Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Fishx4 on April 17, 2014, 09:09:58 AM
-
Hi there,
Was wondering if anyone could advise me on the stocking limits of my tank, I seem to be reading a lot of conflicting information and don't want to risk overstocking.
I have a 64litre running since the end of December, internal filter, planted with an assortment of plants. Currently housing my 6 penguin tetras. Levels are pH 7.4 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 30 temp 24c. Am on a routine of weekly water changes of about 12litres.
My long term plan is to have some neon tetras but I know I need to wait a while for these until things are better established. My question is whether I can add any others or would the penguins and neons have me stocked enough?
Thanks in advance and excuse the poor photography but thought I'd add a picture anyway :)
-
Good looking tank! :)
Have you tried the community creator on this site? I used it when starting my tank last year and it's worked well for me.
How many Neon's you are planning to add? I went with Cardinal's (12 of) instead of Neon's because I'd read quite a bit saying that they were more robust than the Neon's, I think because they are more likely to be wild caught than farmed/bred as is often the case with Neon's. The ones I got were wild caught and have done really well - all very healthy with no losses - and I added them around half-way through my stocking plan.
-
pH 7.4 would seem rather high to suit wild caught Cardinals, particularly as it's likely that hardness will be quite high as well.
-
pH 7.4 would seem rather high to suit wild caught Cardinals, particularly as it's likely that hardness will be quite high as well.
That's a good point - my pH is under 7. It actually comes out of the tap around 7.2 but then tends to reduce, I think this is in part due to a large piece of bogwood I have in the tank.
-
I've got 7 diamond-head neon tetras and they seem to be happy and healthy in a pH of 7.4. I use RO water in with my SE England hard water to keep the GH at 10° and the temp at 22°C. However, the neons are almost certainly tank bred.
-
Thanks for the responses. Would be planning to get 6 neons and yes we very hard water here down south.
-
Unless you plan to soften the water then neons may not be the best choice. Black neons (here (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/black-neon-tetra.html)) are reputedly far better for harder water.
Here's a good article In Praise Of Hard Water (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwhardness.htm)