stocking suggestions. german blue rams/bolivian rams

[laur94x]

I thought I had my stocking list sorted for my 138 litre tank (its almost 3ft long + cycled) but now I'm worrying about some things. I currently only have -
5 male guppies (possibly going because they're fighting and need some females)
2 albino cories
1 female bristlenose pleco (about 4/5 inches)
I was going to add-
More cories definitely (either 1 or 2 more albinos and 3 or 4 pandas so I had 6 or 8 altogether,
A pearl gourami
A pair of german blue rams
And possibly a few white fin rosy tetra if my tank wasn't overstocked.

My problem is with the rams, that was the main thing I wanted but my tap water levels are quite high (ammonia- about 0.10, nitrites-0, nitrates 40ppm) and my ph was very high when I last checked (about 8.2) although I will check that again.
I'm going to change to 50% RO water when have money soon so hopefully that should bring the levels down slightly but would german blue rams survive in that since they're so sensitive? If not how about bolivian rams if they're hardier?

Also if I'm having 6-8 cories and a bristlenose pleco (she tends to stay in her tree trunk) could I still have a pair of rams or will there be too much on the bottom of my tank? Would they attack my cories? Should I just do one ram? Advice please. Thanks

[librarygirl]

I would do one ram....if the rams are a breeding pair the corys may be in trouble. Bolivians are hardier than german blues, although not sure on whether 40 nitrate would be too much for them. I'd wait until you can cut the water a bit to get the nitrates down before adding one.

4 albino and 4 pandas sound good. If you get rid of the guppies you can add the tetras.

[Shadow Bass]

Rams like low ph water about 5.0 i believe, and soft as well. The high desolved solids content tells me you need a water change, and i would suggest using RO everytime, and also add some peat moss to help soften and maintain the acidity.

Sadly your source water is not helping at all, so if you wanna keep those types of livestock, you gotta get control of your water, Got a rain barrel???

[laur94x]

Thanks for the replies. What do you mean 'high disolved solid content'.
Am definitely going to wait a while before adding a ram anyway.
Could I actually use rain water if I collected it? Cos that would be soo much cheaper lol x

[Shadow Bass]

TDS is the amount of dissolved waste or accumulation of other inert materials that will only come out with water changes.
I dont know about what you can do but i use it by the tankful for my south americans, no problems in 30 years of fish keeping but your mileage may vary in the summer i also get mosquito larvae out of my barrel as a bonus free live food treat.

[laur94x]

I'm confused haha, sorry, it happens a lot :p so if I use RO water how much would I need to bring my ph low enough? I was going to do 50% to bring my nitrates down to 20pppm (stupid tap water) but not sure how much thatd affect my PH?

[laur94x]

And would that be me fully stocked if I had
5 guppies,
8 cories,
1 bristlenose pleco,
1 ram,
1 pearl gourami?

I don't seem to have anything on the middle of the tank, should I still not have any tetras unless the guppies go?
And what's the smallest group you can keep guppies in and them be happy? Cos I have 3 yellow and 2 red males but the reds are picking on the yellows so I was considering giving one colour to a friend

[Shadow Bass]

RO is neutral or almost, should be 7.0 so to get your ph to 5 or 6 you have to go down a couple of knotches. The water i collect runs about 5.6 out of the barrel, which by the way, i keep a lot of peat moss in to soften and maintain the lower level.

Without an outside source being added such as muriatic acid, the lowest you will get is what ever comes out of your source. (Dont Use Muriatic, its caustic, and your fish will jump out of the tank).

I use 50/50 and never have any issues with happy south americans, even rams, or dwarfs such as the apistos.

[laur94x]

So if I do 50% RO water and 50% tap water andd get some peat moss should that be okay for rams? I've heards rams are fine with a PH of 7, is this wrong?

[Shadow Bass]

Im sorry i understood you to say that your tap water was Yukkky, anyway rams prefer more acidic water, perhaps 7.0 will be fine, you hear all sorts of things, and most likely any rams you will find wont know the difference anyway, they have never known what is natural for them, which is about 5.0, anyway ive heard of folks getting lots of babies in 6.5 to 7.0 so if your tap water is pure, and you can do 50/50 go for it i guess, i just always try to recreate what is in a fishes natural habitat, not what i choose for them to accept.

[laur94x]

I'm considering scraping the idea of getting rams for now, they're going to cost me a fortune in RO water I bought my pearl gourami the other day though, its beautiful and got 2 more cories.
So now I've got:
5 guppies,
4 albino cories
1 pearl gourami
1 bristlenose pleco.

If I didn't get any rams what would people recommend.
I like rosy fin tetra, panda cories and serpae tetra but I've heard these can be nippy. Any way I can put another gourami in without it causing problems? They're gorgeous. If not, suggestions please. I prefer medium sized fish such as rams and gouramis rather than schools of small fish. Thanks

[laur94x]

Are apistogrammas as sensitive as rams? I also like killifish but not sure if they're kept in groups or what?

[azmodan]

For what it's worth my tap water tests at 8.2 ph out of the tap too. With driftwood and such it was around 7.6 and my ram has been perfectly happy for the past half a year or so. Admittedly though I haven't tested my ph in months so it's likely higher than 7.6 now.

[laur94x]

Oh really? Thanks. I just tested mine from my tank and the pH was 8 even if I could lower this, my tap water nitrates will still be 40ppm unless I use atleast 50% RO water at every water change