My tank seems to be finally recovering from the cloudiness issue, due to a lot of diligence and steady water changes. I'm still not out of the clear yet, but I haven't gotten any new fish for a while. I have six cory cats and two angelfish. I'm looking for middle to top swimming fish with an even temperament and possibly not to excited as it might stress my more relaxed angelfish. Any suggestions?
New Fish Ideas
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As Nick already asked, what is the size of tank? Include the dimensions as well please.
Also will need some further information before recommending any other fish.
Will need numbers relating to gH and kH, those can be found online on your local water authority website usually under 'water hardness' or similar.
You have cories and angels, both of these are softwater species so worth finding out what the hardness of your water is just to be sure.
Ph value of your tank water, might be good to include tap water pH as well as sometimes the two slightly differs.
Is your tank well planted with live plants, sparsely or even non planted?
A pic of your tank might help as well with suggestions with what might suit your set up.
Also will need some further information before recommending any other fish.
Will need numbers relating to gH and kH, those can be found online on your local water authority website usually under 'water hardness' or similar.
You have cories and angels, both of these are softwater species so worth finding out what the hardness of your water is just to be sure.
Ph value of your tank water, might be good to include tap water pH as well as sometimes the two slightly differs.
Is your tank well planted with live plants, sparsely or even non planted?
A pic of your tank might help as well with suggestions with what might suit your set up.
Forgive me, I'll list the info right now, I also took a test last night with my kit and wrote down the info. I use an API freshwater test kit, if that means anything.
36 Gallon Bowfront, here are the dimensions I got online as I tossed the box when I bought it.
15"L x 30"W x 23.75"H
Water parameters (as of one day ago) of my tank
7.5 Ph
Ammonia was at 0.25ppm but after a gravel vaccuming I did that particular test again and it came up as 0ppm, I've been keeping an eye on it and it has yet to rise again.
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0.25ppm
I checked the local website for the water parameters and their latest published report is from August of 2016. The average hardiness of the water is 225 and the ph is 7.8.
I don't want to add any more fish till my cloudy water issue is fully resolved, its showing improvement but I have a little more time to wait. Also I've had no luck with plants in my main aquarium, it is currently medium planted with imitation plants while I am attempting to cultivate some smaller plants from my uncles tank in a seperate tank with no fish or decorations in it. My angels absolutely love tearing up smaller plants and I am hesitant to get those grown ones in tubes from the petstore in fear of parasites. Is there any other info you need?
Here is a photo I just took, please excuse the quality, I don't have a very good camera on my phone.
Last edited:
julielynn47
Fishaholic
That looks like a bacteria bloom to me. At least that is what my tanks looked like when the beneficial bacteria were trying to make themselves at home in the filter. If that is indeed what it is, then I wouldn't change the water until they were settled in the filter. ( I mean, not unless I had too because of ammonia and nitrite.)
I only change the water for evaporation replacement or to replace what I remove when cleaning the gravel, which I do once a week
Right, first thing, you're not going to like this much tbh....
Your reading of 225, which assuming to be 225 ppm hardness, this is moderately hard water, about 13 deg German.
Without knowing exactly what your specie of cories you have, but generally Cories do best in soft water anywhere between 1 to 15 deg German and pH between 6.0 to 7.6.
Angels prefer slightly softer waters than cories in fact....
Anywhere between 0 to 15 deg German, pH 6.0 to 7.4.
So that means your parameters are pushing this right to the absolute limit really, depends on what specie you have exactly. So its really worth keeping a close eye on your stocking, am thinking they are still young judging by the size of the angels in your picture.
But a nice tank size btw for angels at 23.5 meaning its somewhere between 55 to 60 cm high means at the lower limit of the ideal, so thats a fairly decent start.
Cories will like the size of this tank and dependant on the specie, I'd bump up the numbers of your cories to at least 8, they are shoaling species usually found in their hundreds if not thousands in the wild!
As for suggestions -
Angels are generally peaceful cichlids but they can be quite large fish and also could be agressive, especially when spawning.
I would avoid small fish such as neons as when the angels get full grown they may snack on smaller fish, so thats something you should consider.
And also avoid fish that prefer softer water such as most tetras, also avoid any species may fin nip at the angels, such as guppies and tiger barbs for example.
But you could perhaps consider mollies, platies, certain barbs such as cherry barbs, which all prefer harder water around your water parameters. That will give you a start in your research
Your reading of 225, which assuming to be 225 ppm hardness, this is moderately hard water, about 13 deg German.
Without knowing exactly what your specie of cories you have, but generally Cories do best in soft water anywhere between 1 to 15 deg German and pH between 6.0 to 7.6.
Angels prefer slightly softer waters than cories in fact....
Anywhere between 0 to 15 deg German, pH 6.0 to 7.4.
So that means your parameters are pushing this right to the absolute limit really, depends on what specie you have exactly. So its really worth keeping a close eye on your stocking, am thinking they are still young judging by the size of the angels in your picture.
But a nice tank size btw for angels at 23.5 meaning its somewhere between 55 to 60 cm high means at the lower limit of the ideal, so thats a fairly decent start.
Cories will like the size of this tank and dependant on the specie, I'd bump up the numbers of your cories to at least 8, they are shoaling species usually found in their hundreds if not thousands in the wild!
As for suggestions -
Angels are generally peaceful cichlids but they can be quite large fish and also could be agressive, especially when spawning.
I would avoid small fish such as neons as when the angels get full grown they may snack on smaller fish, so thats something you should consider.
And also avoid fish that prefer softer water such as most tetras, also avoid any species may fin nip at the angels, such as guppies and tiger barbs for example.
But you could perhaps consider mollies, platies, certain barbs such as cherry barbs, which all prefer harder water around your water parameters. That will give you a start in your research
Oh yes, none of my cories are larger than an inch, so they are still a bit young. I only have two angels, one medium and one small. The pet store I go to for fish at least is a locally owned pet store that gets from local breeders. All these fish I've gotten (except my bristlenose before she passed) have been raised and acclimated to the local water. I'm not saying this makes it ok, by far, but all my fish are very active with immense appetites and healthy colors, I can hardly put enough shrimp pellets in before the cories begin darting around for more. I'll look into ways to possibly lower the hardiness of the water, I'm not sure it can be done by other means, if push comes to shove I might have to start looking into distilled water. Angels do get very large and I have little interest in getting more as the two I have seem to have bonded despite their size difference. They often swim, eat, and chill out around the plants when "resting" together. I hardly ever see one on the other side of the tank by itself. I've read that barbs and mollies can be fin nippers, while they are cute fish what would you suggest number wise to keep their aggression down?
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