Fishy Question.

[Eclectic Ukulele]

Due to now living in a flat and other things such as illness and age I now own a Superfish Fishtank.

However there are no fish yet due to my having the flu and being the christmas period.

The fish I am looking into are pygmy corydoras x6, ember tetras x ? and a single fish such as a honey gourami.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Recently had a water change and test of which was almost perfect.

 

[MattW]

I would look at your water parameters first before adding fish. Mainly, your water's hardness. The fish you have mentioned come from areas with softer and slightly acidic waters. If you are using tap water, it's best to find fish that have similar parameters in the wild. You can of course, use RO water and add the hardness/minerals yourself, but I find that to be another chore on top of everything else when keeping fish. You can find water hardness charts on your local water company's website

 

[Eclectic Ukulele]

I would look at your water parameters first before adding fish. Mainly, your water's hardness. The fish you have mentioned come from areas with softer and slightly acidic waters. If you are using tap water, it's best to find fish that have similar parameters in the wild. You can of course, use RO water and add the hardness/minerals yourself, but I find that to be another chore on top of everything else when keeping fish. You can find water hardness charts on your local water company's website

Bedford is a hard water area.

 

[MattW]

You could definitely go for livebearers, @fish48 & @emeraldking could give you some ideas
You could also try a couple of Inle Lake (Myanmar) species. I keep Sawbwa resplendens that prefer harder water, but there are many other species as well. If you want a small species, you could look at Emerald Danio or other danio species. You also have the option of White cloud minnows. These fish can handle quite low temps, so you could even run the tank without a heater.

 

[Sussy]

Bedford is a hard water area.

you could try adding some tannins (leaves, wood, that sort of stuff)
here’s what i used to soften my water: https://www.petsmart.com/fish/food-...box---all-natural-functional-decor-70503.html

 

[GaryE]

Tannins won;t soften water - for the minimal amount they'll change, the water'll bounce with every water change. It's far better to pick fish for the water.

 

[Sussy]

Tannins won;t soften water - for the minimal amount they'll change, the water'll bounce with every water change. It's far better to pick fish for the water.

oh yeah, i completely forget that you reset it with every water change, just got back into the hobby after a while, my apologies!

 

[GaryE]

No apologies needed. This is a hobby with a lot of tricks for dealing with water, not all of which work. I confess, I tried a lot of them, and I just hope I can assist others in avoiding my mistakes.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I ran a tea stained, acid water tank for Altum angels. I use my tap which is 703 and 83 pms and then altered it to between 6.0 and 6.4 pH and targetted the pH at 6.0. To do this I used RO/DI water, alder cones, catappa leaves, rooibos tea and occasionally muriatic acid. To do weekly water changes

I set up a can and batched water to be the needed parameters. I also ran a continuous digital monitor on the tank which gave readings on hardness in either TDS or Conductivity, pH and temperature in either C of F. I batched the changing water next to the tank and would move the probes for the monitor from the tank to the can to make sure the new water had the needed parameters and staining.

I had to use the digital monitor as you cannot use the normal tanks test which use the color cards to determine the levels. Stained water and colormetric testing do not work well together.