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Byron said:
The GH and KH test results are what I was expecting. As I explained in post #11 the normal breakdown of organics will lower the pH. Leave it alone. It will stabilize and be no problem. Do the regular (once weekly) partial water change of 50-60% volume.

As this is well water, it might have been harder if it flows over mineralized rock, and if it does then you might have a softener. From your previous post that you do not have any "filter" probably not, but you should be certain that there is no water softener anywhere. These can be bad for fish.
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Thank you
 
Thanks to everyone for all the advice. My aquarium is doing very well so far. The water change is due tomorrow. I stocked up with 4 Glo tetras, 2 starfire tiger barbs, 2 Glo sharks, 6 neon tetras to have a good school of those, 2 white candy tip tetras, and one panda cory. I already had 1 pleco, 2 dwarf gourami and 6 neon tetras, one live plant. I would like to in the future add 2-3 snails and a shrimp or something that will help keep the bottom of the tank clean in between gravel cleaning. I think it has turned out wonderful.
 
Veronica Surratt said:
Thanks to everyone for all the advice. My aquarium is doing very well so far. The water change is due tomorrow. I stocked up with 4 Glo tetras, 2 starfire tiger barbs, 2 Glo sharks, 6 neon tetras to have a good school of those, 2 white candy tip tetras, and one panda cory. I already had 1 pleco, 2 dwarf gourami and 6 neon tetras, one live plant. I would like to in the future add 2-3 snails and a shrimp or something that will help keep the bottom of the tank clean in between gravel cleaning. I think it has turned out wonderful.
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You have some issues here to resolve, in the stocking. Most of these fish are shoaling fish, meaning they must have a group so they can interact normally and be in better health. Numbers vary somewhat, and more than "minimum" is always better for the fish, but generally five or six is the minimum for a species. This involves the tetras, barbs, and cories.

Your lone panda cory is going to be highly stressed (you usually cannot see this until it becomes chronic and then it is too late for the poor fish). This species is also even more social than many others, so a group of five or six is absolute minimum, with 7-8 better yet.

Same applies for the candy-tip tetra, it must have six minimum.

The barbs I would remove. Tiger Barbs, in any variety, are known fin nippers and to avoid this must be in a group of 8-10 in their own tank of 30 gallons.

The "glo sharks"... I've no idea what these are, but they are likely problems waiting to happen.
 
Byron said:
You have some issues here to resolve, in the stocking. Most of these fish are shoaling fish, meaning they must have a group so they can interact normally and be in better health. Numbers vary somewhat, and more than "minimum" is always better for the fish, but generally five or six is the minimum for a species. This involves the tetras, barbs, and cories.

Your lone panda cory is going to be highly stressed (you usually cannot see this until it becomes chronic and then it is too late for the poor fish). This species is also even more social than many others, so a group of five or six is absolute minimum, with 7-8 better yet.

Same applies for the candy-tip tetra, it must have six minimum.

The barbs I would remove. Tiger Barbs, in any variety, are known fin nippers and to avoid this must be in a group of 8-10 in their own tank of 30 gallons.

The "glo sharks"... I've no idea what these are, but they are likely problems waiting to happen.
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The glo sharks are not actually sharks, I researched these because it's new, minnow family is what I found, they seem to be a scavenger type, I see them eating algea deposits...
None of the fish seem to be aggressive toward any other species nor any nipping from tiger barbs. The only aggressive behavior I have seen is the glo tetras staying in the Flo from filter. I will see what I can do about the numbers, unfortunately after spending what have already my funds are depleted for a bit.
 
Veronica Surratt said:
The glo sharks are not actually sharks, I researched these because it's new, minnow family is what I found, they seem to be a scavenger type, I see them eating algea deposits...
None of the fish seem to be aggressive toward any other species nor any nipping from tiger barbs. The only aggressive behavior I have seen is the glo tetras staying in the Flo from filter. I will see what I can do about the numbers, unfortunately after spending what have already my funds are depleted for a bit.
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One solution is to see if the store will accept some of the fish back; I am assuming from your earlier post that these are all recent additions. You have issues here, believe me, and your fish are going to pay the cost, they cannot help it, that is how they are programmed. Please give this some careful thought to resolve the numbers problems. Adding more of all of them will possibly overcrowd the space, so that is not the simple answer.

The glo sharks sound like more trouble, you really must try to ID the species. Search online and see if you can find photos that seem the same as your fish. We've no idea what these fish may turn into, or do. As for the aggression, it is early days yet. Fish in a new environment are stressed and rarely show their true colours initially. But they will, it is literally in their DNA.
 
