What fish can I have?

[fishdogs]

I currently have a 20H tank with 3 mollies in it. The mollies are thriving in this tank but I've had issues with most other fish. I've had a school of neon tetras (that died from NTD, and now I hate neons). I just bought a school of pygmy Cories about two weeks ago but they introduced ich to the tank and died (possibly from the treatment? I've heard mixed reviews if they are sensitive to Ich X or not). I think I'd like more of a bottom dwelling fish. I do like Cories but am unsure if I will try Pygmy's again or maybe False Julii Cories?

Any opinions or new fish ideas?

[Colu]

What are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature and what  filtration are you using do you have live plants or fake plants that will help when considering stocking options 

Edited March 18 by Colu

[Tony s]

The other question is whether or not your tank is fully cycled and how long has it been running. And for me, what bacteria did you use to cycle it. 

[fishdogs]

I have some floating frog bit and I just added a single Anubis nana a couple of days ago. So mostly plastic plants but hoping to get to a planted tank within the next year or so.

GH: 0 (sometimes it goes up to 100) 

NO3: 0-10

NO2: 0

Cl2: 0

KH: 0 (Its always been at this)

pH: 6.4-6.8 (Usually on the lower end)

Temperature: 78 Degrees F

The tank has been up and running for about a year. I don't remember exactly what bacteria I used to cycle it but I believe it was "TopFin Readistart Nitrifying Bacteria Starter"

Edited March 18 by fishdogs
forgot something

[Whitecloud09]

@fishdogs, one more Q, what is temp? There is cold water and tropical fish out there and making sure the temp before suggesting fish.

[Tony s]

Your tank gh and kh sound really unstable. If you test your tap water from the sink. What does it read. 
 

the next question. What fish do you really want. The answer to that is how you set up your tank. Substrate. Filter. Plants. Actually that’s the question everyone should ask first. Cause that even determines tank size. 

[Colu]

 as this tanks had neon tetra disease I wouldn't add barbs angelfish danio rasbora guppies goldfish or  tetra such as cardinals they can get neon tetra disease that limits your stock  opinion unless you broke the tank down and sterilised everything  KH to low for mollies i would add some crushed coral you need add 1 pound of crushed coral per 10 gallons to raise your as low KH can cause a lot of health issues in liverbears assuming your mollies are all male or female and won't breed you could add a small group of Cory's most species of Cory's like cooler temperatures of  74°F you could lower your temperature to 74°F and get a group of bronze Cory's your Mollie would do fine at that temperature 

[fishdogs]

I get water from a RO water facility (unfortunately I cannot test that because I'm out of water right now). 

I did hear that a little baking soda can raise KH so maybe I could try that. 

I have been looking at possibly getting some Cories of sorts but they are almost all 2+ inches (besides pygmies) and I'm concerned I won't have enough room for a school. 

[Whitecloud09]

On 3/18/2024 at 7:45 PM, Tony s said:

Your tank gh and kh sound really unstable. If you test your tap water from the sink. What does it read. 
 

the next question. What fish do you really want. The answer to that is how you set up your tank. Substrate. Filter. Plants. Actually that’s the question everyone should ask first. Cause that even determines tank size. 

Oh yeah, how can I even forget that, if gh goes from 0 to 100, then something is probably wrong. 

[Colu]

On 3/18/2024 at 11:51 PM, fishdogs said:

I get water from a RO water facility (unfortunately I cannot test that because I'm out of water right now). 

I did hear that a little baking soda can raise KH so maybe I could try that. 

I have been looking at possibly getting some Cories of sorts but they are almost all 2+ inches (besides pygmies) and I'm concerned I won't have enough room for a school. 

