New 50Gal Stocking

[Valkyrie_Lips]

I would not recommend messing with your current water chemistry. Stock fish that like harder water. Messing with your pH, gH, kH etc is a recipe for disaster unless you have advanced water chem knowledge.

 

[Luna0341]

Which I don't. Lol

 

[Rocky998]

Which I don't. Lol

Yeah not many of us do either

 

[Luna0341]

So I just need to find some good tank mates for rainbowfish. And cross my fingers my Cory stay alive. But it makes ya wonder all the people in north Florida who got aquariums, I'm sure alot of them have Cory. We all got hard water. Is everybody Cory and Tetra in trouble? Back to the subject at hand though...... Rainbowfish will work.....so what schooling fish and bottom feeders can I put with them in a 50 gal long? Can ciclids and rainbowfish good et along or are ciclids too aggressive? Loachs? Rasboras? What likes hard water?

 

[Rocky998]

So I just need to find some good tank mates for rainbowfish. And cross my fingers my Cory stay alive. But it makes ya wonder all the people in north Florida who got aquariums, I'm sure alot of them have Cory. We all got hard water. Is everybody Cory and Tetra in trouble? Back to the subject at hand though...... Rainbowfish will work.....so what schooling fish and bottom feeders can I put with them in a 50 gal long? Can ciclids and rainbowfish good et along or are ciclids too aggressive? Loachs? Rasboras? What likes hard water?

A lot of times they will live but not live their full lives and die early.

 

[Colin_T]

What is the GH, KH and pH of your water?

You can reduce GH and KH easily by adding reverse osmosis, distilled or rain water to tap water. You will have to try different amounts but can work it out pretty easily.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

So I just need to find some good tank mates for rainbowfish. And cross my fingers my Cory stay alive. But it makes ya wonder all the people in north Florida who got aquariums, I'm sure alot of them have Cory. We all got hard water. Is everybody Cory and Tetra in trouble? Back to the subject at hand though...... Rainbowfish will work.....so what schooling fish and bottom feeders can I put with them in a 50 gal long? Can ciclids and rainbowfish good et along or are ciclids too aggressive? Loachs? Rasboras? What likes hard water?

A lot of fish species can "tolerate" water outside of their ideal parameters. Just because they can survive in that water which isn't close to their native habitats doesn't mean that they are living well or thriving. Species kept in conditions outside of their tolerance preference often have shorter life spans and can be vulnerable to disease.

 

[Rocky998]

What is the GH, KH and pH of your water?

You can reduce GH and KH easily by adding reverse osmosis, distilled or rain water to tap water. You will have to try different amounts but can work it out pretty easily.

True but expensive

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

True but expensive

And OP would need to have a gH/kH liquid test kit to accurately test their water and match WC water. And gradually change all parameters including pH. It's just a lot for a beginner to digest I wouldn't recommend it until they have a strong foundation of fish keeping knowledge.

 

[Rocky998]

And OP would need to have a gH/kH liquid test kit to accurately test their water and match WC water. And gradually change all parameters including pH. It's just a lot for a beginner to digest I wouldn't recommend it until they have a strong foundation of fish keeping knowledge.

Yah... It's complicated

 

[Luna0341]

So just looking up fish it looks like any of the livebearers ,mollies, platys,swordtails,Endlers....ect. rainbowfish, x ray Tetra, killifish, paradise fish, and ciclids. There was a species of catfish with long Latin name and I want to say a couple loachs. Out of these fish. What can I put together as far as a community tank? And also I don't want livebearers breeding, can I have an all male or all female set?

 

[Luna0341]

I can test my 10 gal tomorrow and give you the parameters of it, if that helps . Also been reading that soft water fish being bred in captivity locally in hard water over time become adjusted or evolve if you will to be able to live in the hard water just as well. Does this go back to the tolerate vs thrive scenario or are the local bred cold species now hard species? Might be stupid question, just want to get everything right this time around. I did zero research on my 10gal. I want this 50 gal to be awesome and most importantly I want my fish to be happy.

 

[Colin_T]

So just looking up fish it looks like any of the livebearers ,mollies, platys, swordtails, Endlers.... ect. rainbowfish, x ray Tetra, killifish, paradise fish, and cichlids. There was a species of catfish with long Latin name and I want to say a couple loaches. Out of these fish. What can I put together as far as a community tank?

Paradise fish are aggressive and do better in cooler water.

Most loaches come from soft water.

Most Killifish are small and do best in single species tanks. Most are also from soft acid water. There is a killifish from Lake Tanganyika that does well in hard (GH above 350ppm) water with a high pH (8.5).

Some cichlids are peaceful and most aren't. Some come from soft acid water (South American and some African rivers), some come from medium hard water (Central American), and some come from hard water (African Rift Lake cichlids).

We need species names and the GH, KH and pH of your water supply to say what species are suited to the water.

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And also I don't want livebearers breeding, can I have an all male or all female set?

Yes you can have all male or all female livebearers. I actually recommend that because it stops unwanted babies (having all male) and it stops the males harassing the females.

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Also been reading that soft water fish being bred in captivity locally in hard water over time become adjusted or evolve if you will to be able to live in the hard water just as well.

It takes about 10 generations for the body to adapt to new conditions. During that time the organisms can have high mortality rates and produce fewer healthy offspring. Unless the fish have been locally bred for that many (or more) generations, they will still do better in water that resembles their original habitat.

 

[Luna0341]

Cool

 

[Luna0341]

Just using test strips, I don't know how accurate this is but reading the strip I'd say GH is around 200. KH is around 150 and PH is at 7.