I Went To My Lfs...

[goldfish98]

And I'm proud to say I didn't get any new fish yet. I went to get my water tested. They said the water was fine except for a ph of over 10. (!). I was looking at the fish they had. Their platys were staring at me and the swordtails were staring at the platys. I spent some time looking at the Betta fish to. They even sold "baby bettas"! All of their bettas were bored, except for a pretty blue one. He followed my finger around the cup and kept shaking his tail at me. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

pH over 10? 
Did they double check that?

 

[goldfish98]

Well not over 10 but around 8-9ish. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's a big difference.  And did they say if it was 8.4 or something like that?

 

[goldfish98]

Yes, 8.4 sounds right.

But I don't know if I should believe that.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's fairly common.  What size is your tank?

 

[goldfish98]

10 gallons. I recently had all of my fish die within 24 hours.

 

[DreamertK]

There is a 100 times difference between a pH of 8 and 10 of hydrogen ions floating around.
 
You should get the store to write down the numbers for you next time. "Fine" to them might mean a deadly amount of NH3. And you should probably investigate the cause of death..

 

[ag-au]

Yeah that sounds catastrophic for a 24 window of all dead. Silly question, but you use something to get the metals/chlorine out of the water right? I killed my first ever fish that way, I didn't even know about DE chlorinator. Went to bed with a friend on the night stand, woke up alone. Broke my heart.

 

[daizeUK]

Went to bed with a friend on the night stand, woke up alone. Broke my heart.

Had to read that twice - I read 'one night stand'
 
A pH of 8.4 is very high but not unheard of.  I have a pH of 8.2 myself.   A pH of 10 would probably be pretty lethal!

 

[Ch4rlie]

 

Went to bed with a friend on the night stand, woke up alone. Broke my heart.

Had to read that twice - I read 'one night stand'

 
LOL 

 
Yes, a lot of LFS won't give exact readings unless you specifically ask for the exact readings.
 
In fact, I'll recommend you might be better with your own test kit, if you can, a liquid test kit would be best, API Master Kit are popular and are decent value for money.
 
That way you know what your water parameters are on a regular basis, worth knowing.
 
And a ph of 10 is extremely high, would be surprised if that really is the case but having said that, hopefully your ph is at 8.4 or below would be a bit better. 
 
Having a ph of 8.4 is not too bad, there quite a few species of fish that will do fine in that ph, its just really as long as the ph stays steady and that should be fine for the stocking.

 

[goldfish98]

I had my eyes on Neon Tetras and Bettas. Which would be better? My tank still has one otto cat that survived. It figures that the one I really didn't want survived while the ones I loved died.

 

[daizeUK]

10 gallons is a bit too small for neons.  
 
If I were you with a small tank and alkaline water I'd be looking at endlers or guppies as your ideal fish choice.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You could go with a betta sorority in a 10, but they aren't usually recommended for beginners.
 
 
A single male betta could be added to the 10...

 

[ag-au]

yeah I have 1 male betta in a 10g. If you try and put things in with them it's just too small. It seems he has reign over the entire tank as he is always exploring/protecting I'd imagine. I tried 2 crystal shrimp with him, he ate a red rili that was smaller than the crystal red. The crystal red shrimp is out and about now though after about a month of hiding/playing it safe.