Aquarium people

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
I have kept tetras in my hard, alkaline water - bear in mind a lot of them
are already acclimatized to the local water before you get them from the
LFS but IME you will also have some losses......right now, in my hard as
chalk water I have Neons, Cardinals, Rummy noses, Glowlights and Embers -
strangely enough, the Cardinals have done the best, even though they are
supposed to be more sensitive to water conditions but then maybe they are
hardier - who knows......

Gill, I may try only 2 each of a few of the tetras (I know they need to be
in small schools) since I love them, and see what happens. If they do well I
can always add more over time. I would be heartsick if I bought 6 or 12 of
something just to watch them fade away as they did in the past. That was
very discouraging. Very disappointing since when I lived in NYC with it's
soft slightly acid water these little guys lived several years. And by using
dolomite in our tanks, the hard alkaline water fish also thrived. When I
moved here to TN it was a whole other ballgame.

- you might
get away with some angels though - again these fish, because so popular,
are acclimatized to a variety of conditions and although your water may
not be optimum for breeding you could probably keep some for display....

I'm going to skip angels for this tank because they get large, and once they
pair off you have WWIII on your hands.

It's got a Aquaclear filter and a lot of real plants. There's a large
piece of real driftwood for the plecos to rasp on. There's a fine brown
gravel on the bottom with some rocks. It kind of looks like a lake
bottom.

More plants the better IMO but you also need to make the decision as to
whether you want a great planted tank or are not too fussed about your
fish uprooting stuff.......the driftwood will help soften the water and
lower the pH to a certain degree - my tank with loads of driftwood has a
far lower pH than out of the tap or any other tanks with less....

I haven't seen that happen in my tanks, maybe because of all the water
changes. I don't know. Or maybe because there's only a small amount of
driftwood. I've decided to stick with the plants that thrive in my
conditions. I've been experimenting with Miracle Grow and it works. :-)))
My old Anubias bloomed this summer and the Vals are thriving...... the
hornwart and pondweed had to be removed they went so crazy. There was no
ill effect on the ottos or plecos, who now all love cucumber.

A small group of Clown loaches should be fine in a 55 gall tank and yes,
they are fun - one of my favourite fish :-) - go for at least 3 and 5 if
you can......if they get too big then you might need to trade them in but
I doubt that will be anytime in a hurry......I also love cories but IME
you need to ensure that you get the right balance with bottom feeders and
competition for food - loaches and plecs will outdo them and the poor
things will go hungry....

Hummmmmmm..... glad you brought that up as it's something to consider. I
like to watch corys schooling around a tank. My reg pleco will eat fishfood
but for the life of me I have no idea what the clown plecos are living on. I
never see them eat anything yet both are plump little guys (or gals).

With CLs, Plecs and Cories you need to provide hiding spaces - whether
caves built with stones/rocks or driftwood with hollows - my guys get the
driftwood option - nothing funnier than seeing 3 over large CLs jamming
themselves into a driftwood hollow with just their noses poking out.....

Building them caves will be no problem. I have loads of assorted rocks and
driftwood, even a small plastic barrel. Right now the little clown plecos
live in the dense leaves and rock rubble of the larger anubia. It's like a
little jungle. The reg' plec is tame as can be and hangs on the front glass.
I had to return one reg' plec as it started to rasp on the goldfish that
were in the tank at the time. I had one of each type in each of the 55s.
When I emptied the other 55, I put the second clown plec in with the first.

There are also many other options open to you - Rainbows thrive in hard
water - Boesmanis, Reds - not threadfins though......Gouramis do well,
live bearers like Mollies and Platys and if you can find them female
bettas (not the drab ones - keep an eye out for those that are just as
attractive as males - it you see them buy them - you don't get to see them
very often).

Definitely male platties. I love the bright colors. Female bettas are
often available. Very pretty ones.

Rasboras also do great - so if you are looking for
small, schooling fish and don't want to risk tetras these are an option -
if you can find the flame rasboras they are a very vivid orange - look
like they are basking in the glow of a real fire hence the name......

Wow..... I can't wait to get out to the pet stores and start looking at
what they have these days.


Let us know which fish you decide on

Oh I sure will...... we have a lot of chain petstores around here now. I
know I'll find just the right fish. :-)

--

RM....
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
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