My tap water is hard, but neutral (7.0 pH). I've had good luck with goldfish, tetras (Neons, Glowlights and Black Neons), Giant Danios, Ancistrus and Clown Plecos.
One of the best pieces of advice is to investigate the water in your area and choose fish that are suited to it. I live in Louisville, Kentucky in America and it is a hard water town so hard water fish are better for me.
yeah, I live in Taos, NM and the water is also basically liquid rock...the only plants I seem to be able to grow is java moss...I can't even get java fern to grow. Have you found any live aquatic plants that do well in such hard water?? So frustrating.
Hi Heidi... I agree with your mom! Every mollie I've brought into one of my tanks has gotten Ich. I won't even consider buying one anymore. Too bad for me cause they are so pretty and they don't mind hard water which is what I have. All the other livebearers you mention I have done wonderful with in hard water. Btw your little girl is adorable!
I never had interest in live bearing fish, they dont have much personality. I had cichlids for the longest time but now consider the interesting combos of cross breeding sword tails, mollies and guppies. I never knew you could do that. Thanks for the info
You look too young to have been keeping fish for 25 years! (not an insult :) ) and thank you for this video, I have hard water too, my hope was to have angelfish but now I know other options
I'm pretty new to aquarium keeping (just over a month new) and got into it for the aquatic plants in truth. In trying to grow lotus in a small tank with no mechanics (I didn't want a whole set up & thought it would be the perfect environment for the flowers), I decided to get a couple 'mystery' snails to help with the potential of algae that would be inevitable. Easy peasy right? Well...I'm totally into them now. I have a total of 4 mysteries now (healthy and growing fast!) one of which had to be put in his own tank for his brutal tactics on the other snails. So yeah. Not only do I now have an actual aquarium with filter and bubbler and gastropods, but I've got TWO tanks now. One 10 gallon and one 2.5 gallon. Here's the point of my comment now LOL: Is there any kind of fish that a)won't eat my snails, b) would be alright in very hard water (I've got crushed coral in the filter, liquid calcium once a week, cuttlebone sunk to the bottom for nibbling and Snell-O with LOADS of calcium carbonate powder for them) and c) would not grow awful large in my 10 gallon and finally d) would be alright living solo as I don't want a school/community and certainly no babies being born if possible. I fully understand at some point my 3 snails will outgrow their 10 gallon but I'd rather cross that bridge when I get to it. I think I'd just really like something to look at while my aquarium elephants are dozing (they sleep like cats!). Maybe I'm too new to aquariuming and haven't got the knowledge to understand the fish part yet, but it would be great to have someone help eat all the floaties as clearly my lil buddies are bottom dwellers. And wall dwellers. And moss ball dwellers. And thermometer dwellers...well you get the point. I have loads of live plants and lava rock all around the tank so something that won't eat the plants OR the snails would be great if anyone has any suggestions! Thanks in advance for any and all replies!
Hello, What are your water conditions and how often are you changing the water etc? Do you have test strips? Is there a lot of flow in your tank? The water in my area is extremely hard but I am able to keep a lot of different fish in my planted tanks. What is your Gh at? (General Hardness)
Platies get ich. I have Platies and Gumpies in my 29 gallons aquarium. They also get stress very easily. Guppies are awsome. I haven't had any issues with guppies. I have two that are very pregnant still waiting for them to have babies.
Any fish can definitely be prone to ick! I’ve never had it on my platies personally but ick x or rid ich plus are both the same active ingredients and are safe for inverts and plants in my experience and work excellent. If you don’t have plants in the tank salt can help too and both guppies and platies do well with salt.
I really enjoyed my guppies, but I couldnt find a place to unload the fry and it turned into a mess with too heavy stocking and THEY - DONT - STOP - BREEDING 😂 Get males only 🤗
Molly's are amazing saltwater fish. If you think guppies are prolific they don't hold a candle against a molly in a saltwater tank. Also I have never had a problem taking adult sailfin mollys and switching them from freshwater to saltwater. I just drip acclimate for an hour or so and put them in.
Are guppies fine for starting out on a 30 gallon tank? My son wanted a fish tank and my dad bought it for him and we got neon tetras and 2 little sucker fish. I been having bad luck with the neons. So I want easier fish to start out while I figure all this out and learn lol if anyone wants to give me advice I’d appreciate it so much. I had the tank set up last two months and my son brought home 8 neon tetras last week and 2 sucker fish. 3 neons already died the second day 😢
Late comment but my tap water is really hard, and my ph is 9.0 could these fish still thrive in it? (Lots of old limestone quarries scattered arround where i live which is the only reason i can think of why the water ph is so high
They do okay. They are very hardy, especially the splendens. Wild bettas tend to do better in soft water environments like black water tanks but I have a betta in my soft water discus tank and a betta in my hard water livebearer tank and they both do quite well.
