Good website to refine your search

[pauldadams1984]

Hey, I am planning on restocking my 300 litre aquarium. My friend is taking my old fish to get him used to the hobby (he's nearly finished a fishless cycle)

So what I am looking for is a website that you can input your parameters (mainly ph, heat and hardness) and that website then filters you a selection of fish that would thrive in them.

AqAdvisor seems the only option but that is the opposite way around (you select fish and they tell you the parameters that will fit the fish)

 

[Andy Sager]

Hey, I am planning on restocking my 300 litre aquarium. My friend is taking my old fish to get him used to the hobby (he's nearly finished a fishless cycle)

So what I am looking for is a website that you can input your parameters (mainly ph, heat and hardness) and that website then filters you a selection of fish that would thrive in them.

AqAdvisor seems the only option but that is the opposite way around (you select fish and they tell you the parameters that will fit the fish)

I'm not really sure there is a website that will do it the way you want since there are so many varieties of fish available. You might want to google fish that live in ( insert your Ph here) and get an idea then do each parameter separately and see which ones come up in all your searches. If you have a reliable LFS, you could always ask them what they have available that would work and what they can get that would work.

 

[pauldadams1984]

Yeah that's basically what I am currently doing. It gets a bit frustrating trying to match it all together.

I think I've settled on turquoise rainbows as the top dweller dependent on confirming my hardness. (Waiting on new test strip's).

I have 2 LFS. One of them has multiple dead fish every time I go. When I see that, I tell a worker and walk out, once they ignored me and continued unpacking boxes. Although they are in new ownership and I'm planning to check them out soon.

The other one is a pet chain and are pretty much happy to sell you any fish and only ask if you're going through your cycle.

Ph and hardness is a foreign language to most of the workers. Their tickets say nothing about parameters barring heat and ease of care. I usually do a quick Google on my phone when I see something I like.

I did learn from the person in charge that they use RO water and set their pH to 6.5 on all tropical tanks (all on the same flow system)

Considering the water here is 7.4-7.6. I am reluctant to use them.

Actually planning on using an online delivery firm. Expensive but I want to see what they are like. They give a 10 day guarantee as well.

 

[Colin_T]

I don't know of any websites that do that. The best I can offer is the following.

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm (250+ppm for mollies) and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

 

[pauldadams1984]

Thank you for that Colin. Yeah I have generally came to the same conclusion. That's why I've settled on the turquoise rainbow as I prefer an egg scatterer over an insanely overfilled livebearing tank.

Trying to find options for a bottom dweller in slightly high pH and hardness in slightly cooler water (24 degrees). One that thrives rather than handles it too

 

[Aiken Drum]

Trying to find options for a bottom dweller in slightly high pH and hardness in slightly cooler water (24 degrees). One that thrives rather than handles it too

Panda corys? It sounds like you have very similar water to me. I started with 8 corys 5 years ago, ive now got 30+ they breed so readily. In demand fish too, so you can easily sell them if, like me, you end up with excess.

 

[Andy Sager]

Yeah that's basically what I am currently doing. It gets a bit frustrating trying to match it all together.

I think I've settled on turquoise rainbows as the top dweller dependent on confirming my hardness. (Waiting on new test strip's).

I have 2 LFS. One of them has multiple dead fish every time I go. When I see that, I tell a worker and walk out, once they ignored me and continued unpacking boxes. Although they are in new ownership and I'm planning to check them out soon.

The other one is a pet chain and are pretty much happy to sell you any fish and only ask if you're going through your cycle.

Ph and hardness is a foreign language to most of the workers. Their tickets say nothing about parameters barring heat and ease of care. I usually do a quick Google on my phone when I see something I like.

I did learn from the person in charge that they use RO water and set their pH to 6.5 on all tropical tanks (all on the same flow system)

Considering the water here is 7.4-7.6. I am reluctant to use them.

Actually planning on using an online delivery firm. Expensive but I want to see what they are like. They give a 10 day guarantee as well.

Yeah, it can be frustrating sometimes. This is the end result of losing all the Mom & Pop shops to the hobby. You have to be careful with the google info. What that is is info about wild caught fish. You may not ( and probably will not be) be buying wild caught fish. You are getting farm bred fish and depending on where the farm is, their water could be totally opposite of what the wild fish are in. For example, I raised over a million baby Angelfish for the market in S. Florida where the water is as hard as a rock. Ph-8.4 to 8.7, GH 300-400. According to the book, those fish should be dead yet they kept reproducing. Where I moved to in Central Florida, my water Ph is 8.0, GH- under 50 and the fish from S. Florida water bred in it with no issues. Tetras, bred on Tampa farms in hard water just as they did in S. Florida farms in rock hard water. Fish bred on Asian farms come from much softer water. So you can see how the information you get online is incomplete. You need to know where the fish are coming from and whether they are farmed or wild. This is why a site like you are asking about is not really going to be all that helpful. You need to get your info from the supplier.

 

[pauldadams1984]

That's a very fair point Andy.

More information really should be given on the care that's required for the actual fish you're buying rather than general care for the species.

I am gonna go shopping tomorrow in a store I've never been to. About 30-45min minute drive away. I'll be sure to ask all the questions I can!

Kid in a sweetshop comes to mind!

