Compatibility chart

[Naughts]

Pets at home points system is how many fish you can have so they score tanks and each species with fish points to guide your stocking.
Again, ridiculously crude and inaccurate with no consideration for the complexities of fish needs and care. Just ignore it and do your own research.
That said, I'm lucky as my pets at home has a knowledgeable employee who has a sound understanding of the hobby.

 

[seangee]

Pets at home points system is how many fish you can have so they score tanks and each species with fish points to guide your stocking.

I actually saw that in a branch last week. Its really dumbing it down for the staff who are completely clueless. This tank can hold 20 points and then assign points for every species. Add up the points for the fish you buy ...

Can't really blame the staff for being clueless - they just applied for a job. I'm not condoning the way P@H do it or the extent of the staff training but I guess its inevitable in any large chain. Its just good luck if you happen to have someone who is actually interested in fish in your local store. Sadly it unlikely to change without an RSPCF or similar with actual power forcing them to change.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I am blessed to have a good LFS. My bad!

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Sounds like before they were doing the right thing - I don't think anybody should be adding more than 6 fish to one tank (of course it might be 2 or 5 different tanks) but they are also limiting their liability in case a bunch of them die in your water and they have/had a guarantee. Probably got a new CEO and now want to just sell as much as possible and to hell with losses or have a very tough refund policy that few can meet (that's what my mom and pop LFS does - plus all their fish die -

I know you all love mom and pop shops but these folks can be scammers - one owner told me a cichlid was a chocolate gourami because I told him I was looking for Gourami's and he didn't have any (he doesn't label his fish) - sold me this one for $30- now that I HAVE real chocolate gourami's (way cheap) there is no way in the world even an idiot would mistake the other fish for one - just size and coloration alone). All but one of his fish died and they wouldn't give me my money back because I made the mistake of saying I did a water change in desperation trying to save his crummy fish and couldn't give him a water sample from the day I bought them. I've had better success with PetSmart and Petco - some of those kids there are really pretty intelligent and passionate about fish and keep the tanks clean and dead fish removed. They just "skip" the talk about cycling probably so people will still think they can buy a tank and a bunch of fish on the same day, pour in a bottle of special solution and all is good in one day. Probably the worst crime committed by the chain stores. I don't know - maybe it works and all our work cycling for weeks is a waste of time.

 

[Essjay]

The 6 fish per customer under all circumstances rule was a bit silly. You've done a fishless cycle in a 100 gallon tank? Sorry I can only sell you 6 fish.
But I will admit that someone who knows about fishless cycling and has a 100 gallon tank would not be going to Pets@Home to buy fish

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

On the other hand - adding 15 fish to your 100 gallon tank might totally disrupt your nitrogen cycle - adding fish in small groups is probably safer and less disruptive to both the water stats as well as to the other fish in the tank. It's how aggression gets started even among peaceful fish. I've violated that rule and bought too many fish at one time and it just killed my cycle - I'm just now getting it back under control. I also had some territorial battles going on for a long time. If I had just bought 3 or 4 fish at a time it would have been better but I was buying them online and the overnight shipping fees, cost for a Styrofoam cooler and a heater or cooling pad runs the price up so you tend to want to buy as many fish as you can in one order. But I'm done adding fish unless I lose a tankful or something and I'm so relieved not to have to worry about their compatibility and such. I just want nice stable peaceful tanks.

 

[Essjay]

The idea of fishless cycling is that once it is complete you can fully stock the tank immediately. Personally, I wouldn't add all the fish I wanted, I'd go with less than 100%, but with very large tanks, even 75% is a lot of fish.
Having said that, most of Pets@Home customers have small tanks and have never heard of fishless cycling.

 

[Zoe Horsfield]

I just don’t understand how they get away with calling the team members “aquatics specialists” when 95% have about as much of a clue as I do I know everyone’s got to learn somewhere (which is why you think your going for the right advice with a “specialist”) and they tell you the wrong thing they have a picture of the person who is supposed to be the “aquatics specialists” in the fish section and I wonder if they only know what pets at home tell them/train them or what qualifications you need to be a “specialist”

 

[Catherine1994]

Are 1 betta
1 male dwarf gourami
2 male dwarf gourami
4 corydoras panda
2 mollies
4 guppies
Compatible?

 

[Essjay]

I already posted this in your other thread -

I'm afraid it won't work.

Bettas and gouramis should never be kept together as they are both territorial and occupy the same area of the tank. There would soon be aggression between them. And bettas are best kept alone as they are not community fish.

Mollies and guppies need hard water with mollies needing very hard water All the other fish you name are soft water fish and are incompatible with mollies and guppies.



How hard is your tap water? This will decide for you which type of fish you can keep. Look on your water provider's website for hardness - you need a number rather than some vague words. And you need to make a note of the unit as there are several they could use.
If they don't give it, you could phone or email them; or take a sample of tap water to an LFS and ask them to test it for GH. Again, make sure they give you a number.

 

[Zoe Horsfield]

I already posted this in your other thread -

I'm afraid it won't work.

Bettas and gouramis should never be kept together as they are both territorial and occupy the same are of the tank. There would soon be aggression between them. And bettas are best kept alone as they are not community fish.

Mollies and guppies need hard water with mollies needing very hard water All the other fish you name are soft water fish and are incompatible with mollies and guppies.



How hard is your tap water? This will decide for you which type of fish you can keep. Look on your water provider's website for hardness - you need a number rather than some vague words. And you need to make a note of the unit as there are several they could use.
If they don't give it, you could phone or email them; or take a sample of tap water to an LFS and ask them to test it for GH. Again, make sure they give you a number.

38.1mg/l calcium This is my water area, what sort of fish would you reccomend to keep with a goldfish (single tail) in a 100L tank? Thanks in advance

 

[Zoe Horsfield]

these are all the stats

 

[Essjay]

The tables are the water quality report.
The calcium level they give is just the calcium component of your hardness - hardness can be expressed as mg/l calcium but that's what it would be if all the hardness minerals were calcium.
Your nitrate is 5 ppm which is great, it'll be easy for you to keep the tank level below 20 ppm.


Hardness at 38.1 mg/l calcium converts to 5.3 dH and 95 ppm. These are the two units used in fish keeping.




The goldfish experts may say otherwise but personally I'd say nothing else. One single tail goldfish in 100 litres/26 gallons is pretty much fully stocked

 

[Zoe Horsfield]

The tables are the water quality report.
The calcium level they give is just the calcium component of your hardness - hardness can be expressed as mg/l calcium but that's what it would be if all the hardness minerals were calcium.
Your nitrate is 5 ppm which is great, it'll be easy for you to keep the tank level below 20 ppm.


Hardness at 38.1 mg/l converts to 5.3 dH and 95 ppm. These are the two units used in fish keeping.




The goldfish experts may say otherwise but personally I'd say nothing else. One single tail goldfish in 100 litres/26 gallons is pretty much fully stocked

Okkie dokkie thank you

 

[Zoe Horsfield]

Also I want to have a separate tank with a betta in are these water conditions okay for a betta too?