mac0eighty mac0eighty
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  • Posted on: 20/5/2020 23:02
Room temp / Sub-tropical nano fish tank #1
Hey All,

New to the forum and a fish noob looking for advise?

Recently purchased a 10-gallon tank and I've planted it with live plants and still trying to get my hands on a few more before I add any fish. A few plants have melted already :(

I want to stock it with nano-size fish (no more than 2 inches) but I'm looking for a variety of fish preferably non-schooling fish.

I'm guarantee going to purchase;
Red cherry shrimp / or Amano Shrimp
Zebra Nerite snail

But I'm stuck picking other fishes when I get to this point of a cycled tank.

I do not plan on having a heater in my tank so this narrows my selection down and I also prefer to get fish that do not school but I'm stuck on which fish do not require a school or a tropical waters - I've been monitoring my tank for a month now and it's gone down to a low of 18c and the highest 24 c.

Can anyone shine some light on which fish that can fit my requirements all year round, I currently live in London (I have a heater on standby for the colder months of the year if need be)

I've made a shortlist just not sure if whether they fit my needs;
Clown Killifish
Scarlet Badis
Bloodfin Tetra
Celestial pearl danio
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Orginal Endlers livebearers
Pygmy Sunfish
Pygmy gourami
Chilli rasbora
Oto Catfish
Albino Catfish

I find my self cutting and chopping my shortlist daily and researching more and more but many sources mention conflicting information.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 21/5/2020 8:16
Re: Room temp / Sub-tropical nano fish tank #2
Hi

Some of those won't be suitable either due to temperature or to the size of the tank. I suggest you check them on this site which is a very reliable source of accurate information: https://seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
fcmf fcmf
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  • Posted on: 21/5/2020 15:28
Re: Room temp / Sub-tropical nano fish tank #3
The link is also good for each species' water hardness requirements, usually cited in ppm (CaCO3) or dh (German degrees hardness). Check CaCO3 and German degrees hardness for your postcode to see which of the species are suitable, as well as the temperature and tank size required for each.

It sounds like you're planning on a silent/planted cycle with fish-in, rather than the more reliable and easier fishless cycle https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... hless-cycling-article.htm
Silent/planted cycle with fish-in, from what I understand, needs the tank to be absolutely rammed full of plants like a jungle (in which case you'd probably never be able to find/see the fish), and also needs the fish to be added almost one at a time (which wouldn't work well if you went for a shoal of fish eg of endlers as they'd be constantly establishing/re-establishing their hierarchy every time a new one is added). If, however, you decide not to follow the fishless cycle method above, then it would be definitely worth having this to hand https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... ammonia-nitrite-spike.htm for if/when you encounter problems.