Which fish would you choose for a 56L tank with very hard water?

[rebe]

Someone I know is looking to get some fish for their 35x59x31cm tank, and their general hardness is around 400ppm. I want to give them some recommendations for fish, particularly some bottom dwellers. Some people say that most fish can adapt to hard water but I'm not sure how true that is. I thought that I'd check with you guys before suggesting fish that are usually kept in softer water since I have no experience or knowledge of fish that live in harder water.

The tank is 35cm long, 59cm high and 31cm deep.

Thank you

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello rebe. The Platy is about the best small tank fish you can get. It's cheap, very colorful and tough as nails in most water conditions. You have a very small tank, so you shouldn't have more than six or so. And, you'll need to change out half their water about every three to four days. If you do this and feed just a little every day or two, they'll reward you with their colors and you'll have them a long time. You might also have some little ones in the future.

10

 

[Essjay]

Is it really 59 cm high with a footprint of 31 x 35 cm? (That's 23 inches high with a footprint of 12 x 14 inches those who prefer inches) With that shape, it can only take small fish. I think platies are too big for that footprint. Endlers would be OK size wise and I think they're OK at that hardness. Or one of the smaller rainbows such as Pseudomugil furcatus. There are a few Psuedomugil species but 400 ppm is too high for many of them.

 

[Ichthys]

I suspect the 59cms isn’t the height. It’s a bit small for platies, but there’s a lot of unusual small livebearers that would work. A lot of fish can adapt to moderately hard water to some degree, but 400 is extremely hard and I wouldn’t put soft water fish anywhere near it.

 

[rebe]

@Essjay @Ichthys Sorry guys, you're both right. I got them to send me the link to the exact model https://interpet.co.uk/product/aquariums/aquariums-aq/aquapod-led-56l-starter-kit/#features

 

[Essjay]

That's a lot easier to stock. It has a 59 x 31 cm footprint and is 35.5 cm tall (presumably that also includes the height of the lid). That's 12 x 23 inch footprint and 14 inches tall.
Platies are an option for that shape


I did wonder if it was a cylinder or similar as some of those are tall with a small footprint.

 

[seangee]

What about endlers?

 

[rebe]

Can anybody think of a bottom dwelling species that could do well in a tank of this size with such hard water? Pygmy corys and dwarf chain loaches were two of my ideas but they need much softer water. I can't think of any fish, and I don't know if I should recommend shrimp because I have no experience with them and have heard that they are very sensitive

 

[rebe]

What about endlers?

That's one of the fish I'm going to suggest. So far I think her options are endlers, platies and Pseudomugil furcatus