hello! beginners advice please choosing fish

[cheesecheeseplease]

I'm new in here so hello everyone but have been lurking for a while. I've just wet up my Rio 125 and have started my fishless cycle. Thing is I'm not overly sure what to put in it! I was thinking, neons, cherry barbs, pair of gouramis and a few loaches. what would you all suggest? the water round here is fairly hard .
Thank you .

[EauRouge]

125 litres and a fishless cycle! Brilliant, no problems so far

How hard is your water? Most of the fish you have listed prefer soft water- this doesn't mean that you can't keep them if your water is a little on the hard side, but they won't thrive as much and may not show such bright colours.

I've got cherry barbs, I have neutral hard-ish water and they are doing really well.

Have you tested the pH of your water as well? That will rule out a few species.

If you had your heart set on soft water species then you could always use RO water- it's expensive though.

[cheesecheeseplease]

I haven't water tested yet as I'm waiting for my api master to arrive . I'm basing hard water assumption on the scale in the kettle ! garden center down the road sells ro but I'm not sure how much. will check ph and let you know thanks for your help

[EauRouge]

API master kit! You aren't going to need much help at all, you've got it all right so far.

There are loads of really nice hard water fish- they aren't as well known as some as the soft water fish but there's still plenty of choice. Have a look at freshwater rainbow fish.

[cheesecheeseplease]

lol iv been. reading your advice in preparation. I had marine when I was a teenager but twas many years ago now!

[Marne]

We have hardish water, I have just started stoking my 200ltr tank, I have guppies, endlers (from my old tank) and have just bought a pair of gourami and some bandit cory's. oh and I also have bristle nose plec's (always forget them as they are often hiding) .

[cheesecheeseplease]

Ph 7.8 ? Bad or ok

[EauRouge]

7.8 isn't bad, you just need to choose your fish to suit the water. It's too alkaline for the fish you mentioned in your original post (with the possible exception of cherry barbs, but you'd be pushing it a bit) but there's still plenty to choose from.

This is a really good article that should give you some ideas.

[cheesecheeseplease]

thanks eau that's really interesting will ha e a think and a nose round shop and see what they have .

[cheesecheeseplease]

eau I thinks it's cycled ammonia and nitite at 0 nitrate at 30ppm I've done a 20% change today so will test again in a few days am I ready for fish?

[EauRouge]

How much ammonia have you been adding? Have you added anything else like filter boost or borrowed a bit of someone else's filter? It usually takes at least 4 weeks for a tank to cycle.

[cheesecheeseplease]

I've been using waterlife bio culture every day

[EauRouge]

Does it have any ammonia in it? If you want to know for sure whether the tank is cycled, get some household ammonia and get your water to 4 ppm of ammonia, and then wait and see. I've tried a couple of different instant cycle products and they've all been crap but you might have got lucky. I wouldn't trust any of them with a fish's life though.

[cheesecheeseplease]

Right it doesn't have any ammonia in it. When I started the tank I put in quick start then read about fishless cycling so didn't put any fish in 4 days later ammonia was 1.0ppm nitrites 1.0ppm nitrates 40ppm on 26/8 29/8 amm .25 nitrite 5.00 nitrate 80!
1/9amm between .25/0 nitrite 1.0 nitrate 80. today 20% wc amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 30ppm
im confused

[cheesecheeseplease]

where do you buy ammonia?

[EauRouge]

You can get it on Amazon, it's called household ammonia. Do not sniff it!

It sounds as though something might be happening but in very tiny amounts. 1ppm of ammonia isn't much so you'll need more than that to kick the cycle off and get the tank ready for fish.