New to group . Introducing myself

[Jena75]

Hi everyone my name is Jena. I haven’t had a fish aquarium in years . I set my aquarium up 3 weeks ago. I’ve tested my water and everything looks great but my ph and alkaline levels. I have tried all the chemicals the pet store told me to get and nothing has worked. I don’t want to keep adding chemicals to tank. I’m afraid it will end up killing what few fish I have. I only have a few fish so far because I didn’t want to buy a bunch and they die. The associate told me she couldn’t sell me any more fish until both my ph and alkaline levels were down. I’ve read where some fish do fine with high levels. I’m not sure what I need to do. Hoping someone can help me.

 

[OminousHoney]

Hello, I'm new myself but what I would do is test the water you're using before it's put into the tank. That will give you a baseline in case it's something in your tank that's causing things to rise or if it's the water source.

What kind of substrate are you using and are there any decorations in there? Certain things can mess with your water parameters.

 

[GouramiGirl100]

Welcome! What are your pH gh and kh? It’s unlikely that these parameters will harm fish if you buy your fish locally. Most products claiming to neutralize, lower, or raise pH are not effective long term and can lead to water parameter instability. I don’t add anything into any of my tanks to fix pH or alkalinity and my water is extremely hard with a very high pH. Fish like rainbowfish, African cichlids, and livebearers thrive in hard alkaline water so that fact that this associate does not want to sell you fish makes me very wary of the store you are buying from. It is likely that store wants to keep selling you expensive miracle fixes I would find a new place to source your fish

 

[StarGirl]

Welcome to Fishlore!

I have high pH 8.2. I dont like adding chemicals to my water either. If you are just buying regular type fish it really shouldnt matter much. Their water is probably the same as yours. Test the bag water next time you get fish.

 

[Jena75]

Hello, I'm new myself but what I would do is test the water you're using before it's put into the tank. That will give you a baseline in case it's something in your tank that's causing things to rise or if it's the water source.

What kind of substrate are you using and are there any decorations in there? Certain things can mess with your water parameters

Welcome! What are your pH gh and kh? It’s unlikely that these parameters will harm fish if you buy your fish locally. Most products claiming to neutralize, lower, or raise pH are not effective long term and can lead to water parameter instability. I don’t add anything into any of my tanks to fix pH or alkalinity and my water is extremely hard with a very high pH. Fish like rainbowfish, African cichlids, and livebearers thrive in hard alkaline water so that fact that this associate does not want to sell you fish makes me very wary of the store you are buying from. It is likely that store wants to keep selling you expensive miracle fixes I would find a new place to source your fish

PH 8.4 KH 300 GH 150. Petco was the one selling me all the chemicals so I’m going to go to Pet Smart. Thank you for the information!

 

[GouramiGirl100]

What fish are you planning on keeping? I would look into livebearers. Swordtails are my favorite and they are beautiful

 

[Jena75]

I have a beta, and 2 tetras right now. I’m going today to get some more fish. I thinking about getting guppies and mollies.

 

[GouramiGirl100]

Guppies and mollies will do well. Bettas are very adaptable and can live in harder water. The issue I see with your stocking is possibly aggression from your betta. The other issue is tank size- how big is your tank? Mollies are large fish and aren’t too compatible with bettas.

 

[Fishfur]

PH 8.4 KH 300 GH 150. Petco was the one selling me all the chemicals so I’m going to go to Pet Smart. Thank you for the information!

With a KH that high no amount of any product is going to make that pH go down. Water chemistry just doesn’t work that way.

You’d have to dilute it with RODI water to do that.

Your GH isn’t very high so the water is only moderately hard.

Mollies, platies, guppies, Endlers, or swordtails, dwarf Neon rainbowfish, are all possible choices.

 

[Jena75]

Guppies and mollies will do well. Bettas are very adaptable and can live in harder water. The issue I see with your stocking is possibly aggression from your betta. The other issue is tank size- how big is your tank? Mollies are large fish and aren’t too compatible with bettas.

With a KH that high no amount of any product is going to make that pH go down. Water chemistry just doesn’t work that way.

You’d have to dilute it with RODI water to do that.

Your GH isn’t very high so the water is only moderately hard.

