Nano Fish For Hard Water

[daizeUK]

Endlers are the obvious choice for hard water. Are there any others?

I'm actually thinking about a larger shoal of micro fish in a 60-90L tank. Ideally a schooling fish would be great, I know endlers don't school so just wondering if there are any other options for hard water.

 

[the_lock_man]

I can't think of any that are naturally from harder water in the wild, but most of the micro fish will thrive in harder water.
 
Soft water fish generally can thrive in hard water, but not vice versa.

 

[Mamashack]

Can't help with the suggestions I'm afraid - I have the opposite problem Daize - my tap-water is soft. So I figure if I get my fish locally they will have been in similar water hardness.

 

[daizeUK]

Here, my local LFS keeps soft water fish in 50% RO tanks. I'd rather not use RO and I'm uncomfortable about dumping fish that are used to RO into my hard tap water. I guess the easiest thing for me to do is just watch out for fish I like in the non-RO tanks. Just wondered if anyone could recommend good micro fish for hard water and I could order them in if necessary.

 

[the_lock_man]

There's also Gambusia Affinis, also known as the Mosquitofish, which is a teensy livebearer, but again, it's not a shoaling species.
 
I would have thought that if you know the fish has come from a tank with RO soft water in it, a long acclimation process (say 2 hours, 20ml of tank water every 5 mins) would do the trick.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Not "micro fish" as such but a few options that spring to mind are...
X-Ray Tetra (very adaptable, sedate moving)
Lemon Tetra (adaptable but bit more active)
Red Eye Tetra (as above, probably need a longer tank than above two species, 90cm minimum)
Persian Killifish (Aphanius mento, species only tank, females school while males make temporary territories)

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks, I had not thought there were any tetras suitable for hard water!
 
I spotted a few micro-fish on the nano list that seem to love hard basic water (namely the Emerald Green Rasbora and other species from Lake Inle in Burma) but they are not true schooling fish and also seem hard to get hold of with some fussy dietary requirements.
 
A few sources list Norman's Lampeye as a very adaptable fish which could happily thrive in hard water but I'm not sure.  I have seen them in the RO tanks at my LFS so possibly not.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

daize-
 
lemon tetra - http/fish.mongabay.com/species/Hyphessobrycon_pulchripinnis.html
 
However, I have been told that to see them really look stunning they should be kept in tannin stained acid water.
 
But when you say your water is hard, exactly how hard are you talking?

 

[daizeUK]

My water is around 300 mg/L CaCO3 (about 15-18dH).  pH 8.2.
 
Lemon tetras are growing on me!

 

[TallTree01]

Most fish will do just as well in hard warter as in soft as long as acclimation is done well.

 

[TekFish]

It's very hard to suggest fish for a pH which is that high, but as long as you keep it stable most fish should be ok.

Tek oot.

 

[DerpPH]

Shell dweller cichlids or neolamprologus!! a colony of those would look good!!! They are tanganyikan so be prepared for high pH!!

 

[snazy]

Have you thought about the small rainbow species like pseudomogul gertrudae or Pseudomugil ivantsoffi?
I have Pseudomogul furcatus but they grow bigger than the above ones but will still fit a 60-90L. They are all very beautiful fish with blue eyes as well with very playful and interesting behaviour.
They all prefer hard water. I am sure there are other varieties of the small rainbow species but these are the ones I can think off.

 

[daizeUK]

Those rainbows look spectacular.  How often do you give live food to yours?

 

[snazy]

Those rainbows look spectacular.  How often do you give live food to yours?

 
Urghh, never

 I don't have the time and space for live foods. They are fine with quality food. I feed them NLS pellets and New era flakes and whatever other food they steal when feeding the rest. They were babies when I bought them and grew up just fine on that.