"MangroveJack" wrote in message
ups.com...
Maaate... you got to consider the types of fish you have and the types
of fish you want. While it's fair to say that most fish adapt to
another's ideal conditions if the environment is kept constant, the
optimum way to keep different species is according to their most ideal
conditions.

It is really quite silly even considering adding "warm-water,
soft-acidic" fish (neon tetras, red-tail sharks etc) to "cold-water,
hard-alkaline" fish (golfish, live-bearers etc)environments.

More fish basically means more maintainance. You might get away with
doing third water change every month with just a couple of guppies, but
with a small, highly-stocked aquarium, you'd be mad not to do a third
water change every week, with alternative gravel-syphons one week and
filter-cleanse in removed aquarium water the other week.

You'd probably also need to add some sort of buffer to the water to
keep the Ph constant. I always use "marine grit" which helps keep the
alkalinity high which is how the tap-water is to begin with, and always
add a bit of salt to keep the water hardened for the live-bearers and
goldfish and prevent fungals on the fish who prefer softer, more acidic
water, who are more prone to disease.


At the end of the day, it's not really the size of the aquarium which
matters, so long as the inhabitants all get along reasonably well, or
have so many opponents they have no choice but to get along. What's
most important is the AMOUNT OF WATER they are in over what period of
time. Changing ten percent every day would be highly ideal, or even
better, a constant trickle-flow replacement like in a natural stream
would be best.... anything which keeps everything CONSTANT, not
fluctuating from extremely acidic one day, to alkaline the next, to
over-saturated with wastes and uneaten food another. Minimal feeding,
regular water-change, and you should be able to fit in an extra 10
neon-sized fish (though personally I'd go for something more suited to
your hard-alkaline dominant situation).

I've kept several hundred neon tetras very succesfully in an aquarium
that size before, along with a male betta and a few corys and
bristleys. I would never have thought to put any oxygen-hungry goldfish
in with them, though. Get another aquarium if you are serious about
keeping warm-water soft-acidic type fish.


how many gallons is that?
NIk