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The usual "Could X amount of X fit in my 60 gallon"?


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I know this question has been asked 1,000 times so I apologize in advance, I just wanted to hear some opinions from like minded nerms.

 

I have a 60 Gallon Tall (which is a weird tank, but I got a good deal on it) with 1 Angel, 1 White Skirt Tetra, and 1 Glofish Tetra. I have another Angel and Oto-cat in a QT Tank that I plan on adding eventually. My Tetras are pretty territorial and skidish. So I wanted to add more to make them more comfortable. How many more white skirts and glo tetras could I add to make them shoal together while keeping the tank slightly understocked (less frequent water changes)?

 

I'm trying to keep the tank understocked because I have to get my water from the town over. The reason being.. my tap has a pH of 9 and a KH of 10 so its really hard to adjust/ I don't want to chase pH/ my fish are used to the other towns water. I've done a ton of research to find a better way but this is the only way that's affordable at the moment. 

 

Thank you for your time! (Sorry for the bad formatting, I'm on mobile)

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If the whiteskirt and the Glofish are the same sort of tetra, then I'd just add four more for a total of 6. That's usually the minimum advised for a shoal if you want to go VERY LOW stocking. 

If they're different sorts of tetra, then add 5 of each to bring their numbers to 6. 

But you could get away with much more, especially if you have a planted tank. 

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41 minutes ago, BisScottie Non-Ya said:

my tap has a pH of 9 and a KH of 10

My water department makes a pH of 9.3 (not sure of kH) to keep the Langelier Saturation index about 1.0.  Despite this my tanks run about 7.8 pH.  I let the water sit in a bucket for 24+ hours before I use it (unless it's an emergency).  Have you tried that with your water?

Edited by egruttum
Edit: I've never cared enough to run kH.
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15 minutes ago, KBOzzie59 said:

Live plants?  What type of filtration?

Probably 19 more of each tetra.

 

edit:  I have that same 60 gallon!  It's my "wide screen TV" without all the annoying commercials!

Yeah! I have a bunch of plants. Stem plants of all sports, anubias, Java fern, pennywort, and more lol. I'm using a Bio-wheel 350 (the older version of the 375) 

11 minutes ago, H.K.Luterman said:

If the whiteskirt and the Glofish are the same sort of tetra, then I'd just add four more for a total of 6. That's usually the minimum advised for a shoal if you want to go VERY LOW stocking. 

If they're different sorts of tetra, then add 5 of each to bring their numbers to 6. 

But you could get away with much more, especially if you have a planted tank. 

Awesome! Thank you for the advice! I have a bunch of plants xD EDIT: the white skirt and glofish are super similar in shape and size.

10 minutes ago, egruttum said:

My water department makes a pH of 9.3 (not sure of kH) to keep the Langelier Saturation index about 1.0.  Despite this my tanks run about 7.8 pH.  I let the water sit in a bucket for 24+ hours before I use it (unless it's an emergency).  Have you tried that with your water?

Yep! I've tried that. Even added air and heat. 

Edited by BisScottie Non-Ya
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I agree with @H.K.Luterman, a group of six would look really nice and won’t overload your tank. 
I would also add at least one more Oto and a few jumbo Amano shrimp to help with potential algae. 
The planted 60 tall with the Angels and small school of Tetras is going to look great! 

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From my experience with tetras, 6 may not be enough for them to feel comfortable in such a large tank, I think it's not just school size that matters but also density. When I upgraded to my current tank (a bit over 40 US gallons) the five tetras were very skittish and hid at the back of the tank behind plants. I got 10 more, and now they are all very comfortable. I would aim for schools of 10 or more for each tetra type and see if that works.

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