Suggestions For a 30 Gal?

KaydenN

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The Tank is just under 30 gallons and I have everything for it A light, Heater, Filter, Bubbler i just need to get some sand or gravel and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for fish to put in it? Oh yeah it is my second tank my first one is just a basic guppy tank so Im still a beginner
 
Hi do you know what your ph and water hardness is?
 
Hi do you know what your ph and water hardness is?
I don't know the ph or water hardness because I don't have water in the tank yet lol but would that be something I can easily change to accommodate the fish?
 
Oh yeah I was thinking about getting pea puffers? But I still would like to know other options
 
First I would suggest you find out your water hardness as Wills already mentioned earlier.

This is fairly important as different fish species have differing requirements and the gH (general hardness) is an important factor in determine if they will live happily or not as soft water fish won’t do very well in hard water as this impacts their internal organs and can dramatically shorten their lifespan and the same goes for hard water fish in soft water.

Livebearers such as guppies and mollies are hard water fish.

Tetras and cories tend to be soft water fish just to give a few examples.

Would suggest you go to your local water suppliers website and look up water hardness and water quality and these are usually under different measurement units such as dkH, gH, CaCO3, mg/l etc

If you’re unsure, you can link the website or take screenshots and post them on here and we will help out determine what water hardness you’re likely to have.
 
First I would suggest you find out your water hardness as Wills already mentioned earlier.

This is fairly important as different fish species have differing requirements and the gH (general hardness) is an important factor in determine if they will live happily or not as soft water fish won’t do very well in hard water as this impacts their internal organs and can dramatically shorten their lifespan and the same goes for hard water fish in soft water.

Livebearers such as guppies and mollies are hard water fish.

Tetras and cories tend to be soft water fish just to give a few examples.

Would suggest you go to your local water suppliers website and look up water hardness and water quality and these are usually under different measurement units such as dkH, gH, CaCO3, mg/l etc

If you’re unsure, you can link the website or take screenshots and post them on here and we will help out determine what water hardness you’re likely to have.
Screenshot 2020-10-23 at 3.33.40 PM.png
Ok I think I got it
Sorry about taking so long I was in school
 
Yea totally need water hardness. Also I always recommend sand, I made the switch, and will never look back :).
View attachment 120579Ok I think I got it
Sorry about taking so long
That's gotta be the softest water I have ever seen. My goodness. Guppies need 180+ mg/l, so that's a bit of an issue. You could get a pretty incredible samurai gourami tank going.
 
17mg/l is soft water, so you can now look up soft water species of fish such as tetras, barbs, angelfish and cories, lots of choices.

However, since your water is soft, sorry to say but am afraid this soft water not really suitable for your guppies :/
 
Yea totally need water hardness. Also I always recommend sand, I made the switch, and will never look back :).

That's gotta be the softest water I have ever seen. My goodness. Guppies need 180+ mg/l, so that's a bit of an issue. You could get a pretty incredible samurai gourami tank going.
Ok Thanks i'll definitely get sand and thanks for the recommendation they are very pretty fish. how many should i get for the 30 Gal?
do you know any simple-ish ways to harden the water for the guppys?
 
17mg/l is soft water, so you can now look up soft water species of fish such as tetras, barbs, angelfish and cories, lots of choices.

However, since your water is soft, sorry to say but am afraid this soft water not really suitable for your guppies :/
Is there a simple way to harden the water?
 
Ok Thanks i'll definitely get sand and thanks for the recommendation they are very pretty fish. how many should i get for the 30 Gal?
do you know any simple-ish ways to harden the water for the guppys?
Yea you can get shrimp salts. @seangee has a good company, but I keep forgetting the name lol.
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I'll be honest, these aren't beginner fish, I'm not 100% sure why I mentioned them. You will need live or frozen foods, a lot of dritwood. They also prefer a blackwater set up, meaning you put tea or leaves (the wood will stain it for a while) in the water to stain it.
This website has great information on tank mates and requirements. If you do want to get these guys, it'll be a commitment and a challenge, but super fun and rewarding. In a 30 gallon, I'd say 4, but 6 may work.
That being said, I would look at something like barbs, or dwarf cichlids, or a different gourami like sparkling gourami of which you could get 7 or 8, just because of how hard these fish are to keep.
 
Yea you can get shrimp salts. @seangee has a good company, but I keep forgetting the name lol.
------------
I'll be honest, these aren't beginner fish, I'm not 100% sure why I mentioned them. You will need live or frozen foods, a lot of dritwood. They also prefer a blackwater set up, meaning you put tea or leaves (the wood will stain it for a while) in the water to stain it.
This website has great information on tank mates and requirements. If you do want to get these guys, it'll be a commitment and a challenge, but super fun and rewarding. In a 30 gallon, I'd say 4, but 6 may work.
That being said, I would look at something like barbs, or dwarf cichlids, or a different gourami like sparkling gourami of which you could get 7 or 8, just because of how hard these fish are to keep.
Wow dwarf cichlids are very pretty I think I'm gonna get some of those would a corydoras catfish be viable for the tank/conditions and any plant recommendations for those fish?
 
Wow dwarf cichlids are very pretty I think I'm gonna get some of those would a corydoras catfish be viable for the tank/conditions and any plant recommendations for those fish?
Yea corydoras would work. What species of cichlid did you look at? Some need different water than others. The easier ones are rams, apistogramma and kribensis.
 
Is there a simple way to harden the water?

Short answer is no, there is no real simple way of hardening the water long term.

Short term hardening the water is simple enough by adding baking soda for example but this is only for very short term for fishless cycling a tank for example if the ph is too low.

But long term will require complex chemistry and knowledge of water hardness.

Not for novices intro he hobby imho, in fact won’t recommend this for most keeper to be entirely honest.

Much easier to find fish species to suit your water than it is to alter water to suit your fish species.
 

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