New To The Forum And Ready With Questions

[Ladywindrunner]

Well. First off, I'd like to introduce myself!! My name is Jade, and I've been raising guppies for the past ten, almost eleven, years. I've raised mollies off and on during that time but guppies seem to be the mainstay. I've dealt with many many problems in those ten years... and I'm sure I'm about to open a whole new can of worms as I intend on trading in my guppies on something else, just to spread my...fins? a bit.

This being said!

I currently own a 20 gallon(standard rectangular, not tall) aquarium in which I house roughly 10-15 guppies (most of them juvenile), an unknown genus of dwarf lily, a nymphaea(spelling?) rubra and some java fern. Lately I have been seeing my no3 rather high up on the chart, which doesn't concern me as the no2 and ammonia is staying relatively low and my plants will enjoy the extra food. What does concern me however is a ph reading of 8.1. It has, admittedly, been a while since I tested my water, however the ph has remained, thankfully, stable since this particular aquarium was established about two years ago. I am thinking that the high ph is due to our very hard water as the ph reading is the same straight from the tap. My guppies seem to do just fine and dandy in the water, but they are very used to it. I am concerned about any new inhabitants for the tank and this level of ph as I know many can be very finicky about ph, and the only particular species that seems fond of such a high ph are cichlids, though platties, danios, and rasboras can be relatively tolerant of the high ph range. I was originally going to get angel fish, however have since been told that a 20gal is too small for even one angel (even though my father had several pairs in a 30 gal that did wonderfully...?) That being said, I am a bit at a loss. I do not want to lower my ph in any unnatural way as a swinging ph is more harmful to fish than a steady, high ph. I have heard that peat and driftwood will help lower the ph but will also turn the water colors, not something I'd be particularly interested in. I am not sure if my LFS which is about 15 miles away uses the same water supply or adjusts their tanks to the preferred ph level of the different species of fish they have.

Do you have any suggestions for some preferably colorful community fish I can keep in my tank with those ph parameters? Multiple species of co-existent fish would be preferred, I would like some variety for a change!!!

Thank you very much!
~Jade

 

[indigoj]

I'd be more concerned that you have ammonia 'staying relatively low' - you shouildn't have any and need to sort out your water quality before considering adding fish.

 

[minxfishy]

Hello and welcome to TFF

What are you exact readings for ammonia and nitrIte? As mentioned, they should be 0 in a fully cycled tank. How often and how much water do you change? Do you gravel vac at each change?

To be honest, a 20g is a little limited, are you wanting to keep the guppies in the tank as well?

 

[Ladywindrunner]

Hello and welcome to TFF

What are you exact readings for ammonia and nitrIte? As mentioned, they should be 0 in a fully cycled tank. How often and how much water do you change? Do you gravel vac at each change?

To be honest, a 20g is a little limited, are you wanting to keep the guppies in the tank as well?

Thank you!!

My exact readings for ammonia and nitrIte are 0 ppm. I do a 10 to 20% water change twice a week, with a gravel vac once a week, with one section done per week as to not disturb the ecology too much as if I were to vac the entire gravel floor, it could compromise any and all good bacteria in the gravel (or so has been my experience)

I'm not particularly wanting to keep guppies in the tank, no, as I'm a bit gupped-out. I love the little buggers but they overpopulate too quickly. I would have a larger set-up if I could, but with my finances a 20gal is the most I can currently afford to properly maintain.

 

[minxfishy]

Well your water stats are absolutely fine then As is your water change regime

Do you like the look of cichlids at all? Obviously dwarf cichlids as your tank couldnt hold anything larger.

Have a look (google or this sites species index) Apistogrammas, german blue rams, bolivian rams and keyholes: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=42 - see if you like the look of those, they are ok for either a single species or pair in your size tank, with a few dithers, like neons, cardinals, rasboras for example.

Or something like sparking gouramis, stay small and like groups.

Other livebearers, like platies are ok too, or my favourites Endlers (like guppies)

There are also things like Pseudomugil species of rainbowfish or the more commonly available dwarf neon rainbowfish.

Another alternative for a tank that size is dwarf puffer fish, in a heavily planted tank, they make great fish to keep.

