Hara jerdoni species tank- questions

[catfishchaos]

Hello everyone!

I the LFS i work at has many

Hara jerdoni

and I have really fallen in love with them! So much so that I purchased a Fluval edge (6 gallon) that I intend to turn into a species tank and a lovely aqua-scape. I have read the COTM and visited the website of whom wrote it as well as combing through a few articles and threads. I still have some questions though.

I know very well that

Hara jerdoni

can be fussy eaters and so I will be avoiding commercial diets and try to stick to mostly frozen foods (brine shrimp, bloodworm, ect) and supplement with some live food ( just grindal worms and mosquito larvae...) does this seem adequate?

I know that these guys do so relish a well planted tank but I'm not quite sure where to draw the line. Would

Hara jerdoni

prefer some sandy areas aside from a heavily planted area or would they prefer everything plants (no visible substrate)? Either way is fine with me but the fish are the #1 priority. I do plan on having a very densely planted area with many "fluffy plants" (Pogostemon erectus, Limnophila hippuridoides) for them to anchor in.

As far as stocking goes, I was looking for some suggestions. I was thinking a group of 5 but let me know what you think I should do. I was also curious about the ideal sex ratio to prevent squabbles?

I will not be heating the tank and it will be kept in a room that is roughly 18-22 C but time will tell how the tank handles temperature.

Let me know what you guys think!
Regards
James

[Silurus]

The natural habitat does not have very dense aquatic-plant growth, so I'd go with some plants and a bare area.

[catfishchaos]

Thanks Silurus!

I'll be sure to leave more sand exposed for the, Im getting this idea of a really dense centre island and allow sand to circle it completely.

Any advice for stocking levels?

[catfishchaos]

Alright so I have done some testing on the water at the house the tank will be at. The PH is 8, the GH is 80 and the KH is 120... I'm not sure how these fish would handle those conditions.

The PH is easy to manage by merely mixing tap water with some distilled water but I am unsure on how to go about fixing the hardness.

Any suggestions?

[DutchFry]

a bit late this reply, but when i kept these i always used rain water for water changes.

it could be worth your while to colllect some rain water and do some testing. usually rain water tends to be more acidic and soft compared to tap water.

if rain water is not an option for you i would leave this species for what it is and focus more on african cichlids (for which you'll need a much bigger tank of course)

good luck

[catfishchaos]

Better late than never!

I have decided to move forward with this tank. Its a 6 gallon tank so I plan on just using run of the mill bottled water and relying on the ADA Ryouh stone to raise the ph and the hardness SLIGHTLY. Any thoughts on stocking levels? I was thinking a group of 4 but I'm open to suggestions.

Regards
James