Back To Square One.

[Lazerus]

Hi all….

I finally got my stand for my new 84L tank (20 US gal)….so my thoughts & ideas about how to set up this tank can now be finally put into action at last!

First of all though before I do anything with decorations, substrate & plants etc, I want to plan the fish I’m getting first so I can buy the correct 'contents' for the tank.

I have a tap water pH of 7.8 and it always seems to stay that way in my tank, even with a piece of Mopani wood.

Is there such a thing as a ‘fish list’ detailing what fish might be compatible with a higher pH?

I really would like to have a good idea of what fish I can buy safely and then work backwards by eliminating the ones I don't like and hopefully ending up with a few types of fish that will work for a community tank

One person has suggested 'Dwarf Rainbow fish' so that's a good start...

When reading up on other peoples posts with similar questions, I can’t seem to find any information at all, other than non-specific posts commenting about pH7.8 not being too high and that most tank bred fish adapt etc etc….but they don’t provide any suggestions for types of fish, and so its not what I’m looking for and it’s not very helpful really.

I just want to know if anyone has a list of fish that would be happy naturally in this pH.

Is there such a thing at all??? Or is it the ‘holy grail’ of fishkeeping?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha sadly no I don't have such a list. I'm lucky with my pH so I've never really needed to worry about it. Not much help I know!

Now I would say that I do think it's best to avoid tinkering with your pH as I'm sure we've discussed before it can be tricky and complicated. However that's not to say that it can't be done so if you've really got your heart set on something that will do better with a lower pH then do let us know and we'll discuss your options.

Kribensis might be a nice place to start your list, not sure what their minimum tank size is but i *think* a 20gal would be OK. In other words go look it up if you like them!

 

[Lazerus]

Thank you!

I'll start a list so....

Fish that like a pH of 7.8 are:
1. Dwarf Rainbow Fish (Melanotaenia praecox -North Australia)
2. Kribensis (Cichlid - Pelvicachromis pulcher- African)

 

[waterdrop]

Hey, maybe one of our members out there would know...

Perhaps one could make a pH generalization based on tropical fish original collecting homes:

I don't know this myself but to explain myself with a hypothetical example:

Perhaps trops that originate from the Amazon and/or other places in South America tend to like lower pH?

Then there are a couple of lakes in Africa that are sources for a lot of our trops and maybe those have a typical pH?

Likewise, there might be a typical pH range for Malaysia perhaps?

I'm basing this on seeming to remember that most of our common trops are not "from all over the place in the world" but instead mostly come from a few spots. Anybody else remember this or just straight out know it? Anyway, just seems an organizational idea to help get Laz started perhaps.

~~waterdrop~~