 

[Ladywindrunner]

Well your water stats are absolutely fine then As is your water change regime

Do you like the look of cichlids at all? Obviously dwarf cichlids as your tank couldnt hold anything larger.

Have a look (google or this sites species index) Apistogrammas, german blue rams, bolivian rams and keyholes: <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=42" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=42</a> - see if you like the look of those, they are ok for either a single species or pair in your size tank, with a few dithers, like neons, cardinals, rasboras for example.

Or something like sparking gouramis, stay small and like groups.

Other livebearers, like platies are ok too, or my favourites Endlers (like guppies)

There are also things like Pseudomugil species of rainbowfish or the more commonly available dwarf neon rainbowfish.

Another alternative for a tank that size is dwarf puffer fish, in a heavily planted tank, they make great fish to keep.

I do like the dwarf puffer, they're cute!!! But my tank isn't heavily planted... yet! What kind of plants would you recommend that would perhaps grow quickly and add plenty of hiding places for, say, fry or eggs? Right now the plants I listed are all I have though I will be adding in a red tiger louts as soon as the bulb arrives. I love the plants that add red and browns to my tank, as the dwarf lily I have is this wonderful mauve color, and the rubra is just absolutely gorgeous with its deep red leaves. I like the tall green plants such as Java ferns in the background as they add a nice backdrop for the reds, and especially for the more colorful fish! My bulb right now is a 20,000k rating bulb but will be replaced in the first week of july with an 8,500, assuming they have them in, as the 20,000k rating bulbs are more for marine aquariums. But, lighting for growth of my lovely lovely plants won't be a problem and I'm open to suggestion!! I like plants such as lilies and anubias, but ferns and stuff are pretty too... I was thinking of maybe some moss too? What do you suggest?

I didn't quite care for the cichlids except for the cockatoo dwarf, and it seems they get aggressive towards other fish. The German Blue has a very cool neon effect to them, though!!
Ohhh I really like cardinals, I took a look at a few genus of them, they're beautiful! So are rasboras, and of course neons are always showy, haha. I like danios as well. I was wondering if cardinals, rasboras, and danios would get along? though I doubt I would keep all three species as they are all shoaling fish, it would get a bit hard on the bioload of my tank... although I had at one point 75 guppies in my tank from their breeding and no place to take them in to, I wound up doing 25% changes twice a week, they did fine =) But I know they were crowded =( I wouldn't mind keeping livebearers in my tank in addition to say, cardinals or rasboras (Although the danios wormed their way into my heart pretty quickly too!!!) but I was wondering what livebearers will still breed regularly and yet will not overpopulate my tank like guppies. You see, the store I am taking my guppies to will accept them in return for in-store credit, which is the ONLY way I have been funding my aquarium without borrowing a bit of money from my parents, so having some livebearers that could replenish the tank (And my wallet once they are large enough, to keep the tank from getting overcrowded) would be ideal. I have raised mollies without too much luck, as they wound up getting extremely aggressive towards each other, and so was thinking keeping platties may work? I think I'll do some reading on them =). How often to platties reproduce?

I do have another question though - my mom and I were talking about my dad having had a good number of angels and other fish in a 30 gallon aquarium, and she said the way he kept their growth from stunting was doing frequent water changes. However, angels tend to be aggressive towards other fish except, say, a pleco, so I'm not sure if I'd want to get them anyway. I'm really looking to add some SERIOUS flare to my aquarium without crowding the fish or killing my back with extra water changes!

My dad on the other hand doesn't want me to get rid of my guppies hahaha. But unfortunately, all of the guppies in my tank are now related and thus imbreeding is occurring - which mind you creates some GREAT strains of color, but significantly shortens their life span and increases deformities and immune system deficiencies. Every batch of fry I have to cull about 5 surviving adolescents from due to spinal deformity. I think it is time to give them some fresh blood in their breeding pool and spread my fins with something new.

SO. My final question! Given the fishes I like (especially the red and black varieties of the different genus, zebra ones too hehe) what makeup would you suggest? (I.e. what species and how many?) I won't be adding them all in at ONCE because, granted, my tank is used to a 15-ish guppy bioload, I don't want to shock the ecosystem with new, different fish that put out different levels of chemicals than the ones before.

Annnd after all of that, thanks for reading and for your advice!!! It's really exciting going off into 'unknown territory' after ten years!!!