Byron said:
One solution is to see if the store will accept some of the fish back; I am assuming from your earlier post that these are all recent additions. You have issues here, believe me, and your fish are going to pay the cost, they cannot help it, that is how they are programmed. Please give this some careful thought to resolve the numbers problems. Adding more of all of them will possibly overcrowd the space, so that is not the simple answer.

The glo sharks sound like more trouble, you really must try to ID the species. Search online and see if you can find photos that seem the same as your fish. We've no idea what these fish may turn into, or do. As for the aggression, it is early days yet. Fish in a new environment are stressed and rarely show their true colours initially. But they will, it is literally in their DNA.
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I understand that I just can't add more fish, I'm almost at the limit now. I don't think that the store I bought from will take back or exchange any. My daughter is getting ready to set up her own aquarium and we plan on sloving any stocking/numbers then. As of right now they've been together in tank for almost 7 days. They seem to be fine for now. As far as I know so far no mating pairs so I haven't seen any type of aggressive behavior. But I do have a plan in place and will get the info on the Flo sharks and post a link of what I find. I stocked from Petsmart by the way. Most stores don't exchange or take back live fish. I'm not sure on their policy.
 
Obviously its your tank and your choice but they are stressed and it will affect their health.
Until recently I thought I was fine with "incompatible" fish in a tank as everything was good for 18 months. Then one day (after 18 months together) everything wasn't OK anymore, it literally happened overnight.
7 days is much too early to tell as the biggest stress factor right now is still the fact that they have recently been moved.
 
seangee said:
Obviously its your tank and your choice but they are stressed and it will affect their health.
Until recently I thought I was fine with "incompatible" fish in a tank as everything was good for 18 months. Then one day (after 18 months together) everything wasn't OK anymore, it literally happened overnight.
7 days is much too early to tell as the biggest stress factor right now is still the fact that they have recently been moved.
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I will be pulling from my stock one glo-shark, after research it is recommended for only one per tank. Of the 4 glo-tetras there is a long finned one that seems to not be happy with the other glo-tetras that are short finned. My daughter will buy long finned to go with it. She will also purchase for me 2 short finned glo-tetras to increase their number. I will have to figure out what I can do with the tiger barbs. Right now they are not nipping or chasing. But I will figure it out. The glo-tetras are the only ones doing any chasing. And only with each other. Maybe deciding who's the boss. Daughter will also get Panda and she will increase numbers on it. I will increase my numbers on white tip tetras also. I do care about the health of my fish, I tried to only stock with fish that are compatible in a community tank. I was misinformed about a few things such as schooling numbers and semi-aggressiveness. Thank you for your advice. Although I have had a tank before this one, I didn't have a community tank. I just had a pair of Oscars that were pretty easy to care for. I will do more educational research in the future.
 
As the data to which essjay posted links indicates, your tank is not sufficient size for one of these "sharks." If you can get rid of one, get rid of both. I would also get rid of the Tiger Barbs, these are going to cause trouble. The fact that you may not see issues now doesn't mean the fish are "OK," you can be sure they are not and it is just a matter of time. There are many threads on this forum relaying similar issues where it seemed OK, but suddenly one morning, it explodes. We cannot change inherent fish behaviours just because we might prefer this or that.

I know you are new at this, as we all once were, and many of us learned this the hard way. Pet store staff rarely have any idea and should never be trusted unless you verify their advice with those who do know. They are there to sell fish, period. If they die and they sell you more, all the better for them.
 
I do understand why stocking is important for health of fish. I also have plans in place to take care of these issues. I understand that you are all loving fish folks and care about the lives of fish. As I have said before I care about my fish. I plan on going bigger than the 36gl tank that I have now. I have also researched in the past 2 days, staying up late hours to educate myself, so I can be sure to take care of my fish and aquarium, and to resolve these stocking issues. I'm not saying that essjays advice wasn't sound. I have found everyone's advice, opinions, and knowledge helpful. I have followed more threads and videos and read more on fish than I ever knew existed lol. Rest assured everyone that I will care for my fish and take care of all these issues. Byron, I'm sorry this has blown up (so to speak) into a stocking debate. It's just not something I can take care of overnight. I need time to fix them.
 
Veronica Surratt said:
Byron, I'm sorry this has blown up (so to speak) into a stocking debate. It's just not something I can take care of overnight. I need time to fix them.
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Understood. But I was concerned over your previous comments about all being fine, no aggression, etc...I feel it important for you to realize that it is not fine, that's all. There are issues here, and I am glad you now realize they need resolution for the good of the fish. Just don't let it draw out as these fish are going to start reacting to all this and eventually nothing will help them.
 
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