I will soon be getting a 75 gallon and am thinking about what to put in it. I was thinking some Lake Taganyika cichlids like neolaprologus bricardi. I was also thinking about maybe a Senegal bichir or a striped gar. What are your thoughts?
Stocking suggestions for 75 gal.
- Thread starter King puff
- Start date
The April FOTM Contest Poll is open!
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆
We really need to know the dimensions of the tank and the pH and hardness of your water before we can properly recommend species for you 
Hardness is more important to fish than pH, so we need to know how hard your water is. The hardness of your tap water should be somewhere on your water supplier's website. We need both the number and the unit (there are about half a dozen different hardness units and they could use any one of them)
This is all I could find. 16.5 grains per gallon. We live in Arizona so our water is very hard. We do have a water softener though. If I wanted to find out how hard the water is after the water softener, I would have to send it to a lab. 
.
.
You don't want to use water that's been through a softener for fish.
Most softeners don't actually soften the water at all; they make the water behave as if it's softer by replacing calcium ions with sodium, but the actual amount of dissolved solids stays, more or less, the same.
Most softeners don't actually soften the water at all; they make the water behave as if it's softer by replacing calcium ions with sodium, but the actual amount of dissolved solids stays, more or less, the same.
The two units used in fishkeeping are ppm and German degrees, usually referred to as degrees or dH.
Your 16.5 grains per gallon convert to 282.4 ppm and 15.8 dH.
If you look up the fish you are interested in on Seriously Fish, they will give the hardness range in one of those units. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
As Fluttermoth says, you should never use softened water in a fish tank. Since softened water is not good for humans to drink there should be a bypass tap somewhere. You need to use water from this bypass tap for fish tanks.
Your 16.5 grains per gallon convert to 282.4 ppm and 15.8 dH.
If you look up the fish you are interested in on Seriously Fish, they will give the hardness range in one of those units. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
As Fluttermoth says, you should never use softened water in a fish tank. Since softened water is not good for humans to drink there should be a bypass tap somewhere. You need to use water from this bypass tap for fish tanks.
RO water can be mixed with hard tap water to lower hardness - but if you want Lake Tanganika cichlids you will need hard water not softened water.
You mentioned Neolamprologus bricardi in your first post - this fish needs a hardness between 9 and 19 dH so your tap water is fine for them.
If you meant to use all RO, you would need to add a lot of remineralisation salts back in to the water.
It occurs to me that you might have looked at Neolamprologus bricardi on Seriously Fish (as Neolamprologus pulcher) where it gives the hardness range as 0 to 0 ppm. This is a misprint. No fish from Lake Tanganika can survive in water that soft. FishBase gives its hardness as 9 to 19 dH. Seriously Fish gives the hardness range for other fish in the Neolamprologus genus as 8 to 25 dH.
As for tank mates, they need to be fish from the same lake which occupy different regions of the tank. I would be concerned that both Senegal bichirs and striped gars are too big to be kept with Neolamprologus bricardi - they may well try to eat them.
You mentioned Neolamprologus bricardi in your first post - this fish needs a hardness between 9 and 19 dH so your tap water is fine for them.
If you meant to use all RO, you would need to add a lot of remineralisation salts back in to the water.
It occurs to me that you might have looked at Neolamprologus bricardi on Seriously Fish (as Neolamprologus pulcher) where it gives the hardness range as 0 to 0 ppm. This is a misprint. No fish from Lake Tanganika can survive in water that soft. FishBase gives its hardness as 9 to 19 dH. Seriously Fish gives the hardness range for other fish in the Neolamprologus genus as 8 to 25 dH.
As for tank mates, they need to be fish from the same lake which occupy different regions of the tank. I would be concerned that both Senegal bichirs and striped gars are too big to be kept with Neolamprologus bricardi - they may well try to eat them.
I assumed that was a typo. So if i can find a water source without being softened I can use it in my tanks? Also, what other fish besides cichlids can I keep with Neolamprologus bricardi, julidocromis, and neolamprolugus leleupi?
You should have a bypass tap for drinking water. Use that for a hard water tank.
I'm afraid I am not well informed about hard water fish as my tap water is soft. I just know the basics like they need hard water. But from what I read, Lake Tanganyika cichlids should be kept with other fish from the same lake. Hopefully someone who keeps these fish will be able to help you with suggestions - or you could make a new post in the African/Old World Cichlid section as that's where most of the experts will be.
I'm afraid I am not well informed about hard water fish as my tap water is soft. I just know the basics like they need hard water. But from what I read, Lake Tanganyika cichlids should be kept with other fish from the same lake. Hopefully someone who keeps these fish will be able to help you with suggestions - or you could make a new post in the African/Old World Cichlid section as that's where most of the experts will be.
Do you have a tap that you are supposed to use to get water for drinking? That is the tap you should use for the tank. The other taps are just for washing. I was under the impression that it was compulsory to install a bypass tap somewhere when a water softener was fitted, a tap that gets its water straight from the mains and doesn't go through the softener.
You can buy a GH tester. API make a GH and KH test set. They doesn't work like ammonia, nitrite etc. With hardness testers you add drops one by one, counting the drops, until the water in the tube changes colour. The number of drops that takes = the hardness in dH (for the API test kit at least)
You can buy a GH tester. API make a GH and KH test set. They doesn't work like ammonia, nitrite etc. With hardness testers you add drops one by one, counting the drops, until the water in the tube changes colour. The number of drops that takes = the hardness in dH (for the API test kit at least)
That has now been corrected. The fields were previously blank. Lake Tanganyika has a GH of 12 to 14 dGH and a pH around 9.
On the initial question(s), I agree with not using water that is processed through a household softener for fish. If you want rift lake cichlids, your source water pre softener is fine.
As for other species, stay with rift lake cichlids. There are very, very few non-rift lake fish that can be housed with these. And also note that the species Neolamprologus pulcher can get very feisty/aggressive especially when spawning, so it should be thee only species.
Last edited:
Will other fish will inhabit the middle of the tank? Large rainbowfish, silver dollars, Congo tetras? And for cleaners. Dwarf petricola, Plecos, emerald Cory? I would love to have a Senegal bichir because of their smaller size but not sure if this is possible. Any other suggestions?
Most reactions
-
269 -
239 -
154 -
143 -
135 -
134 -
111 -
110 -
94 -
92 -
86 -
84 -
78 -
68 -
62
Staff online
-
CaptainBarniclesModerate Pleco Tolerator -
GaryEModerator
-
Slaphppy7Mod-o-holic