# fish to suit planted tank with hard water



## davideyre (13 Mar 2008)

after feeling a bit disheartened that my hard water (dGH 15.8 according to water company) will not cope with cardinals and rams am now looking for some suitable colourful fish for my 125l planted tank

some of the rainbow fish species look good
have thought about a pair of kribs

any other thoughts? cheers.


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## Lisa_Perry75 (13 Mar 2008)

Hi,
The data my water supplier gives:-
Portsmouth South Zone 
mg/l CaCO3 ppm CaCO3 - 282 
 Clarkes d English - 19.7 
 German dH - 15.8 
 French dF 28.2 
 mg/l Calcium 112.9 
 mmol/l Alk Earths  2.8

My 11 cardinals look really bright and healthy! Haven't lost a single one yet - touch wood!


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## davideyre (13 Mar 2008)

thanks lisa, that is really encouraging, maybe i should try a few and see how they get on


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## afroturf (13 Mar 2008)

Most fish you find in your lfs will have been bred in Europe and can cope with a wider variety of water parameters than wild ones, so like Lisa you should be able to get away with some cardinals, Iâ€™m less sure about the rams.


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## John Starkey (13 Mar 2008)

davideyre said:
			
		

> after feeling a bit disheartened that my hard water (dGH 15.8 according to water company) will not cope with cardinals and rams am now looking for some suitable colourful fish for my 125l planted tank
> 
> some of the rainbow fish species look good
> have thought about a pair of kribs
> ...


,

Hi David, i have liquid rock in my taps and i have 100 cardinals in my setup and i havent lost one , what you have to remember plants , stable co2, ei or pmdd, will give you a very stable system , co2 and plants can sometimes lower the ph slightly but this can be different in the mornings to the evenings because after the co2 has been running all day you may find a lower ph in the evening, regards john


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## TDI-line (15 Mar 2008)

My GH is about 19, normal hard water for my area.

I have about 100 cardinal tetras, corydoras sterbai and one altum angel, all bought from the soft water section of my lfs, and all feeding and living very well. 

Just climatise them very slowly, i usually take about an hour, adding small amounts of tank water into the fish bag, then pour the whole bag in the tank.

I've never had much luck with Rams in a previous Soft water tank, so personally won't be trying these.


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## Luketendo (15 Mar 2008)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> My GH is about 19, normal hard water for my area.
> 
> I have about 100 cardinal tetras, corydoras sterbai and one altum angel, all bought from the soft water section of my lfs, and all feeding and living very well.
> 
> ...



My Rams are fine in like, I can't really remember...

I haven't had them too long but I think it's when you first get them the problem is.

7GH, I suppose it isn't that high though. I've heard of other people keeping them in hard water though/


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## Ed Seeley (15 Mar 2008)

If you do want to try some fish that are natrually found in harder waters then a range of larger rainbowfish come from harder water as do some of the danionins.  If your water is hard and the pH stays in the alkaline range you could even keep some of the Tangyikan cichlid species in there.  The rock dwelling species don't touch plants (just don't add some Tropheus and expect the same!) and if you want a shoaling fish with a difference you could even keep a shoal of Cyprichromis leptosoma which are cichlids that live and breed in open water and the males have amazing colours.  They do need A1 quality water and regular water changes and that alkaline pH reading at all times IME.


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## beeky (19 Mar 2008)

How about some livebearers? Most of those come from hard water areas and although most will peck at the plants, they're just after the algae.

If you go for some of the lesser known ones (limias etc) they won't breed as fast as say, guppies.


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