Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldfishlady
Most of the farm raised fish will adapt to your source water and you can usually keep them long term without any problems, however, if you get wild caught soft water species or if you want to breed soft water species-Then you would need to change the pH/KH/GH of the source water by using R/O or rainwater.
Generally most fish you see at pet shops have adapted to the high pH and harder water than their native waters from years of being kept in the different chemistry-Most farm bred fish haven't been kept in their native chemistry for a really long time.
Do you know the KH/GH of your source water.
Your pH is 8-8.4 correct and this is after the 24h degassing without any additives-correct. You are using a liquid reagent type testing products and you don't have any type of water softening unit hooked up to the house that uses salt-correct....
With 10gal you are limited-what I would recommend-go where you plan to buy your fish and look at what you like. Find out if they are wild caught or farm raised and location reared/bred-Most of pet shops get farmed raised fish from Florida or the USA and these fish are usually already adapted, however, there are some exceptions.....
Then research-paying more attention to-adult size when fully grown, social needs, territory needs, food/feeding, temp ranges, compatibility and general tank size.
Since you don't want reproduction-I wouldn't worry too much about pH/KH/GH of your source water.
My well water-pH 8.8 with the KH/GH over 300-I call it liquid rock...lol...I keep soft water species without any problems, however, when I want to breed-I do have to soften the water by using rainwater-otherwise the eggs won''t hatch-but once the fry are roughly 4-6 weeks of age-I start using my hard water for water changes to get them adapted back to my well water. I have raised thousands of soft water fish like this over the years without any long term problems and they reach their expected longevity.
Do you plan on adding live plants.
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Thank you for everybody that posted :)
Some of you might have read my ph wrong,
my ph is 8.0 with NO additives, but i do use tetra dechlorinator. I do not have anything linked to my house. Just regular tap-water.
Most of my local fish are farm-raised, yes :)
My concern is though that all the fish from my LFS have died when i used to have them, and i thought it was my water parameters, but then again, it could have been my inexperience.
i have had(not all at same time, i was inexperienced)
-danios
-neon tetras
-otos
-guppies
-mystery snail
ALL with no success except bettas.
So, i dont want to go down that path again, unless i can do it right :)
My local Petsmart and Petco said most of their livestock is farm-raised.
OFL, i have never had live plants, but i would love to try them!
I would like there to be sand in this tank...so i dont know....
since i would have sand, would pool filter sand work?
Could i add some MTS?
Thanks everybody, just want to do it right!
Casper, my HMDT is doing great, and like you all said, after 2 week, he marbled!!
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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