Harmonious Tank Mates In 28 Gallon Bow Front

[Obxfish]

I would appreciate if those wiser could confirm that what I have read online is true. I have our 28 g up and running and going to wait a few more weeks before putting anything in there. After letting it run all night and getting temp to 78 I tested PH and found it to be 6.8. I thought I might get some crushed coral to be a natural buffer? I have driftwood in there I treated for a week in baking soda and water and then just water to leech out tannis and up its ph. Hope that is enough.

My plan is:

6 zebra Danios
1 mystery snail
5-10 ghost shrimp??
2 African dwarf frogs
And a Betta fish

Extra:
Is the coral going to supply a little calcium for the snail as well be a buffer for nitrates and stable ph or should I keep cuttlebone on hand? Will veggie treats screw up the ph?

I plan to keep a varied diet of freeze dried worms and brine shrimp as well flake food for community fish.

Any other tips are helpful. I am not new to keeping community tanks but usually bigger with totally different assortments and its been a good 10 years.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Your pH of 6.8 is fine, no need to buffer it. The only change I would recommend would be to use cherry shrimp instead of ghost shrimp. Ghost shrimp do best in cool brackish water.
Also a bristle nose pleco, would make a better algae eater than the snail, and stay a reasonable size of 5" or less.

As for the veggie treats, they won't affect the pH at all.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Are you doing a fishless cycle?

 

[Iiriva]

No matter what pet stores say, people should never mix fish and aquatic frogs or lizards. The frog's waste is poisonous to the fish.

 

[Obxfish]

I am but i am not adding ammonia or any other chemical or altering anything other than stress coat the one time when I filled the tank. But I am testing every couple days and waiting for healthy bacteria to form and making sure it's stable ph and nitrates and o ppm ammonia. Both nitrates and ammonia are 0 ppm as of the 2nd day running without fish.

I didn't realized the frogs would be an issue! I haven't read that anywhere. I will look into that a lot more.

And thank you about the suggestion of the Cherry Shrimp! I was worried that I might slowly "cook" the Ghost shrimp with 78 degree water.

 

[Jenste]

Frogs and Fish do not mix. Any exceptionally small fish or fry will be snacked on, but more importantly will be the frog's requirements. They have very poor vision and hunt along the bottom by scent, not at the surface, bottom, and water column by sight like fish. Which means they often are malnourished in an aquarium because they have different dietary requirements than fish and they often cannot find it after the fish feed from the surface. Never mind that they are often picked and startled by the fish swimming over them.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I am but i am not adding ammonia or any other chemical or altering anything other than stress coat the one time when I filled the tank. But I am testing every couple days and waiting for healthy bacteria to form and making sure it's stable ph and nitrates and o ppm ammonia. Both nitrates and ammonia are 0 ppm as of the 2nd day running without fish.

Unless you are adding a source of "food" for the bacteria, no healthy colony will form. You are just running water through the filter, that's not "cycling" which refers to the Nitrogen cycle. The bacteria are present in very small numbers in your tank, but not in the number necessary to actually deal with the waste of the fish. You need a source of ammonia for the bacteria to "munch" on, and convert it to nitrite, and then another group of bacteria to convert that to nitrate.

Have a read through the Beginner's Resource Center for more information on the Nitrogen Cycle and fishless cycling.

 

[thereverendturtle]

I am but i am not adding ammonia or any other chemical or altering anything other than stress coat the one time when I filled the tank. But I am testing every couple days and waiting for healthy bacteria to form and making sure it's stable ph and nitrates and o ppm ammonia. Both nitrates and ammonia are 0 ppm as of the 2nd day running without fish.

Unless you are adding a source of "food" for the bacteria, no healthy colony will form. You are just running water through the filter, that's not "cycling" which refers to the Nitrogen cycle. The bacteria are present in very small numbers in your tank, but not in the number necessary to actually deal with the waste of the fish. You need a source of ammonia for the bacteria to "munch" on, and convert it to nitrite, and then another group of bacteria to convert that to nitrate.

Have a read through the Beginner's Resource Center for more information on the Nitrogen Cycle and fishless cycling.

As eagle said, you'll need a source of ammonia. If you don't want to dose ammonia, just throw in a piece of raw table shrimp. By the time it decays completely your tank should be fully cycled.

 

[Obxfish]

Thank you all so much. Very helpful!