Mollies, platies, guppies, Endlers, or swordtails, dwarf Neon rainbowfish, are all possible choices.

I have a 20 gallon fish tank. I ended up getting 2 Dalmatian mollies. I thought I would see how well they done in my tank before I bought more. So far I have 1 female beta , 3 tetras and the 2 mollies.

 

[Fishfur]

I have a 20 gallon fish tank. I ended up getting 2 Dalmatian mollies. I thought I would see how well they done in my tank before I bought more. So far I have 1 female beta , 3 tetras and the 2 mollies.

I hope they are both female? In single pairs a male is going to pester his one potential mate incessantly and that gets very stressful for the female.

 

[Jena75]

The girl at pet smart couldn’t tell me which were male or female. She just got me 2. It was very frustrating . I have noticed that the mollies stay away from each other.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Guppies and mollies will do well. Bettas are very adaptable and can live in harder water. The issue I see with your stocking is possibly aggression from your betta. The other issue is tank size- how big is your tank? Mollies are large fish and aren’t too compatible with bettas.

Here I was worried about the tetras picking on the Betta lol

Either way, PetSmart /Petco are not the most reliable.

 

[Jena75]

Here I was worried about the tetras picking on the Betta lol

Either way, PetSmart /Petco are not the most reliable.

No they’re not but they are the only one’s that are close to me. There isn’t a pet store where I live. Thank you so much for your advice!

 

[Marlene327]

Welcome to the forum!

Was your tank cycled before adding fish? What's your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

If you got a male and female, you'll have a very full tank soon, if all goes well! Sometimes the other fish eat a few fry and that's okay - population control! But if your fish are females, they could both already be pregnant. Livebearers are nice but overpopulate quickly!

 

[Jena75]

Welcome to the forum!

Was your tank cycled before adding fish? What's your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

If you got a male and female, you'll have a very full tank soon, if all goes well! Sometimes the other fish eat a few fry and that's okay - population control! But if your fish are females, they could both already be pregnant. Livebearers are nice but overpopulate quickly!

Yes it was. My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are all good. Right now I have 1 female beta, 2 Dalmatian fish and 3 tetras. PetSmart couldn’t tell me if they were girls or boys. Which was very frustrating. I have a 20 gallon tank.

 

[GouramiGirl100]

You can gender mollies based on the presence of an analfin

 

[Marlene327]

See the analfins (on bottom)

Mod edit: images removed for copyright issues

 

[Fishfur]

First pic is female, second pic is most definitely a male and they’re not Dalmatian, they’re black mollies.

In the first image you can easily see the triangular anal fin that indicates a female and in the second pic, the anal fin clearly isn’t a triangle. It’s shaped like a stick, narrow and pointed. It’s called a gonopodium.

It would be best if another female Molly was added to this tank so the existing female won’t be endlessly harassed by the male.

 

[emeraldking]

Welcome to Fishlore to start with...
It's a pity that they weren't able to tell the sex of those fish at the store. Even a betta is easy to sex unless they're quite young. Your conditions are well suited for a range of livebearers (so, not all...)

 

[Marlene327]

First pic is female, second pic is most definitely a male and they’re not Dalmatian, they’re black mollies.

In the first image you can easily see the triangular anal fin that indicates a female and in the second pic, the anal fin clearly isn’t a triangle. It’s shaped like a stick, narrow and pointed. It’s called a gonopodium.

It would be best if another female Molly was added to this tank so the existing female won’t be endlessly harassed by the male.

I only copied those pics from a Google search to show the fins, I realize the 2nd isn't a true black molly. And oops, those pictures broke a rule and were removed - my mistake.
Male analfins are a straight line, females are a triangle.

 

[86 ssinit]

Welcome to fishlore!
Never any good to chase ph. Always work with what you have. Trying to lower it is when fish get sick. They can adapt to a higher ph but not to a constant fluctuating ph. Most fish can adapt to higher ph.
Being the tank is only 3 weeks old test your water every few days. Have you done a water change yet? 30-50% weekly is best for fish. The info you will get from petco/petsmart is just to sell product. Ask questions here. Nobody’s selling anything . People here really can solve most problems! Again welcome and enjoy your new fish!