Awesome, I was worried about my splendid. He is thriving so far ( one month) in 7.8 to 8.2 ph. My water is very hard. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I really enjoy him, he acts like my dogs when I get near the tank, such a ham! :)
Hi Heidi I live in AZ also and I have noticed we have major hard water so when I do my water changes I have been putting water conditioner in there. Should I not do that anymore? I just had some guppy fry 3 days ago to.Very helpful info by the way👍🏼
You still want to use the conditioner. It dechlorinates it. It will still be hard water and have all the good minerals but it removes the chlorine which is dangerous.
What do you think i should get for my 30 gallon tall community out of cherry barbs or ember tetra or black widow or neon tetra or Glowlight Tetra or Rasbora het
That's a great video idea. Since I can't get to it right away I'll just quickly respond and say that stability is more important than chasing the perfect pH.
My tap water is hard, but neutral (7.0 pH). I've had good luck with goldfish, tetras (Neons, Glowlights and Black Neons), Giant Danios, Ancistrus and Clown Plecos.
Thank you. My ph is 8.8 and I was feeling discouraged. Feeling more optimistic now.
African cichlids could be another option for you.
I got sent away at the fish store because my ph is 7.4. (New Fishless tank)
Haha that's nuts!
That is literally the highest PH I ever heard about from a tap. You must be sitting on some serious limestone.
@@chrisb778 That's really interesting, since plenty of fish do really well at the 7.4-7.6 range... Huh
Great vid! Very informative for a lot of north Americans. Kudos and thanks!
I've had saltwater and freshwater fish for thirty years and I just tried to like your video more than once. Thank you for the great video!
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Thanks for watching. I hope it's helpful.
My guppies are my children.😂🖤
I also have 3 Dalmatian Molly’s.
Yours must be quite a large family ...
What size tank do you have?
One of the best pieces of advice is to investigate the water in your area and choose fish that are suited to it. I live in Louisville, Kentucky in America and it is a hard water town so hard water fish are better for me.
Definitely. It’s a lot easier to keep fish that like your water than to try to fight your parameters!
yeah, I live in Taos, NM and the water is also basically liquid rock...the only plants I seem to be able to grow is java moss...I can't even get java fern to grow. Have you found any live aquatic plants that do well in such hard water?? So frustrating.
And maybe, a fish room tour/all my tanks video plzzzzz :)
I really need to film that. It's changed a bunch since we moved.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, beautiful eyes.
@Rock Shoulder haha for real.
Hi Heidi... I agree with your mom! Every mollie I've brought into one of my tanks has gotten Ich. I won't even consider buying one anymore. Too bad for me cause they are so pretty and they don't mind hard water which is what I have. All the other livebearers you mention I have done wonderful with in hard water. Btw your little girl is adorable!
Thank you so much
Hi so you mean to say bettas are okay in super hard water?
Thank u so much!
Mollies are my favorite.
I never had interest in live bearing fish, they dont have much personality. I had cichlids for the longest time but now consider the interesting combos of cross breeding sword tails, mollies and guppies. I never knew you could do that.
Thanks for the info
1:13 You hit the nail on the head !!!!
Oh! Crustaceans and snails for hard water!
Hi I have a tropical tank could I have a clown fish in it if not could I somehow make my tank into a saltwater because I rlly want a clown fish
You look too young to have been keeping fish for 25 years! (not an insult :) ) and thank you for this video, I have hard water too, my hope was to have angelfish but now I know other options
what a weird comment.
Your voice very very nice👏👍 🥳
I'm pretty new to aquarium keeping (just over a month new) and got into it for the aquatic plants in truth. In trying to grow lotus in a small tank with no mechanics (I didn't want a whole set up & thought it would be the perfect environment for the flowers), I decided to get a couple 'mystery' snails to help with the potential of algae that would be inevitable. Easy peasy right? Well...I'm totally into them now. I have a total of 4 mysteries now (healthy and growing fast!) one of which had to be put in his own tank for his brutal tactics on the other snails. So yeah. Not only do I now have an actual aquarium with filter and bubbler and gastropods, but I've got TWO tanks now. One 10 gallon and one 2.5 gallon. Here's the point of my comment now LOL: Is there any kind of fish that a)won't eat my snails, b) would be alright in very hard water (I've got crushed coral in the filter, liquid calcium once a week, cuttlebone sunk to the bottom for nibbling and Snell-O with LOADS of calcium carbonate powder for them) and c) would not grow awful large in my 10 gallon and finally d) would be alright living solo as I don't want a school/community and certainly no babies being born if possible. I fully understand at some point my 3 snails will outgrow their 10 gallon but I'd rather cross that bridge when I get to it. I think I'd just really like something to look at while my aquarium elephants are dozing (they sleep like cats!). Maybe I'm too new to aquariuming and haven't got the knowledge to understand the fish part yet, but it would be great to have someone help eat all the floaties as clearly my lil buddies are bottom dwellers. And wall dwellers. And moss ball dwellers. And thermometer dwellers...well you get the point. I have loads of live plants and lava rock all around the tank so something that won't eat the plants OR the snails would be great if anyone has any suggestions! Thanks in advance for any and all replies!
