Christian Patti

Hi everyone its been a stressful few years but I'm finally settled and looking to setup my 30 gallon fish tank and in due course setup the 50 gallon tank. Anyways I've been doing this for a fair amount of time but this site has increased my knowledge a hundredfold. I used to just know the fish needed bacteria or they would die I never really understood the cycle fully. Now I plan to setup the tank and use this product called Bio Spira that seems very promising. I hope at first to put a small amount of tetras in the tank then add maybe 2 dwarf gouramis and hopefully down the road add one angelfish. Some of my questions were; water hardness and water changes. I have hard water(Granite State), from what I have read the tetras and dwarf gouramis should do fine but I've read that angelfish should have softer water. I've read too, that angelfish will do fine in hard water. I need some advice since I'm not a professional. And about the water changes, should i balance the pH before I add the water if it is different from the tank water?

thanks

rifter098

first off, sorry to burst your bubble, gouramis and angels are very good tankmates for your 30g. (u could try it in a 50g. but its basically a 50-50 chance). also, most tetras are "fin nippers" and cant resist the long fins on an angel fish...and even some gouramis. angels do need soft, acidic (pH <7) water. i wouldnt try to change your waters pH using chemicals from a petstore...hardy fish can adapt to a pH that isnt "perfect"

Lucy

Hi Christian Patti,
No need to mess with your PH, your fish should be able to adapt to it.
I don't know about angels or dwarf gouramis. so I'm not help there.

Welcome to Fish Lore May be have a healthy happy tank.

Christian Patti

Well I know the gouramis and an angel will go together fine and not all tetras are fin nippers although many are. I could probably mix distilled water with my well water to bring down the hardness and then the pH would be easier to control too or maybe it would go down from the water being softer. And I'm talking at max 2 gouramis and maybe 1 angelfish.

Edit: we posted at the same time, thanks for the advice.

peacemaker92

WELCOME TO FISHLORE!!

Christian Patti

erm thanks lol

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!

the biggest thing is cycleing ...which you have under control with the bio spira...my gourami's and angels do fine..in a 55 gal..so I do agree, its a hit or miss situation....I dont keep tetra's so the fin nipping is something im sure others will help you with...I hope you get us some pics and keep us updated for sure!!

as far as hard water, prime is a water conditioner most of us use and it does well for condtioning water..I live in the "granite state" of NH and my fish have acclimated to the water just fine..I have well water and do not mix it with spring water ...goodluck!

LilMollieBreeder

my tetras are not fin nippers but i don't know everything about them but good luck any way with your tank and i hope everything works out

Christian Patti

thanks again

Christian Patti

also when using bio spira or safestart should i just add it to the tank or should i add ammonia first then add the bio spira/safestart

and in like 2 weeks when im ready for fish do think it would be safe to buy dwarf gouramis in light of this disease? or is the disease over with

jdhef

First, I believe that you want to stay away from Distilled water in your tank, but bottled spring water would be fine. When using BioSpira or Safe Start, you are supposed to just add the BS/SS and immediately add the fish. The ammonia the fish produce feeds the bacteria in the BS/SS.

Also when using BS/SS be careful of which water conditioner you use. If the water conditioner "locks up" ammonia, then you can't use it with BS/SS since the ammonia won't be available to feed the bacteria and the bacteria will die off. I used BioSpira and the back of the package had some recommended water conditioner listed.

Christian Patti

thanks for the advice so after i add the safe start immediately start acclimating fish to the water then just monitor nitrite nitrate and ammonia levels and do water changes as necessary? when should i do my first water change?

also what do you guys think about buying dwarf gouramis in a few weeks in light of their recent disease.. do you think its safe now?

thanks everyone and i really like this site


edit before adding fish right away should i add ammonia first to see if the bacteria from the safe start takes care of it like it would after a regular cycle?

pepetj

Hi Christian Patti, wellcome to fishlore!
I haven't use Bio-Spira or SafeStart, since I allways do fishless-cycle with Xdrops of ammonia solution added daily.

If you choose to go with Bio-Spira, make sure it is the old version that works in freshwater (it's now marketed for saltwater only), SafeStart is the reformulated Bio-Spira for freshwater (requires no refrigeration as the old Bio-Spira).

You are not supposed to measure water parameters until a week goes by, since your readings would only worry you and can not be considered as accurate. You don't need to feed your tank, just treat the water for chlorine/chloramines, let it run add your product and the fish. Nothing should happen to them. I would only add, in order to be careful, to feed them sparingly for the first week.

Great thing you are back into fishkeeping, I came back after a 20 years hiatus, and with all the help, warmth, and respect from fishlore, I have had a wonderful come back.

As for GH and KH, most aquarium breeded/raised fish -there are exceptions- would tolerate wider margins of hardness and pH. If you can go by without tampering GH, KH and probably by doing so, the pH, the better. But if that must be done, there are safe ways to do it.

From my experience: measure the GH, KH and pH form the LFS tank(s) where your fish are actually housed. Compare that with your readings. Also let your source water in a shallow plate overnight, to obtain more accurate readings (dissolved Oxygen can create some errors of measurement in pH).

Hope this helps

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Christian Patti

thanks a bunch so so far everyone says with the safe start add a few fish right away then take water measurements in a week? shouldn't i take them sooner so i can find out if everything is balanced and to see if the small amount of fish i add are suffering

i also understand from peoples responses that it seems better not to adjust the pH and mess with the hardness by adding spring water but instead just acclimate the fish to the water.. won't this be bad for the fishes? and how can i tell if the water must be adjusted, and f it must be what are the safe ways of doing so.. sorry for all these questions i just want to get good handle on this so i go back into the hobby with a good understanding

also does anyone have a response for my gourami question?

thanks a ton everyone

pepetj

I don't keep gouramis, but personally, unless I could get dwarf gouramis from known healthy and reputable breeders, there's a mayor risk for that fatal viral infection that I wouldn't dare to assume. I don't know much about that particular but allready famous disease, and how that particular virus (or strain of viruses) can vulnerate the inter-species barrier and harming or not other species. As far as quarantine time for this particular viral disease, I hope someone with expertise responds to you (so I learn about it too).

Angelfish and gouramis have been stocked together successfully, however, there are also reports from attempts gone terribly bad. As rifter098 said, it's a 50-50, hit or miss, kind of situation. If you are going after it, had a plan B (another cycled tank, even a quarantine tank, or means to divide temporarily your tank) at hand.

jdhef

As long as your Ph is between 6 and 8 I wouldn't worry at all about it. I have Odessa Barbs which are supposed to like a Ph between 6 and 7, and my Ph is about 7.6 to7.8 and they are doing great.

I recently went out and bought 2 Dwarf Gourami's. So far they have been doing fine, The virus they have been reported developing, supposedly only effects Gourami's and betta's, so worse case, if you have more than 1 DG you could have all of them affected.

And don't even check your water parameter for 7 days after adding BS and your fish, and don't do any water changes for at least 7 days. I would actually test my water on the 7th day and if ammonia and nitrites were zero and nitrates were under 40, I would hold off on the initial water change for an additional week or until nitrates reaches 40 (whichever comes first)

Oh and no don't add the ammonia before adding fish to test, since the readings will be all out of whach.

Christian Patti

Thanks everyone, I'll try to find a good fish dealer to and ask about it, if they have never heard of it or I suspect lies then I will hold off.