Fish suitable for hard water with high pH?

[splishsplash]

Well, you don't say what size tank you have....but....African cichlids absolutely thrive in hard water conditions and High PH.  Malawi cichlids  like water of a PH of 8 and a hardness of around 13-14.   Most cichlids do best in a larger tank (30 gallons at least) but if you have a smaller tank, you might want to consider shell dwellers. They are tiny cichlids where each female has her own shell, the male has a harem of females, and each successive batch of fry helps to take care of the next batch.  You can have one community of shell dwellers in a ten gallon, and more in something bigger.  They do best in a tank with a sand substrate, as they rearrange thier shells in the sand as it suits them.

If you have a bigger tank, powder blue cichlids and red zebra cichlids aare medium sized cichlids that won't outgrow a 55.  

Oh well, that is my vote for hard water fish. Hope it helps,

Jan

[Bombay]

Thanks for the replies.  The tank is 46 gallons, the pH is 7.6 and KH/GH is 10 or 179ppm.  I want to work within the parameters of the local water supply instead of trying to continually adjust it up or down.

Ray, I guess I would like suggestions of specific varieties.

Jan, I love cichlids, but I don't think they would mix well with the current inhabitants.

Any other suggestions?

[splishsplash]

Sorry, I didn't even see that there were other fish in there.  No, I can't imagine lemon tetras in with cichlids.  But....you could always buy another tank...yeah, that's the ticket, another tank. 100 gallons, stocked with 10 communities of shell dwellers...common, you know ya want too...

Jan

[Bombay]

Jan, yeah I want to, but it won't happen anytime soon.  I just set this tank up in Dec 2000 and I already have another...a smaller goldfish system.  I am getting ready to buy a small sick/acclimation tank.

I'll keep your suggestion in mind though.  Thanks.

Bombay

[Bombay]

What type of fish do you recommend for a freshwater tank with relatively hard water and high pH level?  Currently, I have some lemon tetras, zebra loaches, king tiger pleco, and dwarf gouramis.  The tank is two months old...and just finished cycling.  Doing good.

[raydobbs]

Depends - how high of a pH and how hard the water is.  If these fish have survived, then others of the same tolerance might stand a good chance, but you will have to be careful to look for signs of stress.

[Bombay]

Any other specific suggestions (besides cichlids)?

Thanks
Bombay

[Matt Nace]

Bombay, My PH is 7.6, My water hardness is over 250ppm. I keep every kind of fish without problems. I avoid very sensative fish like Rummynose tetras for example.  The thing is the acclimate to your LFS water, then you need to do a good acclimation to your tank water. That helps them cope with the PH/ Aklinety change. I have kept these fish of the top of my head with no problems

Red eye tetras
Lemon Tetras
Albino black neons
All sorts of Cory catfish
Loaches
Plecoes
Ottoes
Red tail sharks
All Types of Barbs
Irr and bala sharks
Gourmies
All live bearing fish
Cichlids
Shrimp
Snails
Danios
  (These I have kept at one point or another(of the top of my head)

You are not limited to what fish you can get.
I never had problems with fish in my water.They just wont breed if they prefer soft water and lower PH.