Tropical Fish Forum
Think Fish Tropical Fish Forum => Welcome to our Tropical Fishkeeping Forum - Please Read => Topic started by: Heather1979 on May 22, 2014, 09:39:52 PM
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Hi all ,
Apologis to people who have read this on my introduction , I am looking for some help.
I'm really stuck and could do with some help for my new 120l tank.
I would like some larger , interesting unusual fish , I originally wanted Discus but found they would get too big and the same with Angel fish , Malawi cichlids , Parrot Cichlids and Oscars. Can anyone give me some ideas please as I'm stuck???
Fish I don't want are -
Molly's
Platys
Tetras ( unless very unusual)
Rainbow fish
Dwarf gouramis
Betta fish
Barbs
We'll think that's about it , I want plenty of colour but something that will stand out . I would prefer fewer larger fish than lots of little fish .
Any help would be appreciated , I do struggle with hi ammonia levels where I live but I'm dealing with theat at the mo and I'm happy to use RO water
Many thanks for taking time to read this i feel like I'm going round in circles permanently googling different fish and when I speak to the fish shops they just tell me what I want to hear which is not the best
Heather :)
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Hi Heather,
I can't help you I'm afraid as I'm new here, but sure that the others can.
One question, I'm still learning so bear with me, something you said confused me...
You said you have high ammonia levels in your water, do you mean nitrate? Surely you don't have any ammonia in your tap water?
If I've got the wrong end of the stick please could you explain? Many thanks.
Welcome to the forum.
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Yes, the legal limit for ammonia is 0.5ppm (the same in mg/l). If your tap water level is above that, I would query it with the water company. Although some companies do use chloramine to disinfect the water and that will show a positive result for ammonia.
As for fish, You have cut a big hole in the possibilities with your don't want list ;D Just a few suggestions that are a bit different, but you need to bear in mind that most bigger fish will need a bigger tank:
If you have soft water, dwarf cichlids such as apistogrammas or bolivian rams. Bolivian rams and cockatoo apistos can take slightly hard water.
More softish water fish, but they do need a tight fitting lid - hatchetfish (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/silver-hatchetfish.html)
Golden (aka beckfords) pencilfish (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/golden-pencilfish.html) are the hardiest pencilfish and easiest to find in shops. Will live in soft to hard, acid to alkaline water. Grow to almost 2 inches. Shoaling fish. Not the most interesting looking fish but they have a different swimming pattern involving hovering in one place.
Harlequin raboras (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/harlequin-rasbora.html), again a shoaling fish that will cope with a range of pH and hardness
five band barbs (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/fiveband-barb.html) though they do better in soft water. Similar to but much less aggressive than tiger barbs.
And of course corydoras for the bottom of the tank. With just 120 litres, something like panda cories would be ideal.