Re: Too many fish?
- From: "Jay Kaner" <skinup@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2006 18:12:06 GMT
"netDenizen" <not@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:LDu0g.94$DR6.11362@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jay Kaner wrote:
I can get the testing kits ...and i think i'll get some of the other
testing kits mentioned around and about in some of the other posts in
here, too. That way i'll know what state my water's in.
But what i can't get my head round is this... (I'll cut and paste a
couple of MangroveJacks comments to explain what i mean)
"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 (goldfish, live-bearers etc)environments"
"Get another aquarium if you are serious about
keeping warm-water soft-acidic type fish"
Now, at the moment my tank has a mix of "warm-water,
soft-acidic" type fish (which i'm assuming to mean my 'tropical' fish in
general) and "cold-water, hard-alkaline" type fish. i.e the goldfish,
the orfe and the black moors.
MangorveJack's (and others) advice is to have separate tanks for the two
types of fish, which I am going to do. I am on the lookout for a 4' tank
for the tropical fish, and to keep my 2' tank (minus the heater) for the
goldfish, the orfe and the black moors.
Here's the bit i'm struggling with...
I will have two tanks. And i have two types of fish. A tank for each
type of fish.
But i only have one type of water, the one (whatever type it is?) that
comes out of my tap.
That same tap water will go in both tanks, yet each tank needs different
water for the different types of fish...one soft-acidic and the other one
hard-alkaline. How can that be done when i only have the 'one' type of
water that comes out of my tap??
Do you see what i mean?
You can adjust fundamental water chemistry as follows:
If your tap water is (too) soft, you can use a bag of "crushed coral"
limestone in your filter to add carbonate hardness and buffer pH. I do
this to prevent any sudden "pH crashes". Some people use chunks of
limestone and even a full limestone substrate. I started in my current
soft-water town with a crushed limestone substrate, because I was coming
from a hard water area. With limestone substrate my plants did not do
really well, so after 2 years I changed to sand/gravel/clay/peat - and
curently use commercial plant substrate. There are also jars of buffer
powder available in pet shops, and I recently purchased Seachem Alkaline
Buffer and Seachem Equlibrium (adds sulphates) - haven't played with them
yet, though.
If your tap water is very hard, you can get a reverse osmosis system that
will remove almost all dissolved minerals and other things yielding pure
water. You'd need to add some minerals back in before using the RO water
in the aquarium. You can also/ instead filter with peat to obtain
"brownish" Amazon-type water if desired.
Most tap water is just fine for most fish, and it's probably best not to
mess with it. Testing your water is good, to know what you have. Test both
the tapwater and the aquarium water. Typically tap water pH may change due
to degassing over time, so test tap water direct and from a glass that's
been standing for a day, if you're interested.
The other posters' comments about mixing goldfish with tropical fish are
not just related to water chemistry; in fact most tropicals would be happy
in warmish goldfish water, but they're very different types of fish.
Goldfish: slow, grow very large, eat many plants, will devour small
tropical fish, are harassed by some tropical fish, considered cool water
fish but actually do well at "tropical" temperatures. "Tropical" fish are
very varied. People set up species tanks of mainly one family of fish
e.g. rainbowfish, regional tanks with say, compatible fish from the Amazon
region, or aquascaped aquariums representing a particular aquatic
environment (faster-flowing river, slower-flowing river bank, shallow
lake...). Many folks just set up an attractive planted community aquarium
with fish that get along and look nice - I try to do that.
Happy aquarium keeping! For information and ideas there are lots of good
books, websites, public aquariums and discussion groups.
thanks for all that. As I've said elsewhere in this thread, i'm not going
to mess with things unless i really have to. The fish seem happy enough as
they are but I will be getting a bigger tank for cold and tropical. I'm
going to go for the planted look in the tropical tank. Some of the tanks I
have seen that are full of plants look really nice, and then just add a few
more fish. Actually, i think i'll just keep the tropical fish i already
have and add a big shoal of neon tetras if they go with what i have.
I'll get the testing kits too. Try and keep 'em healthy!!
Once again..cheers for that.
.
- References:
- Too many fish?
- From: Jay Kaner
- Re: Too many fish?
- From: MangroveJack
- Re: Too many fish?
- From: Jay Kaner
- Re: Too many fish?
- From: netDenizen
- Re: Too many fish?
- From: Jay Kaner
- Re: Too many fish?
- From: netDenizen
- Too many fish?
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