Moving to Ottawa - advice please

[Leifish]

Hi! I'm moving from peterborough to Ottawa city this july. Looking for advice on what livestock I can keep and what I should sell/rehome. Any members who have moved to Ottawa or who could help advise - would greatly appreciate it!

I'd strongly prefer to avoid working against the water chemistry out of the tap if possible. I don't have experience modifying water chemistry and have instead worked to select fish that tend to thrive in the tap water as it is.

From what I understand, Ottawa tap water tends to be soft (30ppm) with high Ph (8-9). I've seen some older posts elsewhere about how Ottawa uses chloramine (not chlorine) and that very cold water in winter can have a lot of compressed gasses in it that need to equalize before water changes. So I know about that stuff, and what I'm really interested in here is info that'll help me decide what to put through the stress of moving & what to re-home before we move.

The tap water I work with in Peterborough: (tested using API drop/test tube kit) =

•   KH around 4 or approx 70ppm.

•   GH tends to be around 6-8 (107-143).

•   TDS (cheap metre) in my tanks is usually around 110-140ppm

•   I do not test KH/GH often as I found a balance a while ago, selected fish that are well adjusted to it, and just work with the water rather than against it.

•   Ph of around 7.8-8+ and very stable even in tanks that are over three years old - buffering seems to be solid.

•   Tanks tend to be moderately to heavily planted, and I use some root tabs but don't dose many ferts into the column as that has resulted in too much algae in the past.

I use some fluval stratum, a large piece of mopani drift wood, and some weathered mullberry branches in one of my tanks. This does not seem to alter Ph compared to tanks without such materials.

Livestock list follows - please share your advice on what will do well and what will NOT do well in Ottawa water with minimal hardness monitoring/manipulation.

•   Corydoras napoensis (seriouslyfish.com suggests ph 6-7.4, hardness 1-12)

•   Endlers Guppies - mixed group that does not seem to have been line bread

•   Kribensis

•   Bristlenose plecos

•   Pseudomugil luminatus

•   Neocaridina "blue" (these seem like a bad idea in soft water?)

•   A few nerite snails

•   A few amano shrimp


Thank you!

[Dxpert]

Welcome! I've seen all of your stock be very successful in Ottawa tanks. I don't think you will have a problem. Your PH reading of Ottawa water is a bit high, based on my experience.

[Laura]

Welcome! I've kept corys, nerites and amanos without an issue. Don't recall the water parameters, but I had no issues with keeping them.