If your using pure RO water your would want to remineralize your RO water with seachems equilibrium or similar product 

[Tony s]

On 3/18/2024 at 7:51 PM, fishdogs said:

I have been looking at possibly getting some Cories of sorts but they are almost all 2+ inches

There are corys that will work. But stabilizing your water is key. Before we add fish. this is vital. Or anything we suggest is more than likely going to fail. 
 

use of Ro is fine. But you need a stabilizer with it. Your gh should be anywhere from 120 to 300 for most fish. The key being that you can be consistent with it. And a kh of 40 at least would be good. It helps to stabilize your ph. 
 

out of curiosity. What are you concerned about that you won’t use the water from your kitchen sink 
 

 

[fishdogs]

In terms of stabilizing water.... I have heard mixed reviews on the use of WonderShells, SeaChem Equilibrium, coral, etc. Is there something that works better? 

I suppose I don't use the tap water because it is essentially treated well water with a bunch of iron in it and I don't want to use it. 

RO is the next best option instead of constantly buying water from the store.

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:18 PM, fishdogs said:

In terms of stabilizing water.... I have heard mixed reviews on the use of WonderShells, SeaChem Equilibrium, coral, etc. Is there something that works better?

I use a tap:RO blend and remineralize with Equilibrium. It's designed for planted tanks; it's got calcium and magnesium, the two elements that make up "general hardness," but it's got some other things, too, added for the benefit of plants. But it's a good, stable, repeatable product.

Crushed coral will raise your KH in a slow, gentle sort of way. Baking soda will raise your KH, but it's very fast and strong, so be very careful with it if you're going to use it. I'd advise crushed coral over baking soda, for what it's worth.

[Tony s]

Okay. I understand completely. My normal gh is 300. My kh is close to 200. And I have the high iron as well as iron bacteria in my well.  And I use ro as well 
 

Ro is fine. But you’re going to need to remineralize it to have success. And you’re going to have to be consistent.  
 

we just have to find a way to help you do that now. 
 

there are several ways to do this. Crushed coral works. Seachem equilibrium with acid and alkaline buffer works. Aragonite. Oyster shell. Wonder shell works. It’s just a matter of what you want to use. Or you could even do a mixture of your tap and Ro 

[Rube_Goldfish]

Here's a good primer (apologies if you know all this already): https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

[fishdogs]

Well thank you to everyone that has responded to me. This forum is much more efficient than reddit 😂. I think I’ll try looking for some crushed coral and/or some equilibrium next time I’m at my LFS. I can update you with the results.

[Tony s]

I use a 30 gallon brute trash can on a dolly to mix my water in. For all of my tanks. I mix it and fill the tank with a small sump pump. The recipe I use is 1 tablespoon of equilibrium with 1 teaspoons of alkalinity buffer and 1/2 teaspoons of acid buffer. That gives me a gh of around 8 and a kh of around 6. For everything. Every time. 

[Tony s]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:41 PM, fishdogs said:

This forum is much more efficient than reddit 😂.

Sorry if we come on a little strong 😂. We get excited sometimes. Especially if we think it’s a newbie that really needs help   We’re really good at helping

If we can get you to stable water. Panda corys would be great. They’re so cute and goofy. Probably 10 would be great in your 20. Then a small topside school would be good. 

[fishdogs]

I like all of the input! I am fairly new to the aquarium hobby (~a year of trial and error and lots of money spent). These were things I never really considered before! 😊

Panda cories look cool! 

[Schuyler]

 

On 3/18/2024 at 4:49 PM, Colu said:

as this tanks had neon tetra disease I wouldn't add barbs angelfish danio rasbora guppies goldfish or  tetra such as cardinals they can get neon tetra disease that limits your stock  opinion

That does really reduce the list

Do you have a lid?

Soft, slightly acidic water with lots of plants sounds perfect for killifish. Aphyosemion Australe may be a good bet. If you could lower the temp a bit you could do Aphyosemion Striatum.