 

[Andy Sager]

That's a very fair point Andy.

More information really should be given on the care that's required for the actual fish you're buying rather than general care for the species.

I am gonna go shopping tomorrow in a store I've never been to. About 30-45min minute drive away. I'll be sure to ask all the questions I can!

Kid in a sweetshop comes to mind!

"More information really should be given on the care that's required for the actual fish you're buying rather than general care for the species." This would be a nice idea but not everybody reading a site will be buying the same farmed fish so it would still be a case of incomplete info. Where you are buying your fish and matching what THEY are doing water wise is the better method.

 

[Aiken Drum]

"More information really should be given on the care that's required for the actual fish you're buying rather than general care for the species." This would be a nice idea but not everybody reading a site will be buying the same farmed fish so it would still be a case of incomplete info. Where you are buying your fish and matching what THEY are doing water wise is the better method.

Where i live our version of your petco is a chain called pets at home. They use RO water and keep it pretty soft and slightly acidic for all their fish. They have their tanks circulating water through one big filtration sump. Generally tap water here is fairly hard with a pH above 7, probably 80% of the population here live in areas with hard water. Trying to match the fish to suit the water pets at home keep fish in to the water from most peoples tap water isnt going to work and people just arent going to go the RO route.

Fish bought from pets at home are pretty bullet proof though. They are healthy and acclimate to their new living conditions just great. Never had a problem with fish bought from a pets at home. The only problem is they dont have a big range of species.

 

[Andy Sager]

Where i live our version of your petco is a chain called pets at home. They use RO water and keep it pretty soft and slightly acidic for all their fish. They have their tanks circulating water through one big filtration sump. Generally tap water here is fairly hard with a pH above 7, probably 80% of the population here live in areas with hard water. Trying to match the fish to suit the water pets at home keep fish in to the water from most peoples tap water isnt going to work and people just arent going to go the RO route.

Fish bought from pets at home are pretty bullet proof though. They are healthy and acclimate to their new living conditions just great. Never had a problem with fish bought from a pets at home. The only problem is they dont have a big range of species.

Sounds like they have wittled down their selection to only those that will adapt to their water. Sadly, not all fish will adapt or adapt well enough for an expected lifespan. As an importer of wild caught fish, I've gone through the acclimation parts and it was only after we had altered our water to match their native water parameters did the fish do much better in our tanks. Our farm fish had no issues.
As for the pets at home's method of only using RO water, fish that need those minerals would face the reverse issues of say fish from S. America if the water was not adjusted. Some will adapt but others may not. It would be the same as selectively breeding a fish for color or other traits. You lose or don't use a lot of fish doing this. As with everything fish wise, it's all situational.

 

[Aiken Drum]

They sell mostly tetras, danios, barbs, livebearers, angelfish, gourami, goldfish. Those common fish that everyone keeps.

They arent importing wild fish, most of our livestock comes from eastern europe.

 

[Andy Sager]

They sell mostly tetras, danios, barbs, livebearers, angelfish, gourami, goldfish. Those common fish that everyone keeps.

They arent importing wild fish, most of our livestock comes from eastern europe.

Yeah, those are the species that have been farmed for decades so their physiology has changed over time. It doesn't happen overnight tho. I had a beautiful breeding trio of silver veiltail angelfish that I brought from NJ with soft acidic water to Florida with it's rock hard water and after some time, they adapted to the water as it was but never bred again. In my hatchery down there, I had plenty of pairs of Angels that spawned in it as it was but they were from lines that had been bred in that water over decades. Some fish species are very adaptable but not all of them are. ( Especially the exotic ones. )

 

[pauldadams1984]

Where i live our version of your petco is a chain called pets at home. They use RO water and keep it pretty soft and slightly acidic for all their fish. They have their tanks circulating water through one big filtration sump. Generally tap water here is fairly hard with a pH above 7, probably 80% of the population here live in areas with hard water. Trying to match the fish to suit the water pets at home keep fish in to the water from most peoples tap water isnt going to work and people just arent going to go the RO route.

Fish bought from pets at home are pretty bullet proof though. They are healthy and acclimate to their new living conditions just great. Never had a problem with fish bought from a pets at home. The only problem is they dont have a big range of species.

Yeah I wasn't sure about naming names but yeah that's the LFS that's nearest to me. Never seen a dead fish but I also don't want to buy something with drastically different parameters to my own.


Which leads me to another question.

Couldn't get the fish I want yesterday.

Looks like I'm resorting to online ordering (never done this before apart from picking up from local people off eBay).

I am after the turquoise/blue rainbow fish (naturally prefers slightly higher ph, slightly harder water and slightly cooler water to most tropicals)

I have found what looks to be a great shop online, great reviews and customer made images.

Problem is that it's 200+ miles away.

I emailed them and they stated the fish would be transported overnight.

The parameters they have the fish in is 6.8ph and soft water hardness (3) (I expect they are fine in them parameters as they are locally bred to be fine)

Mine are 7.4 and moderately hard/hard (8)

Do you guys think that the transport is too much of a risk and do you think they should acclimatise easily enough?

 

[pauldadams1984]

There's also a shop that brings the aquatics "to your door" but a shocking review from 4 years ago has put me right off them