New aquarium - Softwater

Well lads.

I've just bought myself a starting tank, 60 litres.

Looking to stock it with a few softwater fish but i have a few questions first.

Fish:

1: I have decided on a mix of Cory's for the bottom, Platy's for the middle, and tetras for the mid/top.
The aquarium i hope will be planted up fairly well. As far as i can tell, these three species are fairly good together, but do you guys have any comments on these as a whole?
If you have other, easy to source, hardy, similar fish that might work better, please suggest! I'm all ears at this stage!

2: Given that the above might work well together, how many do you suggest i get of each, for my new 60 litre tank? I know the platy's and Tetras like to shoal, but i'm wary of overstocking?

3: How do i best feed these, making sure that at least some of the food makes its way down to the catfish?



Water:

1: We had a professional test done by Born na Mona on our private well, and the results are astonishing. Hardness goes off the freaking scale at 350ppm with a pH of 7.5 ...... I realise the fish above are all soft + acid loving fish, so how in gods name do i achieve a drop to what they will tolerate? (please note I'd like to keep it natural where possible, and not use chemical softeners)



I went for a small tank to begin with to try my hand at everything first. If i enjoy it, i'll upgrade in the future as the fish get bigger.

Conservative fish choice i think, again for newbie first try purposes first!


Cheers lads for any and all advice.

CC.

Hi and congrats on the tank!

The fish sounds like a good combo, I would however not mix different Cory's as they might breed and you will end up with unwanted hybrids.
Also have in mind that the Platy's could multiply very fast so make sure you can get rid of unvanted fry.

I think it would be fine with 6-7 Cory's(or you could go with a dwarf species which requires less room), 10 tetras and maybe five Platy's, just don't add all at once.

When feeding bottom feeders I find it best to start by feeding the top dwellers and while they are busy throw in sinking catfiosh food like pellets or frozen food but make sure to watch them to confirm that all are getting fed.

Regarding the water: I think it would be allot of work to lower the hardness that much. I know there are allot of people on the forum that know these things better than me and I'm sure you'll get a good reply on how to do this.

If I was in your situation I would probably look for a different water source or look at other stocking options.

Good luck!

Melander

If I was you I would add rainwater to the well water to soften same. Platies are not acid loving fish so be careful there. Most of the south american fish like neutral or acid PH. Best of luck.
Phil.

Hi and welcome,

I started the exact same as u , i got a 63l tank cycled it for about 4 weeks untill water readings were stable.I also get my water from a private well and my ph is also high. I remember awhile back asking how to lower PH with out using chmeicals, and i think someone suggested organic moss peat in the filter will bring down ph gradually. but pls someone confirm this before u try it just incase it was some crazy idea i dreamt up lol.

I have my tank stocked with clound minnows, white and black, they stay near the top of the tank and are very hardy little fish, for the mid to top i got some zebra danio's and two little cat fish for the bottom, about a week ago i took two angle fish that were in bad shape and they are getting on fine. but now im a bit over stocked so i have to keep up on water changes to make sure they are all happy . hopefully i can get a bigger set up soon. good luck with the new tank.

Stuart.

stuart is right peat will lower your ph best off not going near chemical softeners as they are nothin but trouble and also kill live plants there are a few different way to use peat u can but peat pettets and use them in your filter as it is a small tank this could problem not be done wat i donr befor in a breddin tank is i got peat brick like turf lumps and i put one bit is a tight and the another in a different bit off tight and just left them in the tank

they will take some time to sink when then are soaked i broke them up a bit so bits got into the water

heard off a few different ppl doing it this way but some others problem have other tots

for stock u are on the right path just dont over stock and add a few ata time two or three each week or two till u have wat u want

keep water changes up and again keep testin for the first few weeks to make sure your tank is cycled

paticnce is the key for startin up a new tank

best off luck

sean

Well lads.

Cheers for all the tips. I'll keep it all in mind.

I have a small tank on the way, along with filter, heater, etc etc.

I went to the garden centre today to buy a water butt so i can collect water.

I've got some turf sods, going to experiment on them later.

Cheers,

CC.

cograts on the new tank mate and if ye need some filter squeezing of anything giveus a shout because i'd doubt your too far away

if your using peat remember to make sure its organic with no added neutrients and the corries will eat all uneaten food from the mid and top dwellers