But you would need a lid

[Tony s]

On 3/18/2024 at 6:03 PM, fishdogs said:

I've had a school of neon tetras (that died from NTD, and now I hate neons)

You know, I’m doubting if you actually did have ntd. Or if your school just faded out. Did you have it diagnosed by anyone? Ntd does exist and it’s definitely out there, but it’s really not all that common. But neons have become relatively fragile. Especially if you get them from Petsmart or Petco. I can’t keep them alive. I’ve tried twice, and have only 4 out of 20 still alive. They usually die in the first 2 months and are fine for long time if they make it. I’m not saying you don’t have it, and colu’s list of what not to keep in this tank is correct. If you had it. I just think with your unstable water they were going to have a hard time anyway. So chances are actually low that you had it. So you’re probably fine.  But staying with just your mollies is good. Lots of babies makes a tank really interesting. But you’ll want your gh to stabilize around 12 for them. Livebearers like hard water, and the corys will be fine in it. Green neons are much hardier if you want to try them. But a livebearer tank will be interesting enough I think.  I have a platy only tank. Anything from babies to 2 yr old adults. (It was started 2 yrs ago). One of my favorite tanks 

[NOLANANO]

On 3/18/2024 at 5:52 PM, fishdogs said:

mostly plastic plants but hoping to get to a planted tank within the next year or so.

Smart to go slow. Plants get expensive. Unless you plan to get really into the nitty gritty  (lighting, fertilizing, etc) I would stick with easier plant.  I tried a few "harder" plants with no luck because I didn't put in the work to make them thrive.  I came to the realization that the vast majority (99.9%) of people that look at my tank don't know an anubias from a pink flamingo (one of the plants I tried and killed) anyway so who was I really trying to impress?  Now if you do want to get into plants there check out this guy's journal: Miller's Journal - Photos, Videos & Journals - C.A.R.E. (aquariumcoop.com)

 

[fishdogs]

On 3/19/2024 at 6:23 AM, Tony s said:

You know, I’m doubting if you actually did have ntd. Or if your school just faded out.

 

If you're curious about my history with neons:

I had two separate rounds of neons. First time I bought about 10 of them from a Petco about an hour away and they all died (so I figured the long drive was too much for them). I went to my local Petsmart and bought six of them again, and this batch seemed to hold on for a couple of months and then I replaced my filter. They began to look sick and one of them became pale and its tail was broken (not sure how). I noticed the other neons were becoming pale and developing a fuzzy appearance. After doing some research I learned that neons are very sensitive to filter changes and they can develop NTD. 

In the end, I will still hate neons......

As far as mollies and such. I did have a few fry at different points in time but they never were alive for long. So I'm after some Cories (likely pygmy or false Julii).

On 3/19/2024 at 8:55 AM, NOLANANO said:

Smart to go slow. Plants get expensive. Unless you plan to get really into the nitty gritty  (lighting, fertilizing, etc) I would stick with easier plant.  I tried a few "harder" plants with no luck because I didn't put in the work to make them thrive.  I came to the realization that the vast majority (99.9%) of people that look at my tank don't know an anubias from a pink flamingo (one of the plants I tried and killed) anyway so who was I really trying to impress?  Now if you do want to get into plants there check out this guy's journal: Miller's Journal - Photos, Videos & Journals - C.A.R.E. (aquariumcoop.com)

 

Yes, I am a semi-broke college kid yet. I found the floating plants are extremely easy to take care of. I am taking an interest in the plants like Anubias and java fern that don't/can't be put in the substrate so I can save myself some money from buying root tabs, etc. I just bought this Anubis nana from PetSmart for $8 so its not a big loss if something happens to it.

[Tony s]

On 3/19/2024 at 9:59 AM, fishdogs said:

In the end, I will still hate neons......

Yeah. I’m not advocating for neons. Just the opposite. My concern is the ntd. That’s an awfully long list that colu gave you not to do if you really did have it. I myself won’t try them again. Which is a shame. So beautiful. So fragile. 
 

the thing with the fry. They need really stable water and places to hide. Something floating like guppy grass or hornwort which is what I use. Lots of tiny spots for them to hide.