Newbie Hello

I've replied to your other topic about access issues to the community creator...

So far though (and I'm sure others will be able to offer further advice) I would encourage you to look at the desired temperature ranges of your chose fish. Also take a look on the Seriously Fish to get another source of information on these fish.  The white cloud minnows prefer cooler waters to the others you have selected.

Have you found our your waters hardness yet? This is a good way of determining which species are most likely to thrive in your tank as Andy has advised below. Let us know the results or again compare them to the desired ranges on Seriously Fish yourself to work out if they are suitable for your water without expensive DO water being added for example.

mg / litre as calcium 20. mg / litre as calcium carbonate 50.   ° Clarke 3.5. ° German 2.8.

Today I have ordered the testing kit so can get started with that this week. Thank you. Bx

It's better to have too soft water than too hard i believe.

Except for fish that must have hard water eg the common livebearers, Rift Lake cichlids etc 



Yes Barbara you have soft water, softer than mine.

Those two figures I asked for, fish sites tend to use different names for them. So mg/l calcium carbonate is the same as ppm in fish profiles; german degrees is the same as just plain degrees or dH in fish profiles.
Seriously Fish http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/ is the best place to look up fish. Some of the profiles give hardness as ppm, some as degrees or dH. Your hardness is 50 ppm and 2.8 degrees/dH


If you look up cardinal tetra you'll find they need water hardness 18 to 215 ppm, pH 3.5 to 7.5 and temperature 23 to 29 deg C.
White clouds need hardness 90 to 537 ppm, pH 6.0 to 8.5 and temperature 14 to 22 deg C

The pH can be a bit outside the fish's range as that is not as important as hardness.


So straight away we can see that your water is perfect for cardinals but a bit too soft for white clouds.  And their temperature ranges do not overlap.

Then we need to look at minimum tank size. For cardinals it is 60cm wide x 30 cm front to back; and the same for white clouds. Is your tank that size?

If it is smaller, look at ember tetra. This needs a tank 45 x 30 cm, hardness 18 to 179 ppm, pH 5.0 to 7.0, temp 20 to 28 deg C.



These are just examples to show how to put together a group of compatible fish that are suitable for a particular tank and water parameters. You do have plenty time during cycling to create a wish list 

If you stick with your initial numbers of cardinal tetras and cherry barbs I would recommend a centre piece fish like a pair of blue rams (mikrogeophagus ramirez) as your water is ideal for them.

Good shout - rams are my favourite fish  ...though the 'normal' German blue rams are meant to be the hardiest if that helps. 
I thought about suggesting centrepiece fish earlier, they are definately the way to go. That or gourami... so much character.

@AquariusBarbara Are the round banded barbs you wanted tiger barbs or Puntius Rhomboocellatus?

Thank you everyone you have given me things to think about, I am going to set to and clean the tank, then start setting it up this week. I will set a new topic on my progress so that you can dip in with help if you think/know I need it. Bx

Me too. 

Ok I am now in a position to buy a heater and filter, BUT from information, you have all given I am not sure if I should before I choose my fish as different fish have different needs, i.e. heat and filter flow so do I choose my fish now then order them. bit confused, water testing kit will be here on the 9th sept which gives me time to get the tank clean and set up, I am itching to get started help Please. Bx

I hope you are still there matt I am trying to look on seriously fish but when I try to log in it sends me to a page that I have to type a  reCAPTCHA  below but there is nowhere to type it, this is getting frustrating as I am trying to find the fish that go together but the community creator just tells me just about all fish are no good for my tank the only one I have so far is 4 cherry barb's but can't find anything to put with them 

I have just found how to register but now it won't accept my email address it says it is wrong 

Hi Matt, Thank You,  Think I have it sorted now.  What do you think if for starters If I stock with 4 Cherry barbs, 6 Ember Tetra's and 4 Five band barbs?

I only want to start small while I work on the larger tank as I am having a unit built for it to go on and my hubby is instaling led lighting in the hood instead of the tube lighting it came with. Then I will get the equipment I need for that, I was looking at the filter that came with the Tank (200L)  it today and it is a All ponds solutions internal filter with UV 700lf+  700 liters per hour is this ok for that size tank? 

p.s.  what do you think of maybe a couple of Sparkling Gourami as well?

Slightly worried by the saltwater test kit. I'm not sure if these can be used on freshwater as well as salt as i think the chemicals react differently in freshwater. Sue will know better than me on this one.

Regarding stocking, initially looks fine I'll do a bit more research tonight for you and see if I spot anything you might need to be aware of. I've not much experience with barbs though i must admit.

3.5 times turnover per hour would be considered low to normal in my view.  With it being an external filter there will be plenty of capacity for biological filtration so it should work just fine on your tank.