London water - stocking advice (pic attached for help)

[fish boi]

Yes I did mean celestial aka galaxy. Well tomorrow I am off to my LFS and will be looking for galaxy danios or Poecilia wingei. I will start with six and see how I go. If they don't have either in stock I will look at swordtails. I want to keep this tank for at least 8 months to get used to maintaining a healthy tank before upgrading.

swordtails are to big

 

[raphlovesfish]

@fish boi really for 55L?? Must admit I have seen them in much smaller settings.

 

[fish boi]

@fish boi really for 55L?? Must admit I have seen them in much smaller settings.

what type of swordtails are you looking at?

 

[raphlovesfish]

Red wag or velvet maybe pineapple

 

[hobby5]

@fish boi really for 55L?? Must admit I have seen them in much smaller settings.

That you have seen any thing in any setting doesn't mean it was good for those fish. Your tank is for sure way too small for sword tails, sorry.

What also would be possible: least killifish (Heterandria formosa) or bumblebee goby.

 

[raphlovesfish]

@hobby5 thanks and I agree. I was just surprised.

The bumblebee suggestion is great thanks.

On a separate note I might have to start purchasing RO water from my LFS as I just checked my water supplier's site and I have 358 mg/l water hardness - crazy!!!!

I guess I am just unlucky in the water sense

 

[Essjay]

I understand that all south east England has very hard water. Some describe it as liquid rock


Edit to add:
Profile for bumblebee goby
and swordtails - note the size of the fish and tank size requirements.


And if you read this before you go out, please do not take any fish recommendations from the shop until you have looked them up. The first rule of fishkeeping is do not believe the shop. Yes, there are some good fish shop workers out there but they are few and far between. Most of them only want to make a sale and will sell the most unsuitable fish to the unwary buyer.

 

[raphlovesfish]

thanks all for your feedback and suggestions.

Its not a big chain and its run by people who I have overheard them refuse to sell certain fish to certain individuals after asking them a few questions.

i took a sample of my water to them and because ive run the tank for 2 weeks the hardness has reduced to 158. they liquid tested it. i did the strip tests initially. maybe the strips are useless.

none of the Ns were traceable with PH at 7.6. he also knew the type of tank i had so he also advised me to take endlers or galaxys to start the tank up. he didnt have any galaxys so i went with 6 endlers. lovely looking fish and he gave me many different combination of colours.

so far they look happy in their environment so i am hopeful.

interestingly he said i could have a couple of electric blue rams when my tank has mantured maybe 2 months down the line because the ones he gets are used to London water. he even had them mate!!!

The rams looked AMAZING too.

for now i am happy with the endlers.

thanks all (ill give an update in two weeks)

 

[Byron]

interestingly he said i could have a couple of electric blue rams when my tank has mantured maybe 2 months down the line because the ones he gets are used to London water. he even had them mate!!!

Yes, this is possible from the water parameter perspective because this species (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) does best in water with similar parameters to that in which it was hatched and raised. However, it does need warmth, 26-7C/80F absolute minimum, but this will not bother your Endlers [Poecilia (Acanthophacelus) wingei] so that is OK, but I mention it as some do not understand the need for warmth and the rams do not live as long as they could normally. Tank size may be an issue, from the info that essjay posted earlier. If a larger tank is possible as you mentioned in this thread, that would be better.

At this point so it is covered, I will just mention something about this blue ram fish. If you want a pair, they must select each other and bond, or one will likely be dead before too long. This applies to most cichlids. You can usually discern a bonded pair from carefully observing the behaviours of the fish in the store tank for a period of time. Males will be continually "charging" each other, so that is easy; females will usually be just sort of hovering around, picking at stuff on the substrate, generally minding their own business. If a male allows one of the females to remain close without any pushing, that "pair" should bee successful together. But nothing is cut in stone, and sometimes even this bond can fall apart in a different environment.

Earlier shell dwellers were mentioned...these are not "community" fish so in a tank on their own, fine, but not with the other fish now being considered.

You also asked about plants...CO2 is not needed and certainly not for the plants in the photo in post #1.

Welcome to TFF and this wonderful hobby.

Byron.

