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Recent content by Joshaeus

  1. J

    Apistogramma borellii water parameters

    Well, that seems to confirm my suspicion...I may not have a TDS meter now, but I did in the past and my tap water has a higher TDS/conductivity than that from the tap (and I've been adding salts to the water for the plants...). Guess my breeding setup needs a rethink...thanks.
  2. J

    Apistogramma borellii water parameters

    Hello! I recently acquired two pairs of Apistogramma borellii (which are in two separate tanks for those that are concerned) and have a question about what kind of water parameters they require for breeding. When I researched them before purchasing them the first websites I found suggested that...
  3. J

    24*12*10 inch blackwater tank...stocking suggestions?

    How do you get the PH that low and keep it there? I remember using sodium bisulfate in the past for the P. species sentang tank, resulting in a PH in the low 4's after the 40% weekly water change (which climbed to the mid 4's over the week), but I do not remember how much I used.
  4. J

    24*12*10 inch blackwater tank...stocking suggestions?

    I have long been nervous about trying any of the chocolate gouramies because I keep reading that they are highly quarrelsome, to the point that they get each other sick from stress and the group often dies as a result. Licorice gouramies seem relatively easygoing and disease free by comparison.
  5. J

    24*12*10 inch blackwater tank...stocking suggestions?

    Macrostoma is too large for a 20H (in practice being used as a 15 gallon) in my opinion, but LOTS of other wild bettas would work (B. dimidiata seems particularly attractive to me). I have not kept any of the chocolate gouramies but have kept two different Parosphromenus species...my P. nagyi...
  6. J

    24*12*10 inch blackwater tank...stocking suggestions?

    I completely forgot you were on this forum! Oops :oops: I was going to use a yeast reactor, which I have used in the past...I could rig a new one up very cheaply and efficiently, but I can skip the CO2 if that would still not be stable enough. Yeah, the CO2 has little to no effect on KH or...
  7. J

    24*12*10 inch blackwater tank...stocking suggestions?

    Hi everyone! I have recently set up a partially filled 20 gallon high blackwater tank...here is the tank; It needs to cycle, but it is using straight RODI water and has a PH of about 6.5 currently. When it is thoroughly cycled, would it basically be suitable for a pair or trio of ANY apisto, or...
  8. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    The aforementioned fry tank had heaps of duckweed and substantial amounts of java moss and hornwort. It still wasn't enough to control the spike (the fry tank was overstocked and overfed in retrospect).
  9. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    I'm pretty confident the snail and desert gobies, at least, died from how soft my water is. I wound up adding a small (1/4th tsp per gallon) amount of marine salt per gallon once I realized how soft my water was, and that ended the unexplained deaths (I even spawned Microctenopoma fasciolatum in...
  10. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    Would passing the water through carbon reduce the TDS a little further? Since KH and GH are both less than 1, most of the TDS is probably not useful to fish. From what you guys are saying, an RO unit or ion exchange resins would be excessive.
  11. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    Don't bother hardening it? When I first moved here I lost a lot of fish to this uber soft water - danios, desert gobies, a dwarf gourami, a mystery snail...I guess it's just habit. The tank has a lot of artificial plants, so I guess I have no need to harden it?
  12. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    Can you give any examples? For example, is A. borellii such a clear water species? (EDIT; My tap is less than 1 GH and KH...I have to add minerals to increase them above 1).
  13. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    A few degrees GH, KH is not mandatory. TDS can easily be 150 ppm or less (my tap is 40-50)
  14. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    Even at only a couple degrees GH and/or KH? (I'm leaving TDS out for the moment). Any better dwarf cichlids for water harder than rainwater?
  15. J

    Any apistos for harder water?

    Hi everyone! Here's my question...do all apistos need near-distilled, low PH water, or will some thrive and breed with a few degrees/tens of ppm GH and KH in the water? I was thinking about hardier species like A. borellii, cacatuoides, etc. Thanks :)
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