First Tank Decisions

The problem that you have is that guppies and neon tetras are not very compatible. Guppies like hard alkaline water and neons like soft acid water.
Before we make any suggestions for you, can you tell us your pH and hardness? If you have a test kit, that should include pH, and hardness should be somewhere on your water company's website - make a note of the units they use as there are several possible ones!

Fish shop employees are not the ones to ask advice from, unfortunately. But between the members on here we do have a lot of experience  We should be able to come up with suggestions for you.

You've given the volume of the tank, the other measurement that would be helpful is the length. Some tanks are tall, some are long, with the same volume. Tall, short tanks are not as suitable for fast swimming fish as long, shallow tanks, for example.

And the water quality report should show things like your nitrate level as well as hardness - there are some fish that don't do well with high nitrate which is why that figure is good to know.

Morning, I just did the ph test and it shows we have a ph of 7.6, Also i have added a screenshot of our water quality report. I am pretty sure we are in the moderately soft area but i cant guarntee as i am no good with maps. I live near exeter in devon.

Also it does not show on report anything about nitrates in the water, So  did a nitrate test on some water from the tap ( not sure if it helps) that showed no nitrates either.

The tank length is 70cm

Hope this helps and i appreciate all help

Adam

Hi Sue

With the test i followed it to the letter as i wanted make sure it was done correct. Allowing right time and adding the exact amount of drops.

So with the ph and water type we can have both guppies and tetras. I thought you said they were not very compatible. Im going to look at fish that go well with the ph now i know it and the water type. As for location we live in small town called crediton

adam

Hi sorry took so long to reply, been a busy week. We will be visiting the pet store this weekend with sample of our water for them to test and to also look at the fish that's available in there . have also ordered a new filter as the free one decided to pack up but also our water was not having a good smell. decided to go with fluval u3 filter as it seemed to have good reviews

The person  i spoke too didnt try to convince me at all. He said to wait a few weeks and to bring a sample in he will do a fresh test then and see how far along we go. He told me himseld that he prefers fishless cycle as it was more humane. Also told me a bit more about the filter i had purchased

Hi Zombrak,
Welcome to the community! Nice part of the world Crediton. I was living in Topsham last year and had some lovely walks around Crediton. I didn't keep fish at the time, but from SWW website you have moderately soft water. One of the best aquatics shop in the SW is Emperor Tropicals in Plymouth. Could be nice day trip if you fancy it, along with a stroll along the Barbican!

Fishless cycling is the most humane way of preparing aquariums. It can be a little tricky and even when I appeared to have completed my cycling I still threw in some Pure Aquarium balls from Evolution Aqua just in case! I've never had a problem with Ammonia or Nitrite so I must have done something right!

Guppies and Neons are both gorgeous fish and readily available. You might want to check out Cardinal Tetra too, they are similar to Neons but the red and blue lines extend the whole length of their bodies. Be careful when buying Guppies as livebearers breed readily in the home aquarium and a friend of mine bought 4 'males' and quickly ended up with over 30 fish in their relatively small tank as one of the 'males' kept giving birth!

After keeping fish for a little while, I've realized that's there's lots of things I wish I'd done to my tank before adding fish. Next time I set up my tank I will think a lot more about aquascaping. There's so many plant choices out there, and while I like my bogwood, I wish I'd added some large pieces of rock to the tank to give it a bit more character. These decisions can be made while cycling your tank. Check out this months Practical Fishkeeping Magazine. It has a pull out section on plants and aquascapes (plus some free fish food!).

Another thing to consider for the future is what bottom dwellers or clean up crew you would like. Corydoras are popular choices for bottom dwellers, whilst shrimp do a great job cleaning algae from plants. You could also get a small pleco such as a clown pleco or a bristlenose pleco, but I would wait at least 3 months before adding your algae crew so that tank has established and there's plenty for them to eat!

All the best!

Hi Zombrak,
Your pH is unlikely to change much unless you actively seek to change it. Adding bogwood may lower it a little, but probably not enough to make you change your fish choices.

There are so many varieties of tetra that its not possible to say whether they will be good pioneers for the tank! Neons have been weakened by overbreeding and cardinals aren't the most robust from what I've heard. Rummynose Tetra are renowned for not being great in new tanks. I went with X-ray tetra as they are comfortable in a variety of water types due to their natural habitat, which swings from being relatively soft and acidic during the dry season and then harder and alkaline when the floods come. That being said, I've only lost two fish so far and they were both X-ray tetras!

Guppies used to be one of the go to fish for starting an aquarium, but they are now considered weakened too. I went with Platies first as I have hard alkaline water. They are doing pretty well, but they are very boisterous.

If you cycle the tank properly there are plenty of tetra that should be fine as starter fish, but if I were you I'd hold off on the Neons until things have settled down a bit. I think it can only be a good thing that the store wants to check your water before selling you fish. If you are cycling yourself it will be another check that the water is safe.