Final checklist before I start adding fish.

[GrumpyGills]

40 gb stocking plan:

15 Cardinal Tetras
6 Sterbai Corys
6 Dwarf Neon Rainbows
2 GBR
1 Angel (maybe down the road)

It seems like 79-80 degrees is acceptable for all these fish. I'm sure a degree doesn't matter too much but what exact temperature should I set it at?

I hope my pH is ok, it has been 7.8-8.0 most of the time when I test it. I know a few of the fish on my list prefer acidic water. It is 7.4 out of the tap but my tank has always tested about 7.8.

My water is moderately hard, KH of 8 (degrees, or whatever you call it). Seems like this should be ok for most fish.

I haven't done much research on feeding my fish. What types of food should I buy? I'm hoping to get away with one flake food and possibly one sinking food for the corys. The simpler the better here, open to all advice.

 

[dalto]

For food, I feed pretty much everything NLS sinking pellets.

For your stocking list, I think you are going to have trouble with gbr's in high ph water. May be OK depending on where they came from. I have had so many problems with farm raised Mikrogeophagus ramirez(GBR, Blue rams, Gold rams, etc) that I will only buy them if they are wild caught or raised by a known reputable breeder.

 

[PNWaquarist]

KH is carbonate content, not hardness (GH).

If your water is over 10 degrees GH, I wouldn't try Cardinal Tetras. Unlike pH, they will not acclimate to moderately hard water. If you're at 8 dGH, that will probably be OK if you acclimate them slowly.

I feed my tetras Ocean Nutrition Community Flakes (my LFS doesn't carry New Life Spectrum for some reason). I feed my corys the Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets, and try to do this a half hour or so before dusk, so that my tetras don't compete for them.

 

[GrumpyGills]

Gah, looks like another testing kit to buy. Unless I can just trust my city's water report in which case my hardness should be 150 ppm or 8 or 9 degrees GH.

What do you mean by acclimating them slowly? Are you talking about the day I get them adding them to the tank water slowly or some other method?

I really hope the rams will be ok. Looking at pics of them is part of what inspired me to want a tank.

 

[MollysMollies]

Hey Grump! Yes, it is best to add small amounts of your tank water to the water the fish comes in. You can test the bag water to see what the parameters are and then you can gauge the difference of what they are used to and the water in your tank. If the difference is drastic, you are going to want to acclimate the fish over a few hours or even days.


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