Advice About Water Readings And GH And KH

Just wondering with the killifish how many we could have in our tank and m/f ratio? I'm guessing you shouldn't mix different types of them too? Just asking as my partner has taken a shine to the photos of them and wanted clown and the other one I'd seen in a shop but I told him we'd probably have to pick just one!

You can't use RO without remineralising it, no matter what fish you plan on keeping.

If you have decided you need to use RO water the first thing to be aware of is that it cannot be used "neat". Remember, the water now has no hardness and no alkalinity. It also has none of the essential trace elements needed for fish to be healthy and thrive.

All fish need some degree of hardness in the water, and some degree alkalinity is necessary to prevent pH swings. This means that some minerals and other elements have to be put back into the RO water to make it habitable.

You might find the following article useful if you're planning on using RO.

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_109/ro-freshwater.htm

I use RO and I add plain old tap water in order to remineralise.
I've found using a TDS meter, bought from Amaxon for about £6, invaluable in helping maintain the right hardness, but it took a bit of trial and error to work out the right ratio initially.

Sorry Extreme one what I meant was whether to just use RO and salts or mix RO with my water.

Thanks for all of the info about hardness Sue that makes more sense now  I'll do a 50:50 mix then, that sounds quite easy and will keep my costs down too 

My partner likes the clown killis the most (we did originally want clown fish afterall hehe), so I think I'll have to ring around the shops and see if there's anywhere that stocks them as it was only the Lyretails that I'd seen in the nearest MA.

Right the first MA I called and woohoo! They have 4 in stock and just realised that sure enough there's a picture on their Facebook of one too - apparently they are calling them rocket ranchers or something odd like that but the Latin name is the same! I guess they probably won't let me have 3 as they are selling £10 for a pair and it would leave an odd fish, annoying. But exciting they are in stock at one of the stores, I'm hoping someone doesn't beat me to getting them. I have an opticians appointment so won't be able to get there until the afternoon and of course I need to pick up the RO water first anyway so I guess I won't get the actual fish until later this afternoon.

Thanks Sue - my fish are all set! Unfortunately the shop Worker wasn't able to tell the sex of the fish and I had no signal to check myself whilst there so he's given me 3 fish but I may need to take them back if they're the wrong sex! Frustrating but apparently there's another guy that normally works there who could have helped. They're just settling in ATM so I'll leave it before I put the lights on and try and work out what I actually have! They're lovely looking fish, smaller than I expected especially with only 3 fish they look a bit swamped by the tank bless them!

What I didn't expect was how hard it was to sort the RO water - since I road my scooter there I could only get one tub of 10l which is the amount I needed to sort my tank for now, but the tubs are so heavy and tricky to do the water changes even pouring it from the drum into a bucket I spilt a lot of water everywhere! I guess there's a knack to it but it was just so heavy I'm not sure the best way to sort it for water changes in the future... I'm sure I'll figure something out!

Just wondering but since I've softened my water I thought I might have more luck keeping shrimp and I do love having them - would the killifish be OK with shrimp? I forgot to buy a floating plant as well to provide the killis with some more cover but I might just but online it was a bit of a drive to the shop! However they had the most gorgeous bettas I almost completely changed plan and went for one! There were a few creamy coloured ones that very nearly tempted me!!

Don't worry about the 'missing' fish. Unless it could manage to have jumped out, it will be somewhere. The whole experience is stressful for them, from being in the wholesaler's tanks through to being put into your tank. It can take some fish a couple of weeks to settle in.

I've just looked at MA's website, in the database. In the killifish section they have rocket panchax, Epiplatys annulatus. Is this what you've got?
SF call them clown killifish, and all they say on sexing them is "Males are more colourful, develop more-extended fins and grow larger than females." Not terribly helpful!

If they are still young enough that any males you have are not more colourful than the females, you need to wait till they mature to see if they still play nicely together. Looking at photos of them, males do seem to be more colourful, so you can only wait and see.

Hmm after further observations I think I may have 2 males and 1 female but it's still hard to tell.  One is very brightly coloured and has a colourful tail, but the other possible male is paler and smaller but with a similar tail so he could just be younger and not coloured up yet.  The possible female is the one who keeps disappearing, she's a lot Smaller less colourful and her tail seems less colourful.  I'm a little concerned about her as she seems to be hanging out at the bottom of the tank when I think these fish prefer the top and doesn't look 100%. One of the possible males was hanging above the female shimmying near her - not sure if he was attempting to mate!?

I think the other guy is in today so I'll give them a ring and see what he says! That would make sense if she is hiding from the boys!

I'm sorry to hear that 

If the female does die, I would still try to exchange the possible male for the one left at the shop if it is female - you don't want to buy that one and keep the other two and end up with 2m 1f.