I Know Everyone Gets Tired Of Overstocking Questions But. . .

[Rynofasho]

I'm thinking that when all is said and done, Ill end up with the following:

5 Zebra Danios (already have them)
6 Peppered Corys (already have them - babies!)
8 Lambchop Rasbora (already have 6 of them)
5 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish
1 LF BN Plec

Doing that math, that works out to about 50" of fish in a 36 gallon bowfront tank. The tank is not very planted now, but I plan on moderately planting with some low light / low maintenance plants once I get my light in. I also have one air stone feature to keep it well oxygenated.

I perform weekly 25% water changes and I try to shy away from changing more than that at one time as it introduces a pretty good pH swing in the tank due to terrible tap water (found 2009 water report and pH average range is 9.2 - 10 !!).

Most of these fish don't produce a ton of waste (Im guessing the plec would be the messiest) so I thought it would be alright, however I'm still very new at all this and I don't want to overdo it. PS

 

[symon_say]

Check aq advisor.com is nice place to verify stocking.

 

[Curiosity101]

That level of fish should be absolutely fine I'd have thought.

 

[Whitey_144]

i read on here before that if your PH is high in tap water, leaving it to stand for day will lower the PH, i think because the CO2 gases slowly seep out. worth checking though, if you coud hide abucket of water and avoid the PH swing a bit

 

[Curiosity101]

CO2 in water is acidic. When it gasses out the pH actually goes up.

 

[Whitey_144]

CO2 in water is acidic. When it gasses out the pH actually goes up.

my bad! in that case, ignore what i said before!

 

[Rynofasho]

Either way I've tried leaving a bucket for 24 hours and it had 0 affect on my pH. I think I'm just going to add more driftwood and rescape considerably.

The Aq Advisor site says I am pushing it with my filtration at those stocking levels, however. . .

 

[Curiosity101]

Ignore AQ advisor. It's actually not a very good estimate. There are far too many variables, not only is it a nightmare to try to put all of those things into a database (which they've tried to do), but you also have to have spent a long time on forums like these looking at the actual results of stocking etc... I honestly don't think they have.

It's not a bad starting point for someone new to fishkeeping who wants and idea on stocking before posting it here for our opinions and the such. But as for actually refining and making final decisions... it's not much cop.

Have you considered an RO Unit. It's not a bad idea if your tap water is so variable, especially if you live in the same house all the time. (I'd have bought one now but I live in a student house for 9 months a year then go home... plus I'm only here for the rest of this year and then 9 months next year).

RO Units aren't as daunting as they seem either. You can get tap adapters if you don't have any outdoor screw fit hoses n the such. Plus they're not too expensive. Cheaper over time than trapsing to the fish shop and back to buy it.

 

[Skins]

Wow thats some pH level you get from your tap water. Out of interest is your tank waters pH much lower?

Keith.

 

[Rynofasho]

Haven't really considered RO yet, no. I've looked into it, but I just can't justify the added cost / work yet. Although my tap water is bad, it ends up around 8.0ish in the tank. It is actually tough to tell -- I use the high range pH test and it always looks like this. . .

Considering I did a fish in cycle and I've yet to lose a fish to water conditions (had one that got beat up on real bad overnight and couldnt pull through), I'm not terribly concerned about the pH remaining at its current level, I just don't like to upset it with really large water changes. 10 gallon changes seem to be the sweet spot, so I'll just stick to that.

PS How are your Bolivians getting along? I have called every LFS around here trying to find some with no luck. One place had one, but I'd like to try to get 5 or 6 and end up with one pair and give the others back to the LFS. If I could find the Rams, I wouldn't get the Dwarf Neons. . .

Wow thats some pH level you get from your tap water. Out of interest is your tank waters pH much lower?

Keith.

Just posted the pic above. I'm not sure if the readings that I found are readings right out of the local river or after treatment. I would have to assume after treatment though.

Here is a link to the basic report -Water report- shows average range is 9.8 - 10.0.

 

[Curiosity101]

My rams? They get on really really well in the 150l tank as a group. I think I have 2 females and 2 males (based on behaviour and breeding tubes). I have just moved one of the females (who is looking rather large... presumably eggy) into the 60l with one of the males (She hadn't picked one exclusively so I just opted for the largest/most impressive).

I've moved the curviceps back to the 150l cause they just weren't getting along in the 60l (male was constantly following the female... no agression, literally just following ALL the time and she was constantly trying to get away from him).
Now they're back in the 150l they've both been displaying to eachother and he's following her yet she doesn't seem to mind anywhere near as much... despite there being massively less cover I just don't understand fish sometimes...

Anyhoo, hopefully the two I've moved might breed once they've settled properly.

 

[waterdrop]

Confusing to try and follow this as Rynofasho has perfect water for mollies and livebearers and such but is discussing fish like rams and neons that love soft acid water, but I assume this is a continuation of a discussion you two have been having before? Or maybe the feeling is that the water ending up down near 8 and perhaps adding wood and such would make the range ok if not great.

I agree with C101 that if the water gets bad enough it does temp one to possibly someday take on the extra work. There are a fair number of planted people out there who rig up a sink with all the RO and pipes and just pull their water back to RO and then dose their minerals to bring it up to a perfect amount that they want. The problem of course is that it never lets up over the years, you have to just keep doing it and doing it and I'm sure people get tired of it even though they get better at it.

WD

 

[Rynofasho]

Confusing to try and follow this as Rynofasho has perfect water for mollies and livebearers and such but is discussing fish like rams and neons that love soft acid water, but I assume this is a continuation of a discussion you two have been having before? Or maybe the feeling is that the water ending up down near 8 and perhaps adding wood and such would make the range ok if not great.

I agree with C101 that if the water gets bad enough it does temp one to possibly someday take on the extra work. There are a fair number of planted people out there who rig up a sink with all the RO and pipes and just pull their water back to RO and then dose their minerals to bring it up to a perfect amount that they want. The problem of course is that it never lets up over the years, you have to just keep doing it and doing it and I'm sure people get tired of it even though they get better at it.

WD

I am just not really a fan of livebearers.

The Rams in question are Bolivian Rams -- of all the dwarf cichlids, they are the hardiest and most tolerant of high pH per the research I have done. As far as the neons, I was referring to Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish (Im assuming you were thinking Tetras) which are also more accepting of alkaline water.

This is my first tank and I'm still very inexperienced, however I do a good deal of research before I make decisions and from what I have found, either species would do fine in my current water parameters. In addition, I'm also adding 3-4 more pieces of driftwood + plants to the tank, so I'd imagine my pH will hover right around 8.0 afterwards.

 

[waterdrop]

ok, sorry, I didn't have all the info right - makes more sense now - WD