Hello, What are your water conditions and how often are you changing the water etc? Do you have test strips? Is there a lot of flow in your tank? The water in my area is extremely hard but I am able to keep a lot of different fish in my planted tanks. What is your Gh at? (General Hardness)
Thanks for the great information for your fellow hardwater fishkeepers. Nice to see some love for the Endlers! :)
Love Endlers
Platies get ich. I have Platies and Gumpies in my 29 gallons aquarium. They also get stress very easily. Guppies are awsome. I haven't had any issues with guppies. I have two that are very pregnant still waiting for them to have babies.
Any fish can definitely be prone to ick! I’ve never had it on my platies personally but ick x or rid ich plus are both the same active ingredients and are safe for inverts and plants in my experience and work excellent. If you don’t have plants in the tank salt can help too and both guppies and platies do well with salt.
I really enjoyed my guppies, but I couldnt find a place to unload the fry and it turned into a mess with too heavy stocking and THEY - DONT - STOP - BREEDING 😂
Get males only 🤗
Molly's are amazing saltwater fish. If you think guppies are prolific they don't hold a candle against a molly in a saltwater tank. Also I have never had a problem taking adult sailfin mollys and switching them from freshwater to saltwater. I just drip acclimate for an hour or so and put them in.
your eyes are incredible , I understand why your waters hard......
New beginner setting up 37gallon tank, yet to add fishes. We want to add tettras but my ph is stable with 8.2. I am frustrated
im sure now u have it now canni see the fish setup plz
I've seen swordtails change sex, too. Might mention that. :)
Are guppies fine for starting out on a 30 gallon tank? My son wanted a fish tank and my dad bought it for him and we got neon tetras and 2 little sucker fish. I been having bad luck with the neons. So I want easier fish to start out while I figure all this out and learn lol if anyone wants to give me advice I’d appreciate it so much. I had the tank set up last two months and my son brought home 8 neon tetras last week and 2 sucker fish. 3 neons already died the second day 😢
Late comment but my tap water is really hard, and my ph is 9.0 could these fish still thrive in it? (Lots of old limestone quarries scattered arround where i live which is the only reason i can think of why the water ph is so high
I got weird water my water has a high ph and soft water
Great informational video, but that position does not look comfortable 😅
Do you have Bettas in your hard water?
They do okay. They are very hardy, especially the splendens. Wild bettas tend to do better in soft water environments like black water tanks but I have a betta in my soft water discus tank and a betta in my hard water livebearer tank and they both do quite well.
Awesome, I was worried about my splendid. He is thriving so far ( one month) in 7.8 to 8.2 ph. My water is very hard. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I really enjoy him, he acts like my dogs when I get near the tank, such a ham! :)
@@heidisfishtank7543 thank you too. I had almost the same question but what ph do you have on tap water and on the tank?
Hi Heidi I live in AZ also and I have noticed we have major hard water so when I do my water changes I have been putting water conditioner in there. Should I not do that anymore? I just had some guppy fry 3 days ago to.Very helpful info by the way👍🏼
You still want to use the conditioner. It dechlorinates it. It will still be hard water and have all the good minerals but it removes the chlorine which is dangerous.
U are very knowledgeable helpful video are u on fb
What’s the smallest tank you can put guppies in and how many
The general rule of thumb is 1 guppy per gallon.
What do you think i should get for my 30 gallon tall community out of cherry barbs or ember tetra or black widow or neon tetra or Glowlight Tetra or Rasbora het
wait, what? Guppies, Endlers, Swordtail, Molly, ... what did I miss?
Could you do a video on lowering/raising ph in tanks? It could come very helpful
That's a great video idea. Since I can't get to it right away I'll just quickly respond and say that stability is more important than chasing the perfect pH.
I had two guppies and they both died. I think it was my pH of 6.2.
Very low they need 7-8 ph
Oh wait WHAT? What's the difference between aquarium salt and marine salt ?¿?
Marine salt has lots of other minerals whereas aquarium salt is just pure nacl (sodium chloride)
You have nice blue eyes
Those are contacts.
The first ones will die in hard WATTER XD my mollies are the only.ones that survived.
Ever Weaver dude my guppies only stopped dying when I used hard water
You failed to mention that all these fish eat plants
she did mention it
Have you thought about having an RODI system to remove all the minerals?
James Wagner I would not recommend RODI for any of these fish. I run it for my saltwater tanks and my freshwater discus/tetra tank though.
That's good to know, thank you
Why the hell she has those irresistible eyes... Lol
Dude there soft water
Your water isn't the only thing that is hard
woahhhhh
You talk too much try to make your videos simpler i had to run the video on 2x speed and it didn't really help
Whatever thanks