My 40L nano

[plankton]

It might be too hard for sparklies - they do need softer water. Yours is slightly hard.

[jammedfool]

Lets see how these guppies do, I'll do some research on which fish like hard water... Danios maybe...

I'll have more options with the bigger tank, this one may end up being for guppies & shrimp,

[plankton]

The guppies should be fine, they like it slightly hard.

[jammedfool]

Looks like a trip to LFS today. Possibly just for some Amano friends for Pedro and maybe some neos too. Water parameters are stable and the guppies seem happy

Having thoughts and seeing other posts about hard water... How about croaking gourami in this tank?
And anyone keep pygmy cories in hard water? I've seen on other sites varying results; seriouslyfish says up to 15dH, while recommended below 8dH... not sure what that's meant to mean in terms of advice

[plankton]

Croaking gourami (if you can get them easily nowadays) need soft water as well long-term, there's only one gourami (as far as I can tell) that prefers hard water, and that's the Giant gourami (which are getting on for two foot long) that needs a mahoosive tank.

[jammedfool]

I was going off Stephen's suggestion on another hard water stocking suggestions thread for that one, but they don't have them anyway.

So I asked in the store and from various sites, people have said pygmy cories often do well in hard water, even breeding. So yesterday I came home with 6 of the little guys!
They seem pretty happy, shoaling together although a couple of them split off and do their own thing now and again. Pretty sure I have a mix of sexes but I can't really tell at the moment, 1 or 2 are more slender than others.

[plankton]

Just remember they should live to about 8-10 years, anything less is a failure.
This batch of pygmeus are the longest I've ever managed to keep them at about 2 years, and my water's much softer than yours.

[jammedfool]

Did a quick bit of maintenance this evening...

Well, first time I've given the sponges a squeeze since setup and the flow rate seems to be much higher again!
On the plus side, the cories seem to be loving it, and are a bit more active straight away.
Downside, the guppies seem to have the hump and are sitting in the middle of the tank, though there are plenty of areas where the flow is not so high, they have picked right in the center!
Despite stirring up a bit of leftover gunk with the vacuum, the water seems fairly healthy and PH was at 7.6 also.

[plankton]

My guppies love the flow, they even get in the flow when I pour fresh water in during the change....nutters!

[jammedfool]

Don't sneeze girls!



Meanwhile I have 5 cories playing happily together and then another is a bit of a loner not very active :/ there's always one not in the group, I can't tell if the same one. Is that worrying or just normal for them to rest in the same place a while?

Edit: all playing happily now! Worry over