Stocking advice

[Irishlad123]

I have 29 gallon long tank. Currently I have 6 corydoras julii 3 platys who are breeding but have seperate tank for fry 5 black neon tetras 3 neon tetras and a gourami. I have live plants in the tank too. Is my tank overstocked and if not what else could i put in. I like the idea of breeding something else
Ph 6.8
Ammonia0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

First question, can you post the dimensions of the tank so we are certain what we are dealing with?

And, the GH (general or total hardness) of your source water (this you may be able to get fro the data on the website of your water authority). Platies are livebearers and require moderately hard water, while the other fish mentioned are all soft water species; there is some variability with these but we need to see the GH.

Before considering new species, it would be best to increase some of the existing species. Shoaling fish need a group, and while six is often considered minimum, having a few more will benefit the fish. Tetras and cories are shoaling fish so it is the neons and black neons that could use a few more. The six cories are fine.

 

[Irishlad123]

I have harder water is what i was told in pet shop but i do have real driftwood inside it i heard that can soften water. The measurements are 80cm long by 30 cm wide by 35 height. I have a jbl cannister filter on upgraded from a internal that came with the tank. I have amazon swords crypts val christmas moss and salvinia minima and i also have 1 mystery

 

[Irishlad123]

And i have been meaning to get some more tetras but the platies had fry for the first time so i got a bit excited with them she had 16 sadly only managed to save 6 i then bouth a little 5 gallon as a grow out

 

[Byron]

I have harder water is what i was told in pet shop but i do have real driftwood inside it i heard that can soften water.

You need to pin down the exact GH. "Harder" water can mean very different things depending upon what each of us means by the term. See if your municipal water authority has a website, as data on the water may be posted. Or call them. You want the GH, the number and their unit of measurement which means mg/l, ppm, degrees, or whatever.

Wood like all organics will work to soften water and lower the pH, but the extent to which this occurs depends upon the initial GH and KH (pH is tied to these). If the GH and KH are significant, they will counter the softening effect.

And i have been meaning to get some more tetras but the platies had fry for the first time so i got a bit excited with them she had 16 sadly only managed to save 6 i then bouth a little 5 gallon as a grow out

Having sufficient numbers of a shoaling species is crucial to their long-term health. But let's sort out the GH/KH and go from there.

As for livebearers, this is the issue if you have male and female...you will continually be having fry to deal with. Some may get eaten, but not all of them, and they can quickly increase past the biological limits of the tank. If you stay with livebearers, it would be best to remove females and keep only males. Once impregnated, and this is likely to have occurred long before you even got them, they can deliver several batches of fry without males being present.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Welcome to TFF.

First question, can you post the dimensions of the tank so we are certain what we are dealing with?

And, the GH (general or total hardness) of your source water (this you may be able to get fro the data on the website of your water authority). Platies are livebearers and require moderately hard water, while the other fish mentioned are all soft water species; there is some variability with these but we need to see the GH.

Before considering new species, it would be best to increase some of the existing species. Shoaling fish need a group, and while six is often considered minimum, having a few more will benefit the fish. Tetras and cories are shoaling fish so it is the neons and black neons that could use a few more. The six cories are fine.

Byron took the words out of my mouth. Before adding other fish, you need to up the number of Tetras you have. If you can get those other water parameters, Byron is great at helping with which fish would be compatible.

 

[Irishlad123]

Ok will i enjoy raising the fry and i think i will keep both as i found some1 who will take them for me

 

[Irishlad123]

Ill try and find gh just the water company is very confusing i live in ireland and it just says they dont soften the water as we have a lot of limestone

 

[Irishlad123]

Found it its 1.0 mg/l

 

[Essjay]

1.0 mg per litre is incredibly soft, yet you say you have a lot of limestone which would make the water very hard

If you tell us the name of the water company we can take a look and see if we can find anything

 

[Irishlad123]

Uisce Ireland

 

[Essjay]

I can't find your hardness on the website.
You can do one of two things - phone them to ask or take a sample of tap water to an LFS and ask them to test it for GH and KH. In both cases, ask for a number (not some vague words) and the unit as there are several they could use.

 

[Irishlad123]

Ok will try and do so

 

[Irishlad123]

Does this tell ye anything

 

[Essjay]

Unfortunately no. That is the water quality report which doesn't include hardness. It does tell you that you don't have any nitrite in your tap water. Does it include ammonia and nitrate in another part of the report? All three of these are useful to know as they will confirm your test kit readings for tap water.