took 24 drops, hence the reading in brackets.
I've copied and paste my water authorities water hardness chart


mgl CaCO3 (ppm) 245
Degrees Clarke 17.2
Degrees German(DH) 13.7
Degrees French 24.5
Detergent rating HARD

What do you reckon guys?

 

[waterdrop]

Well that's really hard water. I wish OM47 would come back and make some comments on that. He's got a lot of practical experience dealing with hard water. WD

 

[ufo 550]

Bump. OM47?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Blimey, finaly someone with harder water than me, where do you live UFO?


A~T

 

[ufo 550]

After my water test for hardness, I found a Dino deaded and tonight I fished out a Red Platty.

 

[ufo 550]

I live in Oxfordshire.