 

[raphlovesfish]

@Byron many thanks for the explanation and advice given. All taken on board.

I want my family and I to get used to having a happy and healthy tank before upgrading to a larger tank.

The shop owner did say that Pygmy Corys would be fine. Essjay earlier said they might be ok. Maybe I will consider them as bottom swimmers for my tank.

 

[fish boi]

@Byron many thanks for the explanation and advice given. All taken on board.

I want my family and I to get used to having a happy and healthy tank before upgrading to a larger tank.

The shop owner did say that Pygmy Corys would be fine. Essjay earlier said they might be ok. Maybe I will consider them as bottom swimmers for my tank.

yes pygmy corys would make a good bottom dweller for this tank.

 

[raphlovesfish]

Thanks @fish boi

FYI my new Endlers are in an exploratory mood. Seem happy enough so far. A couple of them are stunning

 

[Byron]

@Byron many thanks for the explanation and advice given. All taken on board.

I want my family and I to get used to having a happy and healthy tank before upgrading to a larger tank.

The shop owner did say that Pygmy Corys would be fine. Essjay earlier said they might be ok. Maybe I will consider them as bottom swimmers for my tank.

Sensible (the small tank until you gain experience before moving to another).

If the GH really is around 158 ppm (ppm = mg/l, just so you know), which equates to 8 or 9 dGH, the pygmy cories should be OK. You need a good sized group, I would say at least 8-9 up to 12-15. That's fine for the tank size here. But I would want to pin down the GH as these are quite delicate and sensitive fish. I have a group that spawn regularly in my 10g but my water is zero GH/KH and on the acidic side in pH. A GH of 8 or even 9 should be fine, but not 20 (using degrees here).

You mention the water authority posting GH at 358 mg/l (= 358 ppm, equating to 20 dGH), and this is not going to work for pygmy cories, or any soft water species for that matter. The store test has your tank water at GH 158 ppm. It is not likely that the GH would lower to this extent within the aquarium. So this needs to be sorted out before any further fish are acquired. We have no way of knowing the reliability of the store's testing so the best thing might be for you to acquire an API liquid GH/KH test kit. You can get them online for less than in stores probably. It is a shame to spend money on a test kit you may only use once or twice, but this is a serious issue. The store's test may have been inaccurate for a number of reasons...if liquid, incorrect counting of drops, or expired regents (I had this with my API test kit once, after a time it took more drops to change the colour than the new kits), or unclean test tube, or...whatever.

Last comment, picking up from something said back a ways about the fish in the store being OK in similar water. This is not something you can ever accept at face value. For one thing, the store might adjust their water in some manner. But even if not, stores expect (hope anyway) to sell the fish quickly, because the longer they have to care for them the less profit (this is not a bad thing, the store has to make money) and the greater the chance the fish might die in the store and be lost. Temporary water parameters can sometimes be tolerated by fish, whereas permanent cannot. And once you get the fish home, it is going in the permanent environment it will spend the rest of its life in, and this can cause a normal or shorter, much shorter, period of life for the fish. Water parameters is just one of several environmental factors that directly impact the health and thus the life of every fish.

Byron.

 

[Essjay]

Just a reminder - now that you have fish, measure the ammonia and nitrite levels daily for the next week to make sure the plants are taking up all the ammonia made by the fish. if either of them show up in a test, do a water change to get the reading back to zero.

 

[NewFishPerson]

Thanks @fish boi

FYI my new Endlers are in an exploratory mood. Seem happy enough so far. A couple of them are stunning

I went for Endlers also!! Really love the little guys, they're always active and up to something! I have 13 now after getting 7 at the start. Watching them chasing, displaying to each other and then scavenging from the leaves of plants never gets old! Occasionally one will curiously inspect the Oto I have in the tank, soon as he moves, they're out of there like a shot hehe.

I was gutted when I first found out that Tetras would be unsuitable because of my hard water, but honestly now I'm loving my hard water! Researching some of the fish for my new tank I build I really think with hard water, we're more spoiled for choice than it first seems . Endlers are my gateway fish into what I'm hoping will be many years of keeping some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures this hobby has to offer!

Best of luck with your new fish