High end hard water fish

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Beetlebug515

Beetlebug515

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jul 28, 2015
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Hey guys. I have a couple of life events going on that are driving a possible big change in the way I enjoy my hobby. I need to simplify. I'm thinking of emptying my 250 for something easy and predictable. 250 stock:

1 red bay snook
1 mono pbass
1 temensis pbass
1 bgk
1 ripsaw catfish
1 giraffe cat
1 flagtail prochilodous
1 spotted pike characin
2 geophagus winemelleri
3 geophagus red head tapajos

Obviously this grab bag of fish does present some challenges. Aggression, water conditions, and eventual size being among them. As I said, certain life events are prohibiting me from maintaining my tank as meticulously as I usually do and I'm thinking of changing everything out for something that will truly thrive in the setup I have to offer (with the exception of the pandas. They stay).

My water conditions are very hard, gh of 20 kh of 15 and the ph is high at 8.0 usually so I'm looking for something that will do well in these conditions. The caveat: I refuse to go out and buy from the tank of "assorted African cichlids" that we have all seen. I'm not too well versed in Africans, or hard water fish in general, but I want something special. Whether it's a school of some awesome fish, or a single specimen.

My thoughts are leaning towards a species tank (wild frontosa for example) or a single specimen tank (jardini). Any suggestions would be awesome. Thanks in advance.
 
Anyone have suggestions? I'm seriously considering a tank of kitumba purple frontosa if I can find them, and everything works out in my favor.
 
Most cichlid species from Central America "are" hard water fish (your Petunia splendida included).
Everything from Herichthys in the north, to Astatheros in Panama in the south, and into the festae from the western slopes of South America have hard waters.
In Panama where I live, Lake Gatun can have pH values up into the 9 area.
The cenotes in the Yucatan are created when the limestone (very basic) collapse, so the waters inside are full of calcium, with a high alkalinity, and high pH.
The idea that Central American cichlids need soft water is totally erroneous
 
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Have you looked at African Scats. They are a schooling fish, so you should buy at least six but they are extremely hardy, grow quite large and look very good. They are technically supposed to become brackish and then full marine over their lifetime, but many keep them in freshwater for life. With the hard levels of your water, I'm sure they will thrive without any addition of marine salt. They also eat anything and everything, and they grow really fast. I would definitely not recommend more than six for your tank. They are usually pricey though, at about $100ea for smaller juveniles, but very beautiful and extremely hardy fish.
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
NATIVE FISH!
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That's a decent idea, but there aren't any natural lakes or rivers nearby here in San Diego. It's all reservoirs stocked with channel cats.

Fish Tank Travis said:
Have you looked at African Scats.
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Should have thought about what I was doing when I googled "African scat". Great looking fish though, particularly the tiger scat. I'll have to look into them more.

duanes said:
The idea that Central American cichlids need soft water is totally erroneous
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I agree. I'm not opposed to smaller CA cichlids either. The splendida is doing very well, but i figure if I'm going to change something I might as well change all of it.
 
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