Will Tetras Survive In My Tank

[LosC]

I was thinking about adding cardinals or neons to my tank, could they survive in my tank with a pH of 7.6? I find this weird because my tap water has a pH of 7.0. What is causing the 7.6 pH in my tank?

[shalafi04]

we cant really help unless you tell us whats in the tank?? sand, substrate, gravel, live plants, fake plants, rocks, drift wood???

[LosC]

My pH has always been at 7.6, even when I first set it up a couple weeks ago with only 2 smalls ornaments, gravel and my male betta Charlie who I moved out once my cycling started and now back in since I started using seachem today. Right now I have a few more ornaments, some small fake plants.

[LosC]

Anyone have experience with tetras and a betta? My betta seems to get along fine with my corys. But the tetras are alot faster and brighter.

[Harls]

bettas and tetras are fine!!

[dgoulston]

I am new to this too, but i have been told over and over agian, that Neon Tetras will nip at Bettas fins, by people on these forums & LFS's

I have Tetras, and they are not as "durable" as other fish, my PH is 7.5 and hits 8 sometimes (only tested using the 5in1 test kit so not too acurate) and i purchased 10 neons at first (my first fish) 2 glass cat fish, and 2 talking white spottied catfish,

i now have 6 neon tetras, 2 talking white catfish, 10 mollies, & some mollie babies and they all seem to be thriving,
The neons i think are easily stressed, and were all hiding at the back of the tank when i got them (did by them from P@H who dont really look after their fish), but the remaining 6 have settled in now, and are looking really bright! so everything seems good now.

but both my glass catfish just died, didnt seem unhealthy or anything, but did not seem to eat with the rest of the fish, so that my be why.. dont know. 1 min they are swimming about healthy and next dead.

[travie]

They could go together. Depends on the individual fish. If you do go with the neons, acclimate them very slowly, so that they gradually get use to the high pH.

[LosC]

Can anyone recommend a certain kind of tetra for a beginner 20g? A hardier species which would be able to thrive in higher pH. I'd like to know more about there natural environment so I could set up my tank better.

[NickFish]

Can anyone recommend a certain kind of tetra for a beginner 20g? A hardier species which would be able to thrive in higher pH. I'd like to know more about there natural environment so I could set up my tank better.

Harlequin rasboras are great beginner "tetras", and beginner fish for that matter. While not actually tetras they are nearly identical in care and behaviour. They naturally come from thailand I believe, and like driftwood and lots of plants.

Rummynose are good too, and I've kept both in a pH identical to yours.

[Nautilus291]

Really almost all fish that you buy in fishstores are raised in higher phs anyways so you should be fine.

I was wondering are you running an airstone. Oxygen raises the ph in your tank so if you are running an airstone in your tank that could be the cause of your high ph.

[LosC]

I don't have an airstone but I have an air hose connected to my filter with the valve slightly open. I'll try closing the valve completely, see what happens. Is it really that difficult to maintain live plants in a small tank? I'm just a beginner. Can I grow plants in gravel?