You guys know any good hardy fish?

[Renzo77]

So far I’ve had a Betta and 2 honey gouramis and they didn’t rlly last long even though my parameters are almost ideal.

I got a 20 gallon planted tank with 6 neon tetras and 5 amano shrimp.

 

[CHUA KOK TUNG]

I heard White Cloud Mountain Minnows are like the hardiest fish out there.

 

[Byron]

There is a reason fish die and it would help you more to investigate that rather than looking for "hardy" fish because no fish is hardy enough to withstand certain issues. You mention parameters being "almost ideal," but exactly what are the numbers?

Parameters technically refers to GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness), pH and temperature. Can you give us the GH and pH of your source (tap) water?

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are not parameters but water conditions, and if you tested these it might help to give us those numbers too.

Aside from that, a Betta in with neon tetras is almost certain to end badly. I have seen Bettas easily eat neons, and neons (and many other small fish) will readily become fin nipping when placed in with a Betta. Even if you didn't see physical aggression, the Betta may well have understood the danger. Gourami is not quite the same, but the water numbers may tell us something.

Was the tank cycled before fish were introduced? That is another possible cause.

 

[Colin_T]

Byron hit the nail on the head, we need to work out what is happening in the aquarium. Once we know that, most fish are easy to keep.

Bettas and gouramis should not be kept in the same tank because they are territorial and fight.

How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How long has the filter been running for?
How often do you clean the filter, and how do you clean it?

How long did you have the fish for before they died?
What symptoms did the dead fish show before dying?

The following link has information about what to do if a fish gets sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

 

[Renzo77]

There is a reason fish die and it would help you more to investigate that rather than looking for "hardy" fish because no fish is hardy enough to withstand certain issues. You mention parameters being "almost ideal," but exactly what are the numbers?

Parameters technically refers to GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness), pH and temperature. Can you give us the GH and pH of your source (tap) water?

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are not parameters but water conditions, and if you tested these it might help to give us those numbers too.

Aside from that, a Betta in with neon tetras is almost certain to end badly. I have seen Bettas easily eat neons, and neons (and many other small fish) will readily become fin nipping when placed in with a Betta. Even if you didn't see physical aggression, the Betta may well have understood the danger. Gourami is not quite the same, but the water numbers may tell us something.

Was the tank cycled before fish were introduced? That is another possible cause.

The betta I had was a female and didn't seem to be aggressive to any of her tank mates and didn't have fins that could be nipped. My gouramis barbs seemed to be intact so I don't think there's much aggression besides when they accidentally nip each other when feeding.

i'm not sure how to test my GH but being in the UK, apparently the water here is quite hard. My pH is around 7 and the temperature is kept at 25°C

Ammonia is 0.2pmm, nitrite is 0pmm and nitrate is around 40pmm.

I've had these fish for a couple of months and even then the tank was cycled before they were introduced.
I've ordered a new hang on back filter to switch out my current sponge filter which may be a bit too small for the tank. Could this help?

 

[Essjay]

i'm not sure how to test my GH but being in the UK, apparently the water here is quite hard

Look on your water company's website. Most of them give hardness on there. You need a number rather than vague words - and the unit. A lot of UK water companies use a different unit from those used in fish keeping and if yours does we'll need to convert it.

 

[Byron]

I've ordered a new hang on back filter to switch out my current sponge filter which may be a bit too small for the tank. Could this help?

No, this will not help. A sponge filter is ideal in a 20g tank. I use this in all my tanks up to 40 gallons. The issue with dying fish has nothing to do with filtration if you had/have a sponge filter running.

Your nitrate at 40 ppm is very high for fish. Have you tested the tap water on its own for nitrate? You need to pin down if this nitrate is in (all or partly) the tap water, or occurring from the biological processes in the tank alone. Testing the tap water will tell you/us this.

When we know the GH/KH/pH of the tap water as essjay mentioned we can move ahead.

 

[Renzo77]

No, this will not help. A sponge filter is ideal in a 20g tank. I use this in all my tanks up to 40 gallons. The issue with dying fish has nothing to do with filtration if you had/have a sponge filter running.

Your nitrate at 40 ppm is very high for fish. Have you tested the tap water on its own for nitrate? You need to pin down if this nitrate is in (all or partly) the tap water, or occurring from the biological processes in the tank alone. Testing the tap water will tell you/us this.

When we know the GH/KH/pH of the tap water as essjay mentioned we can move ahead.

GH: 292.5ppm pH: 7.4 Nitrate: 80ppm
I couldn't find the KH

 

[Byron]

GH: 292.5ppm pH: 7.4 Nitrate: 80ppm
I couldn't find the KH

The KH is less of an issue here. But are these numbers for the tap water on its own, or the tank water? The nbitrate is now 80 ppm when it was 40 ppm previously. And the GH is high meaning fairly hard water.

 

[Renzo77]

The KH is less of an issue here. But are these numbers for the tap water on its own, or the tank water? The nbitrate is now 80 ppm when it was 40 ppm previously. And the GH is high meaning fairly hard water.

These results are for the tap water on its own. The colour in the test tube seemed slightly darker and the colour chart for 40ppm and 80ppm are very similar

 

[FishGuest5123]

How much do you feed? Overfeeding will push nitrates up. I agree that White Cloud Mountain Minnows are very hardy. Golden White Clouds are very pretty and hardy. So are Long Finned Leopard Danios.

 

[Fishmanic]

Angels and Plecos are pretty hardy long living fish in my opinion if kept in proper aquarium conditions and size. Angels prefer taller tanks. The tank size for a pleco depends on the type of pleco. Your tank may be too small for either type though. Plecos can live up to 15 years and an angel can live about 10 years.

Others members here can make recommendations for hardy fish for your size of tank.

 

[crazycharlie]

So far I’ve had a Betta and 2 honey gouramis and they didn’t rlly last long even though my parameters are almost ideal.

I got a 20 gallon planted tank with 6 neon tetras and 5 amano shrimp.

I have had very good luck with scissor tails and tin foil barbs in pairs.

 

[Essjay]

Unfortunately, those fish are too big for 20 gallon tanks.

 

[CactusQueen]

I’m still pretty new to fish, but I think my platies are close to immortal.

My first one, the one that got me into fishkeeping, was brought to a Christmas gift exchange. Bagged up, wrapped up in a box, with a nice bow.

We played a game with the presents that involved a lot of passing them around and throwing them across the room. People were shaking the packages to figure out what was in them, etc. Lemme tell you, I was FURIOUS when that package was opened. The person who brought it wouldn’t fess up. They didn’t even write “fragile” on it! Who brings a live animal to a gift exchange??

Anyway. There were actually two people dumb enough to think gift wrapped fish were a funny idea, and I took both fish home. One was a betta and he didn’t make it after all that being shaken and tossed around. The other was a baby platy and he’s about doubled in size, lived through a fish-in cycle (again, my first fish) and several weeks of insanely high nitrate before it occurred to me to check the tap water (which has over 40 ppm nitrate, which is why I mix with RO now). I also got him a buddy (a male buddy, as I don’t want babies) and they’re both doing fine.

So yeah...platies.