# Turns out I have hard water!



## Pg92 (Nov 23, 2013)

Unless you have wild caught fish and want to breed them I'm not sure why you are stressing over your water.... I've kept soft water fish including wild caught discus in my tap water with a kh of 22 and Tds of 440+ and in pure RO. They were fine in both.


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## Mrs Behjet (Jan 2, 2014)

No they are captive bred and no, I don't want to breed them but I want them to be as healthy and comfortable and long lived as possible.
Everything I have read on tetras says they need soft water and won't do well in hard water?


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## Pg92 (Nov 23, 2013)

When they are bred in captivity they are bred in tap water. It's cheaper, less work, and they need the minerals to develop. They will be fine, no worries.


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## flukekiller (Jun 4, 2013)

I have neon tetras in my tank and my water is basically liquid rock.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

+1 to pg92's comments. Tetras do fine in tap, pretty sure that whoever you are buying them from has them in the same water. Call the store and ask them.


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## twentypoundtabby (Dec 7, 2013)

Small livebearers such as endlers prefer hard water so they would do quite well in your tank, but you would probably only want males if you didn't want it quickly overrun.


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## svkr2k (Aug 24, 2010)

Mrs Behjet said:


> Are there any fish I could keep in a 24 litre, hard water tank?


Mine too is a hard water tank currently cycling fishless.
As suggested by few forum members a couple of weeks back, I plan to keep Livebearers - guppies, platys and rainbows (i heard that there are few types of rainbows that like hard water).


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## Pg92 (Nov 23, 2013)

xmas_one said:


> +1 to pg92's comments. Neons do fine in tap, pretty sure that whoever you are buying them from has them in the same water. Call the store and ask them.


The owner of this lfs I work at kills more tetras by putting them into RO water. Not many people realize that most tetras are tank raised and kept in tap water. Just because a fish is a soft water fish (discus, angels, tetras, rams, ect.) doesn't mean the one you have came out of the amazon river or any soft water area. You will kill fish through osmotic shock if they came from tap and you put them into low tds water or vise versa.


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## svkr2k (Aug 24, 2010)

flukekiller said:


> I have neon tetras in my tank and my water is basically liquid rock.


just curious to know (i'm a newbee) ... assuming other water parameters/quality is perfect, will tetras kept in hard water tanks live as long as the ones kept in soft water tanks (i really dont know the recommended levels of water hardness, but i have heard it would survive longer in soft water tanks).


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

You and I can wear shoes too small for our feet ,but we are much more comfortable in shoes that fit properly.
Fishes are sorta the same. Can be difference between often sickly fishes,or those that thrive.
Those that claim to keep soft water fishes in hard water with no issues may be the exception rather than the norm (how hard is their water ?) or..they may have managed to keep them but a few week's before the fishes began to do poorly and got sick and died.
They could also be flat lying.(lot's of this on internet).
Many tank raised specimen's that enjoy soft acidic water are bred in RO/tapwater mix,and when removed and placed in hard alkaline water,,they begin slow gradual decline.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Pg92 said:


> When they are bred in captivity they are bred in tap water. It's cheaper, less work, and they need the minerals to develop. They will be fine, no worries.


Many soft water species cannot breed in hard alkaline water.(egg's can't be fertilized due to hardness).
Most who attempt breeding softwater species do so in R/O or ,,R/O tapwater mix,and then slowly increase the hardness by using less and less R/O over day's,week's, in hopes that enough of the the fishes live long enough to sell to you or I.
Some soft water species are more adaptable than other's.


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## mnemenoi (May 28, 2012)

Many species that are found naturally in soft water can survive in hard water. Where many issues arise is in coloration and sexual activity in these specimens. Their colors often appear washed out, and any activity that does occur ends badly as low Ph, soft water inhibits most bacteria and fungus. Those eggs laid in hard water tanks fall victim to contagions and symptoms that these fish never evolved for. Choosing fish with a similar water chemistry is a good idea, but can be difficult in smaller nano tanks. Some that I would recommend would be Psuedomugils, Dwarf Livebearers, Desert gobies and some Stiphodens, danios and look into Celestial Pearl Danios or the Emerald Rasbora. There are a variety of Killifish that are an option and even Ricefish could work if the tank size is appropriate. Neocaridina shrimp do well, as do some Sulawesi shrimp with a high enough temperature. There are a lot of options, but it will take a bit more searching. They can be far more fulfilling to keep as they are comfortable and exhibit more relaxed behavior.


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## Pg92 (Nov 23, 2013)

Yeah I know, it's not an issue here as she isn't worried about breeding


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## Jack Gilvey (Jun 16, 2008)

svkr2k said:


> Mine too is a hard water tank currently cycling fishless.
> As suggested by few forum members a couple of weeks back, I plan to keep Livebearers - guppies, platys and rainbows (i heard that there are few types of rainbows that like hard water).


 Smart move. Go with fish that are most comfortable with the conditions you have. Soft water fish can do OK in hard water, but the fact that they'll only breed in soft water shows you the conditions they _evolved_ in, and where they're happiest. You can't breed that out in a few generations of tank raising.


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