German Blue Ram Last Attempt!

[Noahsfish]

So if anyone here has seen my earlier threads, you'd know i had considered putting one in a 10g. I know now that that is way too small...my 10g is now full with a betta and shrimp, 30 gallon is stocked with a pair of apistos and some loaches. However, I might have enough room in my 20. As far as the water conditions are in the 20, It has a ph of 7.3, and and pretty hard water. I know. Gbr have to have soft water (I think) and prefer a lower ph. I have almond leaves and peat moss though so that shouldn't be a problem when the time comes. I keep the temp around 80-82 farenheight. The tank has a few anubias planted in the substrate along with a couple crypts and 3 marimo moss balls. Also has driftwood and a plastic tiki hiding place, which I'm probably going to remove....I have a hob filter and a airstone which I kept in after treating for ich, also to compensate for the higher temperature. As for the stocking I have 6 cardinal tetras and 6 sterbai corydoras. Would a single German blue ram be ok with the corys? I know they dwell towards the bottom...if I left out anything important please let me know.

 

[snazy]

The corys won't be ok in such high temperatures though.
Also, the almond leaves hardly do any softening of the water in my experience. You need to be sure the peat moss is actually softening the water. And it's not just that because the rest of the minerals could still be pretty high, which is actually what makes water hard or soft. The best is to test the Gh/Kh and TDS to evaluate whether to even attempt a soft water loving fish as rams.

 

[Noahsfish]

The corys can't handle high temp??? When I first purchased them it was because I've read that they're great for high temps and people keep em with discus and such, possibly a different species? Well anyways, mine seem to have done fine the few months I've had them. And I'm really a noob when it comes to all this, but what do you mean by other minerals? Is there a way to soften my water if peat moss doesn't work?

 

[twodoctors]

Almond leaves and peat balls etc are over-rated. If you water is hard then whatever you use will be buffered by the existing mineral and keep your water slightly alkaline. If you are running a small tank have you considered getting RO water from your LFS and then add the leaves/balls etc?
 
I believe in matching fish to your water, rather than fixing the water for your choice of fishes. Or at least it's cheaper this way. 

 

[Noahsfish]

That's true, but I mean it seems like peat moss would have to count for something, right? I'd rather not have to buy RO water every week..

 

[snazy]

I suppose peat moss would have some effect but not sure it will be enough.
It's up to you to try and see. The temperature is still too high for corys, maybe you can swap yours for sterbai corys.

 

[Noahsfish]

I have sterbai corydoras

 

[CezzaXV]

Quick lesson on water hardness: Water hardness refers to the amount of minerals in the water. KH (Carbonate Hardness) specifically measures the amount of acid you would have to add to get the water down to a given pH, as the minerals neutralise it. If you have particularly high (or even moderate) KH, then it is more than possible, even likely, that there will be so much carbonate/bicarbonate in the water that the small amount of acidity in the peat moss/almond leaves just won't work. There will be too much counteracting it. The water will drop in hardness ever so slightly, but nowhere near enough to allow it to become acidic, and you'd be back at square one every time you did a water change. Not doing water change isn't an option either, as your nitrates would build up.

Mixing in RO water would be an option, as the KH of RO water is 0. It'd be the only surefire way of lowering your hardness.

I wouldn't recommend keeping cories with GBR's, as for temperature the highest comfort levels for cories are the lowest for GBR's. You'd also want to keep them comfortably within their recommended temperature ranges, not on the extremes.

 

[Noahsfish]

I'm still a bit confused about the gh and kh, I'll go test my water again and see the exact gh and kh...oh and btw I have sterbai corys so the temp. Shouldn't be a problem, I was more worried about the gbr attacking them as I know gbr tend to stay towards the bottom.