Compatibility Confusion

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Humphrington
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Hi ::wave::

New here, Lots of questions so hoping to learn a lot from you guys :)

So I'm researching fish for my next planted tank (150x60x60) but all the fish I want have long nippable fins and I'm seeing a lot of vague/contradictory information about the compatibility of different species, It seems to be more of an art than a science, So I thought I'd ask some of the artists :D If any of you have experience with any compatibility issues with any of these I would be grateful for any info.

Gold Nugget Pleco 1
Guppies 20-30
Lyretail Killifish 8
Peacock Goby 4
Spotted Blue Eye 10
German Blue Ram 1
Long Fin Zebra Danio 10
Zebra Snails 2
Yellow Rabbit Snail 1
Shrimp 8

I don't want to breed anything so the plan is to have all males which some say is totally fine while others say it will cause aggression :-/
I read that finding the right balance with numbers of each type will help but I have no experience with some of these fish and again all the different sites say different things so the numbers in green are just my best guesses at how many of each I should have but I am here to be corrected ;)

I would love to add a betta too because I've never kept one before but everything I read is different and some say every betta is different. I understand there are a few things I can do like;
Choose a female
Choose a more passive breed
Make sure the guppies have enough numbers to stop the betta picking one out
Having lots of cover around the tank
Having lots of space
Do you think with all these precautions it would be safe or is it just not worth trying?

Would all the other fish get along and how many of each would you recommend I keep?

Also are there any other quirky colourful fish with long fins that would fit in with these?

Thanks,

Chris.
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PaulVerrall
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Hi, welcome. You'll get all the answers you require here.

I'm no expert, but I can tell you the Ram or any other cichlid cannot go with a Betta fish, this is for the betta fish safety
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Stephen
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Hi Chris and welcome to the forum :)

That is a nice sized aquarium that your thinking of (150x60x60 cm = approx. 5x2x2 foot)

Do you know how hard or soft your water is?
This is important as some of the fish you mention require hard water and some require soft water.
What is your water pH?
If unsure which town do you live as it can be looked up.

There is also a tank water temperature incompatibility issues with your fish list.
Some require cooler water (below 24C) and some require warmer water (above 24C).
Example: Guppy are a hard water fish species and require cooler water, 20-22C is best long-term.
German Blue Ram require soft water and a tank water temperature of around 26C long-term.
Gold Nugget Pleco is basically a soft water fish species but can take some water hardness but requires warmer water (above 25C, around 28C is best long-term).
Lyretail Killifish are another soft water species, tank water of somewhere around 24-26C is best long-term.
Peacock Goby like some water hardness (5-10dGH) and are fine at around 24C long-term.
Spotted Blue Eye require some water hardness and a water temperature of around 25-27C long-term.

A nice choice of fish but a few issues as listed above.
Once you establish your water hardness and pH levels then we could make some suggestions based on your list which would be more compatible.

All the best



Stay safe & healthy everyone
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plankton
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Welcome to the forum. :)
As Stephen says, your choices include hard and soft water fish, so we need the hardness of the water you're going to use.
Gold nugget plecs are very fragile. It is difficult to get them to survive longer than a year unless conditions are spot-on. Soft, acidic water, with few companions to eat the food. They are mainly carnivores, but need some veg and appear to do better with wood in the tank, but I'm not sure whether they need it for digestion or not.
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Gingerlove05
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Hello and welcome :)
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thebendyfox
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Hello and Welcome!

Yup, echoing the experts up in here - if you let us know your water hardness we can advise further.

Also, a good rule of thumb with Bettas is pretty much anything that is territorial, a fin-nipper or in any way aggressive is a no go unfortunately. Most Betta tanks are either solo tanks, or have small peaceful mates such as Rasbora or Tetra. My advice (once we have the info we can exapnd on this) is decide on a theme or "center piece" fish or breed, and then we can work around that.
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Welcome to the forum. :D As others have said once we know your water parameters it will be easier to suggest some compatible fish.

Stephen wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 8:13 am
Spotted Blue Eye require some water hardness and a water temperature of around 25-27C long-term.

Stay safe & healthy everyone
Are you certain about those high temps for spotted blue eyes? Seriously fish says 21-28C and states they have been found in the wild in water measuring 12C. https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/p ... gertrudae/
This site has 23-30C http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/blue-eye/spotted.php
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Hello and welcome :)
Just been looking at those spotted blue eyes, very pretty, but also very small and it says shy, I feel they would be 'lost' in a big tank also they may not like the amount of flow a large filter will produce, small fish in a large tank can work really well but it's better if they are bold and active I'm sure guppies would be fine also active fish like danios, but this would also depend on your water hardness as others have said, usually can be found on your suppliers webpage.
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Humphrington
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Thanks a lot for the replies ::thumb:: ::thumb::

I live in a soft water area apparently, I did check the acceptable ranges when researching the fish and they overlapped I'm sure. Are these suggested ranges too broad?

As for the temperature differences, This is part of the contradictory info I was talking about, I checked acceptable ranges but everywhere is saying different numbers so I just tried to get an average and use that while staying away from either end of the spectrum.
I thought this would be acceptable but was unsure enough to post here because of the inconsistency of these sites.

EDIT*

I was planning to use 25.5c and 7ph
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Stephen
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As you apparently live in a soft water area then some fish would not be recommended such as guppy.
Guppy and other hard water fish species need hard water for osmoregulation, otherwise they will suffer and usually die prematurely from organ failure.
As you apparently live in a soft water area then there are literally 1000s of fish species to choose from.
It is then the case of finding soft water fish species that are compatible with each other and also aquarium water temperature compatible.
When looking at the temperature ranges on some websites then working with the average of those ranges is advisable.
Example: fish "A" advertised range of 20-28C then 24C would be the average and the temperature to work to long-term.
Example: fish "B" advertised range of 23-29C then 26C would be the average and the temperature to work to long-term.
24-26C (25C) would be a good compromise for both fish without going to the extremes. The extreme of the ranges are usually fine short-term during the warmer/colder weather of summer/winter.
Example: fish "C" advertised range of 16-24C then 20C would be the average and the temperature to work to long-term but out of the compromised temperature of fish "A" & fish "B" as the compromised temperature of 24-26C would be too warm long-term.

Hope it helps


Stay safe & healthy everyone
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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