Hi from Alabama!

[HardWaterFish]

Hi from Alabama! I have never kept fish before, and I've mostly been waiting on my tank to get established right now. I'm seeing some good biofilm growth on some of the hardscape. No fish yet, and my recent discovery of how hard my water is kind of threw me off my original plans on what to stock it with.

 

I've got a 75 gallon with the hardness about 12-13 dGH, and a pH on the higher end. I was originally thinking guppies, neocaridina shrimp, and kuhli loaches. Since it's a 75 I could go with "bigger" fish, but I really wanted to get some good schooling going on with a lot of little ones. From my understanding, the water hardness would prevent the Kuhli Loaches from being too happy, and the shrimp requirement really seems to limit what other fish could go in here. I do think I want some live-bearers though, and they should do okay in the hard water, but I'm open to suggestions. Does anyone have thoughts on stocking this?

[Levi_Aquatics]

Welcome to the forum @HardWaterFish Your aquarium looks great! As for stocking ideas, I immedediately thought of guppies when you mentioned you have hard water. If you are looking for a sligtly larger fish, you could go with mollies or platies.

[Vonnie]

I live in Geneva county and have hard water too.  I have guppies, panda Cory’s and bristle nose plecos that I moved from Florida and they’re doing great!

[nabokovfan87]

Welcome to the forums, the tank looks great! Amano shrimp would do just fine with about anything you wish to add in there.  I don't know if kuhlis would go after them though. 

If you're thinking of something like the dwarf shrimp, neocaridina, then I would opt for starting the colony out and getting a good amount of mature adults and then add in the fish.  Given that it's a newer tank, the wood is great for them.  You might want to wait for the plants and stuff to grow in a little bit, get some algae on it, and then try out the neos if that is something you were considering.

I have a 75G as well and I definitely err on the side of community fish rather than bigger ones.  I did have a few SAEs in there and I do have this one.  She's a RTBS and is about 6" long. 🙂

[smm333]

Welcome! I love little fish. I don't have any tanks larger than a 20 long. Your 75 is going to look amazing full of small colorful fish! I can't wait to see pictures! 

I have soft water but keep a tank with arraganite substrate so I can have endlers (and one remaining platy). The endlers are breeding like crazy so I'm working on a 2nd one for them. Livebearers definitely live up to their name! Whichever you choose, don't buy too many- they'll fill the tank for you quickly! 

[Tommy Vercetti]

Hello Alabama!

I think your stocking choices are really good for hard water. I keep all of those fish in declorinated Las Vegas, Nevada hard as a rock water. 

I keep 2 kuli loaches in hard water without issue, for the past 2 years. 23 dGH and 8dKH. 

Neocardina shrimp are breeding like rabbits in my hard water as well.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Tommy Vercetti

[HardWaterFish]

Thanks everyone for the responses! It's looking like from what people are saying here my original stocking plan is fine? I'm planning to get the shrimp first so they can get established and seem like "part of the tank" as it were. I want to get a good bunch of the Kuhli Loaches so they're comfortable. I was thinking 10 since everything I've seen says the more the merrier, but I don't know what a good number would be. I'd also put some pvc pipe pieces in there for them to hang out in.

On 4/1/2023 at 5:33 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

She's a RTBS and is about 6" long. 🙂

She's beautiful!

[Ninjoma]

On 4/2/2023 at 1:16 PM, HardWaterFish said:

get a good bunch of the Kuhli Loaches so they're comfortable. I was thinking 10 since everything I've seen says the more the merrier,

I think you could do a lot more than 10 in 75g if the only other animals in the tank are neos and guppies. I would get at least 20 personally.