Hard water community fish???

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MattMan4te

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 23, 2015
Messages
10
Location
Miami, FL
Hey guys,

I'm back into the freshwater game after a decade break. I'm hoping you all will be open to sharing some wisdom!

I recently set up and am cycling an 18 gallon tank (only holds 13g of water... Check my profile for details). However, I used a crushed coral substrate and the pH is now fairly high (7.4-7.6, will know better after the cycle).

I'd like to set up a visually stunning community of small fishes, and I know you guys are full of great advice. This is what I was thinking, eventually:

2 endler's livebearers
2 painted platys
6 pseudomugil rainbows
Some kind of small hard water algae eater?

Will these fish get along?

Is this about the right number and size of fish for a 13gallon with lots of plants and refuge?

I appreciate any other advice or comments!
 
At 7.4 you're not that high and all those fish playas many more will acclimate just fine to that ph. As long as the ph is stable you should be fine. Why did you raise your ph? Or was that your goal with the crushed coral?
 
Crushed coral was mostly just out of convenience. I'm a marine biologist, and I have several hundred pounds of crushed coral in my seawater lab. We use it for the tanks where we breed gobies and damselfish.

I have soft water at my house so I thought it would be a nice buffer... But I wasn't shooting for so high. I'm worried about my plants.

Besides the pH, what did you think about that community in a 13 gallon?
 
I would say skip the platys and endlers. Get some pygmy cories and a nerite snail. Having bottom feeders will use more of the tank space and the snail will take care of the algae.

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There's actually not much bottom space. The bottom of the tank has a built in back display with dirt and some placed for plants. It slants 45 degrees-ish in the lower back to the bottom. Also, it's generally a tall tank not a wide one. One of the designs with the convex front glass

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Sorry didn't mean to send yet. I like the idea of the snail as a cleaner, and I appreciate the response. Think I'll avoid the corys though. How big do the pigmys get though?

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Sorry didn't mean to send yet. I like the idea of the snail as a cleaner, and I appreciate the response. Think I'll avoid the corys though. How big do the pigmys get though?

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About an inch. Does the tank have a lid?

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The tank does not have a lid... Only an led panel that fits rests between one lip of the tank and the filter mouth (since the led panel is not as long as the tank). But that's not keeping any fish inside :)

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I wad thinking a sparkling gourami or two would be cool and they hang near the top, but they can jump so a lid would be good.

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Did you have any thoughts about the fish I suggested? I'm a freshwater novice so I'm curious if I'm overstocking or if these fish have personality

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