What fish at pH 8.5 ?

[theRAM]

Hi
My 70 litre tank has been up and running for about 5 weeks now.

I have 2 zebra danios.

A week ago I bought 3 cardinals and all 3 have died.

My amonia and nitrite levels are nil, with nitrate around 10.
The pH is a constant 8.5 and my local dealer tells me not to worry too much about it.

Having read a bit more about cardinals they like slightly acidic water which is possibly wht they perished.

Can anyone help me with some advice on either lowering the pH level or going for fish that will tolerate a high pH

Cheers

 

[Alien Anna]

Cardinals are very delicate when being transfered to a new tank - I always seem to lose at least half of any batch I buy. I thought I was cursed, but others report similar lack of success.

If you have any ammonia or nitrite at all in your tank you can guarantee your cardinals will not survive. They also have trouble coping with different pH's and different nitrate levels (whether up or down). However, they are hardy if they survive the transfer.

So, what I'm saying is, don't necessarily blame your water. OTOH, if you want to lower your pH naturally you could put some well soaked bogwood into the tank.

At pH 8.5 I've found guppies and mollies do well. Black neon tetras don't care (because they are virtually unkillable) and danios can also cope fine. But if you want fish that really like such water, consider African cichlids or shelldwellers.

 

[skiltrip]

My pH is naturally 8.0. I recently have had trouble with cardinal tetras too. first off, we got 6 from one LFS, and within 3 days, every single one died. Then we got another 4 from a different LFS, and they all died too. We got two neon tetras, and they did just fine. Cardinals are super delicate i guess. i really think having a lower pH, 7 or lower, would help them survive.

you can go to www.fishprofiles.com and do a search for fish that like a higher pH. i know that cuckoo catfish like pH all the way up to 9.0, so if you want a great catfish that prefers higher pH, get a cuckoo. also, african cichlids dig the higher pH as well.