Fishless Cycling Problem

Just been to fish shop to get my pH checked and they confirmed it is 7.6 which the shop said is high. Now according to seriously fish Harlequins ideal pH is 5.0 to 7.5. Could this be causing my losses at all? Got a list of fish to look at so will be back.

Also looked at think fish profiles as says pH for Harlequins is up to 8 but fishbase says upto 7? Which is more accurate, here, fishbase or seriously fish?

Saw a fish in shop called a gold nugget tetra but can't find any info on it, does anyone know if it has another name?

Of the three, Fishbase is intended for scientists so that is the most accurate. Seriously Fish is updated as new information comes along. Thinkfish database was written before 2006* and has not been updated since then.

However, hardness is more important than pH. As long as the fish is within the recommended GH range, a pH outside the quoted range is acceptable.


*
[A brief bit of history - I registered with Thinkfish in 2006 and all the fish profiles were here then (except pygmy cory which was written last year). Early 2012 the owner was given a week's notice to leave by the host, and the owner had only time to salvage the databases. The forum returned on a new host in autumn 2012, which is why it looks as though the site has only been in existence for 4 and a half years.]

All those fish would be OK water wise, you'd just need to match their temperaments. For example, tank mates for tiger barbs need to be chosen with care as they can be very nippy.



Are the lights T5 or T8? If you don't know, measure across the tube. T8s are 1 inch across ( ⁸/₈) and T5s are ⁵/₈ inch. T8s won't be too bright, T5s could well be.

You can't remove a tube if they work the same as the T8s in my old Rio 125 as the lights wouldn't work unless both tubes were in place and functional (if one broke, neither worked)
The answer is to get floating plants. I have one of the species of water sprite in my tank - Ceratopteris cornuta, the other more common one is Ceratopteris thalicroides - and that's now almost covered the surface of the tank. My hengel's rasboras come out a lot more now that the light has been dimmed almost everywhere by the plants.
Others to look at are -
Amazon frogbit, Limnobium laevigatum
Water lettuce, Pistia stratiotes
Red root floater, Phyllantus fluitans
Any of the Salvinias
And even duckweed.

In my experience, harlequins are quite sedate, slow swimming fish and fast swimmers could intimidate them.
It's just that I've read so many tales of problems with tiger barbs that I wouldn't risk any in my tanks.


With my Rio 125, it was the ballast that meant two tubes had to be used. If one was missing or broken the other didn't work either. You could try removing one and see what happens - but you'd have to do something with the open sockets or water would get in.


You can get plastic duckweed and water lilies on Ebay. If you could attach a sucker to any long stemmed plastic/silk plant and stick it to the tank wall just under the water surface, that should work.

I've had cherry barbs, both red and albino, and they didn't attempt to nip the other fish. But I did have 6 of each colour making a total of 12.


You can often get pinkish fluorescent tubes, if that's what Juwel mean.
When Juwel first introduced T5s they used a slightly different length from other makes to tie the customer in to buying only Juwel tubes. Then Arcadia brought out Juwel-compatible tubes. If you go looking for tubes, I suggest you accurately neasure the tubes you have (to the nearest fraction of a mm), both from flat end cap to flat end cap and pin tip to pin tip and take the same tape measure with you to measure the tubes in the shops. There's nothing worse than getting home and finding the new one won't fit then having to take it back.

Edit: just googled Juwel compatible T5 tubes and it seems that iquatics now make them. Arcadia call their Juwel compatibles J5s.

They should all get on, and with the harlequins you already have. It's when you mix very small fish with much larger ones that you might have trouble as the bigger fish might well try to eat the smaller ones. The classic example of this is angelfish and neon tetras. Neons are the natural food of angels in the wild, but in tanks angels can also try to eat other neon sized fish.

However, a Rio 125 at 82 cm long is pushing it for the bleeding hearts (min tank length 90 cm) and red eye tetra (also 90 cm). The others would be fine. Of the three 'larger' species, cherry barbs only just reach 50 mm which is why they are OK while the other two need a bigger tank.

All lovely fish.
I only have black neon tetras (new, in quarantine tank), and panda corys (in with betta).
I can't give any sensible advice because my response is always "get a bigger tank and have them all". 

Been to LFS this morning and asked about the gold nugget tetras. Guy said his manager has known them by that name for years but he knows them more as platinum tetras. I couldn't take a pic as they had just had a large fish delivery. Of course i was going to buy some fish today but will have to wait till tomorrow.

I did a search for platinum tetra but no info but saw a post on another forum mentioning the two types you mentioned. So think i will look at them and work from there.
Ordered some plastic water lillys today to help dull lighting. 4 of my rasbora don't bother about the bright light but the other one is more active with no lights on.

Some fish prefer dimmer lights - that's the reason for floating plants 

Of my fish, the hengels rasboras - a related species to harlequins - used to stay in the corner when the lights were on, until the floating plants have finally spread till they cover 75% of the surface and now they are out and about with the lights on. None of the other fish were bothered by bright light.