hi al

I am a resident in a physically disabled care home in Gloucestershire and I have taken on responsibility for a communal 180-200 L tropical fish tank in our dining room.

the tank has a new filter which is a tetra EX 800.

my first question is roughly how many fish can you have in a tank of this size.

The tank already has several fish in it, including 4-5 neon tetras and 3 Platties.

I want to populate the tank with some more fish but don't know what to get! I want to try and make this tank as eye-catchingas possible.

I was thinking about a large school of Cardinal Tetra's along with a school of Cory catfish? however The other residents would like individual fish they could name and was thinking about baitters.

would these three types of fish work well together in a community tank?

Many thanks for any advice!

I would advise opting for fish that match the natural softness/hardness of the water in your area.

Look up the postcode of the carehome on the water company's website to find out the actual numerical level/measurement in CaCO3 or ppm of the water. Once you let us know that, we can then advise on appropriate fish that would fare best in that water (ie be less prone to health problems).

This https://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/ is a more up-to-date version of this https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/caresheets/ for inspiration on the types of fish.

Your idea of schooling fish like tetras and cory catfish is a much more realistic suggestion than individual fish.

Re bettas, they are best kept in a species-specific tank - a male should be kept as a single fish in a tank of its own, although multiple females can be kept as a sorority in a tank of their own.

thanks very much for the info!

according to Google the Gloucester area has hard water.

I don't have a clue how to get an exact figure . if somebody could point me to a website I can get this information from I'd be grateful!

been doing some research on fish types and here is what I'm thinking:
we already have five neon tetra and three platies.

I have no idea how many the maximum is so here is my rough list of fish :
up to 20 neon or Cardinal tetras
6 Cory catfish or Loach style finish
one or two dwarf style gourami

would you say this istoo many ?

thanks

https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/wa ... rstanding-water-hardness/ The water hardness for a postcode is provided in degrees Clark/French/German. Look up the postcode for the home and see what it specifies the results as.

Cardinal tetras require https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/paracheirodon-axelrodi a range of 18-215 ppm which equates to 1-12 German degrees hardness. The numbers you suggest sound fine to me but you might like to play around with https://aqadvisor.com/ and https://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-profiles to see how many they suggest for a tank of those dimensions and the compatibilities of the species you're thinking of. NB. they vary, so I would urge on the side of understocking.

Let us know what your water hardness is, then we can advise further on potential species and stocking numbers and compatibilities.