Advice on which fish to buy.

Cirque1

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So Iā€™m about to set up a new fish tank 4foot 240 litres and cannot decide what to put in it! Iā€™ve currently got a tank stocked with guppies platys and mollies as this was bought for my daughter several years ago. I think Iā€™ll keep those in the tank that theyā€™re currently in. Iā€™ve got several other tanks each housing a Betta fish and these are all doing well.
As for this current tank I keep looking at options but then see the size they grow to or discover that theyā€™re not compatible species! Basically I know that the expertise is here on this forum and I would really like to hear of your success stories of fish combinations.
Thank you in advancešŸ˜Š
 
What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

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What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.
 
Thank you for that information. My water details are as follows; (considered slightly hard)
SubstanceTypical ValueUK/European limitUnit
Calcium38.3mg Ca/l
Magnesium3.4 mg Mg/l
Residual chlorine - free.27mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total.37mg/l Cl2
TotalColiforms00no/100ml
EColi00no/100ml
Aluminium11.1200Āµg Al/l
Colour1.120mg/l Pt/Co Scale
Conductivity2812500ĀµS/cm
Fluoride.051.5mg F/l
Turbidity.144NTU
pHHydrogenIon7.56.5 - 9.5pH Units
Iron6.7200Āµg Fe/l
Manganese.850Āµg Mn/I
Nitrate4.9550mg NO3/l
Nitrite.0020.5mg NO2/l
Sodium14.3200mg Na/l
Copper.01082mg Cu/l
Lead.0410Āµg Pb/l

My tank measures 120cm by 40cm with a depth of 50cm.

Thanks again.
 
That's decent water - a bit on the hard side but good for most fish.

My suggestion to start by ignoring all of us. I could tell you to get my favourite species, but maybe that would leave you stuck with fish you don't like.

If I were you, I would do the rounds of the local stores and look closely at all the fish. What do you actually like? Then bring the list back and run it by the experienced people here in hopes of getting feedback that will help you decide. The choices are so vast, and local availability is so uneven that asking for an ideal community is not going to work. It's a bit of a "what can I grow in my garden" question. Veggies? Annual flowers? Perrenials? Herbs? Carnivorous plants? Weeds? Orchids....

Pre-pandemic, I went to a store in east London and saw species you'd never see in a Canadian store. But I also noticed there were a lot of things we take for granted that weren't available.
 
That makes perfect sense and I have done that to some extent. I have taken photos of the fish I like the look of and then do my research and they all seem to be nasty little devils. Iā€™m now thinking lots of tetras maybe and avoiding big fish. I love fish with big fins though. Maybe a thread fin rainbow fish? Black skirt tetra? Danios? Too many to choose from when youā€™re starting from scratch.
 
I reckon it's really soft, not hard. It's about 40ppm, which is great for South American and Asian fishes. However, you have aluminium and a few other things I don't like, but it does have some iron and nitrates so the plants should do well. And you have chlorine in your water not chloramine so that's a plus, coz it's easier to get rid of.
 
Thank you for the info on the water, I find it all a bit confusing so really appreciate you breaking it down into what will thrive etc.
 
My water details are as follows; (considered slightly hard)
Water companies always make water sound harder than it really is.

The image in post #4 is the water quality report. Does the website have a page where it gives hardness as a number?

Or tell us the name of the water company and we'll see if we can find the page.
 
Thank you for the info on the water, I find it all a bit confusing so really appreciate you breaking it down into what will thrive etc.
Yorkshire water and all I can see is 43.9 mg/l calcium.
 
That's a unit used by UK water companies. It doesn't mean there's actually 43.9 mg/l calcium; it's what the hardness would be if all the hardness minerals were calcium - there is more than just calcium makes up hardness.
Fishkeeping used two different hardness units so we need to convert yours into those two.
Your hardness is 6 dH and 110 ppm.

This is fine for just about all soft water fish but it's too soft for hardwater fish like guppies, platies and mollies. That "slightly hard" is very misleading as it's not hard at all.
 
Iā€™ve certainly learnt a lot today about water parameters that I didnā€™t know. I check my tanks parameters regularly but never actually knew what the figures were from the outset.
My mollies and platys are great but they breed constantly and no longer seem to be eating their fry. I fear if I put them in the bigger tank I will be swarmed by them and ultimately I fancy a change for the new tank.
Thank you for the help and advice
 
A betta sorority. Some fun finage such as halfmoon, halfmoon plaket, or HMPK Dumbo/HM Dumbo. That way you could have colors and finage. Id recommend a heavily live planted tank for that though. Fun colors are galaxy koi as the boy in my profile pic, dragon, metallic, grizzle, nemo, koi and solids.
 
That's a unit used by UK water companies. It doesn't mean there's actually 43.9 mg/l calcium; it's what the hardness would be if all the hardness minerals were calcium - there is more than just calcium makes up hardness.
Fishkeeping used two different hardness units so we need to convert yours into those two.
Your hardness is 6 dH and 110 ppm.

Where did you get 110ppm GH from?

GH is normally calcium chloride and magnesium chloride.
 

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