Ektozon-salt to Apistogramma?

[johnsson_82]

I´ve done something stupid. Recently my Ap. hongsloi male died after spawning with his female. I waited and it didn't seem to be any eggs or fries. Alright nothing to do then, except buying a new male for my female. And that's what I did. Yesterday I let him in to the tank and the female was very aggresive to him. Not surprisingly. When I woke up to day there were about 40 small fries around the female and the male was hiding under a root.

Happy I got fries but this wasn't really the plan. The male will probobly die since he's new and the female is harassing the male pretty bad everytime he tries to leave his hidingspot.

My plan for now is to to move the male to a new tank as fast as possible. I put it up today. Except for tapwater (that's very soft) I added Sera aquatan, Sera nitrivec and som "dirty" filterwater from my other tank. Eveything is running know. I'm moving the male to the new tank tomorrow. I know this is a bad idea since the tank isn't mature yet, but what can I do? The male will probobly die of stress if he's stays. I get that it will be very stressful for him to move to a new tank again but he might live since he's the only fish in there.

So this was the long background for my question. Can i put Ektozon salt in the new tank? I know that salt in the water is calming for some fish but does this include Apistogrammas? Does anyone have experience of this?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Try some more cover for the male and importantly with some floating pipes, have a look at "Regani's" pictures in this post <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/10-gallon-apisto-setups.13178/#post-72673>.

This is how I keep my tanks. It looks cluttered, but the fish do really well in "jungles".

....some "dirty" filterwater from my other tank. Eveything is running know.

This won't really help unless you've soaked the filter sponge in the squeezings from an established filter. Could you move an actual sponge, or some filter media, over to the new tank?

If you have plants they are very effective at reducing NH3 levels, and this together with water changes and an established filter sponge, should make conditions OK for your male if you have to move him.

Can i put Ektozon salt in the new tank? I know that salt in the water is calming for some fish but does this include Apistogrammas? Does anyone have experience of this?

Don't add any salt. Tonic salt has no place in the soft water aquarium. these are fish that have evolved in water with virtually no dissolved salts, they can only be detrimental.

Have a look at this article "Water Chemistry: Osmoregulation, Ionic Imbalance & pH" by Joe Gargas at: <http://www.tbas1.com/Exchange/The New England 11.pdf>.

cheers Darrel

 

[johnsson_82]

Thanks Darrel for your advice. Unfortunatly I don't have an old filtersponge to use. I put the male into the tank today. Hopefully he'll survive. I have my doubts and hopes. I'm linking a video of My female with her fries. Hopefully she'll find some peace aswell now when I moved the male.

 

[johnsson_82]

Video to big, sorry.