ericthemantis
04-07-2020, 02:54 PM
Hi all!
Glad to be part of the forum. Joined after watching Al's presentation on youtube (for the 3rd time). Long introductory post ahead!
I've kept several fish tanks over the last 7 years with luke warm success:
Utah
10 gallon with Gourami and 4 neon tetras (sold when I got married) (but had the most success)
4 gallon betta fish tank (1st betta lived 4 years, "Peanut" - moved with us from Texas back to Utah, back to Texas, then to Arizona), next one three months "red fish", the next three months "blue fish", current one 4+ months)
Austin, TX
29 gallon planted with platy (Perry the Platyfish), 6 rummynose tetras, and 3 Angelfish, briefly (1 angel was killed by the other 2, lost all other fish in an unfortunate fertilizer accident) (pool filter sand with fertilizer pellets buried)
-4 tiger barbs and another school of rummynose tetras - gave back to fish store when me moved interstate. (still planted, but didn't add more fertilize and just the plants do whatever)
Phoenix, AZ
29 gallon with platy's and 1 Angelfish (Angelfish passed in about a month, all others within about three months, one by one)
120 gallon pond with 3 goldfish + 2 from a spawning
CURRENT - 2 spawned goldfish now in the 29 gallon tank (pond was a hazard for our 2 kids under 4) - these guys are about 2 years old now, I think the parents were taken by an animal as there was no evidence of them in the pond when it got drained.
4 gallon betta fish tank "Fisher" - named by our 4-year old
I REALLY want to keep Angelfish again, and have a dream of a large, planted Discus tank one day (one of those 4 ft high, custom cabinetry built around it type tanks), but I can't seem to get it right on smaller tanks. I recently acquired a used 55 gallon (found it in someone's bulk trash pick-up pile) and would like to set it up to try an Angelfish only or Discus only tank, but I'm terrified of what to expect.
I've joined cuz I need HELP. What should I be looking at to fix or monitor to try Angelfish again, or even jump into Discus.
Previous tanks were fishless cycled. Other than the fertilizer accident, water quality has always been 0 ppm ammonia and nitrites, <20 ppm Nitrates. The fish have seemingly done much worse in AZ than other places and I'm worried it could be the water.
Parameters out of the tap and aged (doesn't seem to change aged):
ph: 8.0-8.2
KH: 7 deg
GH: 15 deg
Nitrates: <5 ppm
TDS: 350-1450 mg/L, 827 avg (city reported)
Conductivity: 547-2261 us/cm 1293 avg (city reported)
COULD this water support Angelfish and Discus? Anything else I should be looking at? Should I be considering RO with trace element supplementing? Everywhere I read it says no, but my parameters seem to be on the edge or just outside of what I read can support these soft-water fella's.
Thanks for the add to the community, and thanks for the - hopefully - advice!
-Eric
Glad to be part of the forum. Joined after watching Al's presentation on youtube (for the 3rd time). Long introductory post ahead!
I've kept several fish tanks over the last 7 years with luke warm success:
Utah
10 gallon with Gourami and 4 neon tetras (sold when I got married) (but had the most success)
4 gallon betta fish tank (1st betta lived 4 years, "Peanut" - moved with us from Texas back to Utah, back to Texas, then to Arizona), next one three months "red fish", the next three months "blue fish", current one 4+ months)
Austin, TX
29 gallon planted with platy (Perry the Platyfish), 6 rummynose tetras, and 3 Angelfish, briefly (1 angel was killed by the other 2, lost all other fish in an unfortunate fertilizer accident) (pool filter sand with fertilizer pellets buried)
-4 tiger barbs and another school of rummynose tetras - gave back to fish store when me moved interstate. (still planted, but didn't add more fertilize and just the plants do whatever)
Phoenix, AZ
29 gallon with platy's and 1 Angelfish (Angelfish passed in about a month, all others within about three months, one by one)
120 gallon pond with 3 goldfish + 2 from a spawning
CURRENT - 2 spawned goldfish now in the 29 gallon tank (pond was a hazard for our 2 kids under 4) - these guys are about 2 years old now, I think the parents were taken by an animal as there was no evidence of them in the pond when it got drained.
4 gallon betta fish tank "Fisher" - named by our 4-year old
I REALLY want to keep Angelfish again, and have a dream of a large, planted Discus tank one day (one of those 4 ft high, custom cabinetry built around it type tanks), but I can't seem to get it right on smaller tanks. I recently acquired a used 55 gallon (found it in someone's bulk trash pick-up pile) and would like to set it up to try an Angelfish only or Discus only tank, but I'm terrified of what to expect.
I've joined cuz I need HELP. What should I be looking at to fix or monitor to try Angelfish again, or even jump into Discus.
Previous tanks were fishless cycled. Other than the fertilizer accident, water quality has always been 0 ppm ammonia and nitrites, <20 ppm Nitrates. The fish have seemingly done much worse in AZ than other places and I'm worried it could be the water.
Parameters out of the tap and aged (doesn't seem to change aged):
ph: 8.0-8.2
KH: 7 deg
GH: 15 deg
Nitrates: <5 ppm
TDS: 350-1450 mg/L, 827 avg (city reported)
Conductivity: 547-2261 us/cm 1293 avg (city reported)
COULD this water support Angelfish and Discus? Anything else I should be looking at? Should I be considering RO with trace element supplementing? Everywhere I read it says no, but my parameters seem to be on the edge or just outside of what I read can support these soft-water fella's.
Thanks for the add to the community, and thanks for the - hopefully - advice!
-Eric