Stocking Query

[Elliott.T123]

Hi all, so I am new to fishkeeping and am due to pick up my new tank next week.

I have done plenty of reading up so will be waiting a month or so before I start to add any fish and then will be doing so slowly but I still cant help but try and plan what I would like to add once I am able to.
I have a 110L tank (30 US Gallons or 24 imperial Gallons).

My plan is to ultimately aim for:

A school of Neon Tetras 6-8?
Guppies 3
Dwarf Gouraim 2-3
Ideally catfish of some type (Corys or one of the dwarf Pleco species) 2

Firstly is this too many species and if not are my numbers anywhere close or am I way out I suspect I am being over optimistic and trying to overstock, its so hard to narrow down but please do give suggestions!

Thanks!

 

[Essjay]

The first thing to do is go to your water company's website and search for hardness. Look for a number and the unit of measurement as their word description can be misleading; you need the unit as there are several they could use. I
The reason we ask for this is that we should aim to keep fish which come from water with similar hardness to our tap water. Looking at your list, neons won't do well in hard water and guppies won't do well in soft water.

If you do have soft water which would suit gouramis, you need to be aware that many dwarf gouramis bred in the far east arrive at the shop infected with an incurable disease. If you can be certain that a wholesaler sources their fish from somewhere else, they should be OK. And get 1 male 2 females as males are territorial and will fight in a tank this size.

I have done plenty of reading up so will be waiting a month or so before I start to add any fish and then will be doing so slowl

Rather than await a month then add fish slowly why not use the time to do a fishless cycle; or if you intend a good number of live plants that month will allow the plants to establish themselves so you can do a plant/silent cycle. Or is that what you meant when you said wait a month?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to the forum.

Good advice above, cycle your tank before getting fish, it will make your life much easier, and the fishkeeping experience a successful one

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Elliott.T123]

Thank you, sorry that was what I meant with the waiting, I was planning to fully cycle the tank over that month rather than just leaving it!

That is very usefully, the local wholesaler I spoke to had recommended having Neons and Guppies together so I will take their advice with a pinch of salt moving forwards.

The water hardness is:

282 mg/l CaCO₃​

19.74 English degrees or degrees clark
2.82 mmol/l
15.79 Grains per US gallon
19.74 Grains per British Gallon

 

[Essjay]

Fish keeping uses 2 units, ppm and dH. Some fish profiles use one, some use the other.
mg/l CaCO3 is the same as ppm so your hardness is 282 ppm. This converts to 15.8 dH. This is very hard water so neons and gouramis would not be happy, I'm afraid. Guppies would love it though.

All the common livebearers would be happy in your water as would fish such as rainbowfish, though many grow to big for your tank.
There are ideas for other suitable fish in this thread

Hardwater tank candidates

There are a few of us on the forum at the moment with very hard water (250ppm or 15 degrees +) and I know a few of us are keeping lists individually so I thought it would be good to set up a 'master thread' that we can all contribute to and hopefully it will be good resource for us to refer to...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Elliott.T123]

Thank you all, extremely helpful!

 

[Elliott.T123]

Having done further research it looks like Ember Tetras are compatible with harder water.

would this be a realistic stocking:

3 guppies
8-10 Ember Tetras
6 Corys
1 Pleco (ensure it’s one of the small species)

On top of that if possible I would love 2-3 fish a little larger ideally around Dwarf Gourami size if anyone has any recommendations for something similar that’s happy with harder water? I was thinking a few of the smaller rainbows might tick this box?

thanks

 

[Byron]

Having done further research it looks like Ember Tetras are compatible with harder water.

would this be a realistic stocking:

3 guppies
8-10 Ember Tetras
6 Corys
1 Pleco (ensure it’s one of the small species)

On top of that if possible I would love 2-3 fish a little larger ideally around Dwarf Gourami size if anyone has any recommendations for something similar that’s happy with harder water?

thanks

I don't know where you read that Ember Tetras (species is Hyphessobrycon amandae) are compatible with hard water, because they are not. They are very soft water fish by nature, and can manage in soft to moderately hard water, but I would not consider them here. The size of the fish impacts this too, as smaller fish have more difficulty with parameters outside their preferred range.

So many (the vast majority) of the small sized fish in our hobby are from very soft to soft waters, and it is not easy to find harder water candidates. However, given the tank volume, and assuming this is a tank of 30 inches/75 cm length, you could consider some of the common tetras. Pristella Tetra, Flame Tetra, Lemon Tetra [this fish can look a bit washed out in water this hard though], Head & Tail Light; there are some others that would be at the very top of their preferred range.

 

[Colin_T]

A group of 8-10 Pseudomugil signifer (rainbowfish) would be fine with guppies in hard water. Most of the other Pseudomugils would be fine too.

The following link has all the known rainbowfish from Australia and New Guinea and might interest you.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

 

[Elliott.T123]

Byron, thank you! It is a bit of a minefield out there, I feel like there are a lot of websites claiming certain fish are fine in hard/soft water when they aren’t just to try and sell more

 

[Byron]

Byron, thank you! It is a bit of a minefield out there, I feel like there are a lot of websites claiming certain fish are fine in hard/soft water when they aren’t just to try and sell more

Colin has offered some other options too.

Knowing the source of the information is critical to whether or not it can be trusted. Seriously Fish is a science-based site that many of us use, and covers most of the fish we keep in aquaria (freshwater).. For cories, there is CorydorasWorld (it needs payment of the subscription so not free). Planet Catfish. Loaches Online is basically reliable for those fishes. There are a few others, these come readily to mind.

 

[itiwhetu]

Stay away from tetras and the like, look at live bearers and rainbows. Don't think about Cory's. You can always consider buffering your water with a peat base or similar and then you will have way more options. I lived in an area that had hard water but managed to keep Discus etc. by buffering with peat. My pH became stable at around 6.6 and the water was very soft. Things to think about.

 

[ClownLurch]

Livebearers, Ricefish, Rainbowfish will give you a lot of options.

Centrepiece fish: Pearl Gouramis look amazing and are good in hard water but I’ve never kept them so ask on here for advice if you like the look of them.
Paradisefish too. Itll be his tank though not yours so you’ll have to be careful who you put in with him. Ditto American Flagfish.

 

[itiwhetu]

I think this water would be to hard for Pearl Gouramis. As for paradise fish, I have only ever kept them successfully with large Goldfish.

 

[ClownLurch]

Seriously fish has Pearl Gourami ranging from 2-30dh! Which is 537ppm. The same with Glass Bloodfins. Always seems a suspiciously very wide range to me tbh.
I know the feller on the corners son has bred them in our local 340ppm water as Ive considered buying from him if I get a bigger tank.