New To The Forum - Bit Of Advice Needed

[kathyn]

Hi - new to this forum - what a wealth of information! Also reasonably new to fish keeping. Bit of background: I have a 38l tank which I set up end of September. I started with 3 guppies and a peppered corydorus, then added another 3 guppies and another peppered corydorus. The 2nd corydorus died within a few days, then about 4 weeks ago the other corydorus suffered swimbladder problems and despite treatment died. I also lost 1 of the guppies - it was much smaller than the others and just disappeared one day and died.

I now have 4 very healthy guppies - largest being around 2inches, however one is very much smaller at around 1 inch and seems a little quieter than the others - I haven't seen recently any signs of bullying but wonder if he is a little "intimated" by the larger fish.

Ammonia & Nitrate levels are 0 but ph is around 8. I feed a complete micro granual for small tropical fish. Tank does not have any live plants.

Couple of questions:

1) I know that 8 is a little high on the ph - should I be doing something about this other than regular water changes and if so what.
2) Would like to add a few more fish if I can but don't want to overstock - is what I have enough or if can add more - any suggestions. Would like another corydorus but having lost 2 not sure this is good idea!

Or any other suggestions/ideas about what I'm doing would be welcome!

Looking forward to learning more.

Kathy

 

[BigC]

pH is a tad on the high side your water must be pretty hard too.
Rather than dosing the tank with additives and buffers I would try peat filtration in the first instance. This will bring your pH down steadily. (You dont want to bring the pH down quickly) Ask your LFS what their water parameters are in their holding tanks.
Guppies appreciate, harder water with a higher pH whereas corys like the water a bit more acidic (lower pH) Try to find a happy medium around neutral pH7 or above 7.2
Regards
BigC

 

[danb_1985]

i have a high ph however the lfs is just arounxd the corner so its about the same.

suggestion-how about 3 panda corries and 5 neons? could be nice and colourful!

 

[rabbut]

You have about 8 gallns there, so 8 inches would be a good maximum of adult length fish. This means that technicaly you are fully stocked as it is. You may gat away with a group of 4 panda corrys, as they stay small and produce little waste. Remember that if you do this, you may need to increase the amount you waterchange.

IMO, the pH is best left alone, unless it needs raising. This is because most things you can do to water to lower the pH will caurse the water to become unstable. A stabe tank can be addapted to easily, by most fish. If values are in constant swing, fish don't tend to do as well.

HTH
Rabbut