Stocking Advice

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funnyfish12

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Oct 30, 2022
Messages
2
Hello Guys
I was just wondering if this stocking is okay. The tank is 20 gallons and is fully cycled, planted and currently holds one male betta, who is friendly.

- 1 male betta
- 3 male guppies
- 1 Bolivian ram
- 10 harlequin rasboras
- 1 bristle nose pleco
- 6 salt and pepper corys

maybe some Amano shrimp for stubborn hair algae growing in plants
1-3 mystery snails.

Thanks
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

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 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

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Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish) are not community fish and should not be housed with fish that live near the surface, or have brightly coloured fins because the males are highly territorial and see other surface dwelling fish and brightly coloured fish as rival males.

Guppies require different water chemistry to Bettas and that is a second reason not to house guppies in the tank. The first being mentioned above with colourful tails.

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There might not be enough room on the bottom for the Corydoras if there is a bristlenose and a Bolivian ram.
 
Hi thanks for replying

my tank dimensions are 61 x 30.5 x 40.6 cm

I could find out my tank's GH or KH but I plan to purchase the API testing kit soon. When testing my PH, the normal PH is 7.6 but the high PH comes up 7.4 and water from the tap is 7. I am using driftwood to help bring the PH down slightly.

My betta does fine with other top-dwelling fish as he was previously housed with guppies before being given to me and just ignored them.
 
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