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  1. Ben Rhau

    Should I get a pair or a single male?

    When I've kept my male in his "bachelor" tank apart from the female, he got along totally fine with pencil fish and corys. Tetras would be fine also. Otocinclus are not an issue compatibiity-wise. I tend to agree with Mac that putting them in a brand new tank may yield mixed results. I've...
  2. Ben Rhau

    Should I get a pair or a single male?

    I think it will be OK for a while, some people do this. You may have the occasional fry survive predation and become juveniles, but they will eventually become sexually mature (at an unsellably small size) and it will become a problem. You could choose to give them away at that point. But you...
  3. Ben Rhau

    Species and sex id ?

    I'm using very old Nikon cameras for the aquarium, and the autofocus has been sufficient. A D90 and D300 with a 60mm macro. No bluetooth connectivity on those. It does get confused sometimes as to what you're spot focusing on, because the fish are small and they move fast. It takes practice and...
  4. Ben Rhau

    Species and sex id ?

    I think phones have very good cameras, but not for this type of shooting. A huge advantage of a separate camera is the ability to control the focal plane + fast autofocus. It's still not super easy, but it's virtually impossible with a phone. Also, a camera will have a much more sensitive...
  5. Ben Rhau

    Feeding fish

    I've read in a number of places that frozen mysis are more nutritious than frozen artemia. For that reason, I've tried to integrate it into my fishes' diet several times. In my limited experience, the fish that I keep do not seem to enjoy mysis as much as artemia. They tend to spit it out, or...
  6. Ben Rhau

    Acclimation

    They were wc. Wet Spot has so many tanks, I'm not sure how they manage their inventory. It could be that chilis sell very well, so the customers are generally not specialized for blackwater. I don't know.
  7. Ben Rhau

    Acclimation

    That's good. I ordered chili rasbora from Wet Spot and they were in EC 700 μS going into a tank with EC 44. My advice to the OP is to measure it. What you do after that is up to you!
  8. Ben Rhau

    Acclimation

    For reference, 200 EC is only 128 TDS. So you are going from soft water to softer water. Some vendors (for example Wet Spot) intentionally acclimate soft water fish to harder water, because a lot of their customers don't want to deal with RO. Some good vendors (like BW Aquatics) add a green...
  9. Ben Rhau

    Acclimation

    200 to 30 EC might be OK because all numbers are pretty low. I’ve had fish come in water > 1500 EC going into blackwater. I’m definitely not doing that without acclimation.
  10. Ben Rhau

    Feeding fish

    I typically use a 1 gallon jug from milk or water, and make 2 liters at a time. I also use canning funnels for the salt and the water, which makes the whole operation pretty fast and easy.
  11. Ben Rhau

    Acclimation

    The rise in pH doesn’t happen instantly. Once you open the bag, you have a several minutes to add diluted Prime. Just add it right away.
  12. Ben Rhau

    Acclimation

    I agree with Mac. Especially if you're going from high TDS to low TDS (which is common if you keep softwater fish) there is danger of osmotic shock if you acclimate the fish too quickly. I recommend measuring the TDS in the bag water and comparing it to your tank. If it's close (less than...
  13. Ben Rhau

    Feeding fish

    Six hours??? NaCl is very soluble in water at that concentration (2.5% w/w). If you stir or shake it in a bottle, it should fully dissolve in about 1 minute?
  14. Ben Rhau

    Hi all!

    Just about any pair will breed.
  15. Ben Rhau

    Spawning Challenges A.Elizabethe

    I think you can skip the acids. I doubt pH is very meaningful at < 20 TDS. Botanicals don't really add a lot of ions, so I think you could get the TDS lower than 20 if you wanted to.
  16. Ben Rhau

    Spawning Challenges A.Elizabethe

    Take a look at <this thread>. Though your water is theoretically fine, this user had more success at much lower TDS.
  17. Ben Rhau

    Apisto survival rate

    The only med that has worked for me is prazi for worms/flukes. Otherwise, my approach is to move sick fish to a small tank where I can manage large and frequent water changes easily, add tannins to the point where I can almost not see, and control feeding of live foods. Over time, I suspect...
  18. Ben Rhau

    Apisto survival rate

    I typically buy subadults, so mine have lived 2 - 3 years. I separate breeding pairs so as not to burn out the females. I've also kept Parosphromenus, and I do think they live longer. I don't think we can say whether it's due to conditions or just that it's a different genus.
  19. Ben Rhau

    Water changes and young apisto fry

    Since it's important to do frequent water changes with fry, it can be convenient to start with a low waterline and just add water 2 - 3x before removing water.
  20. Ben Rhau

    blackwater tank cycling?

    Pentax cameras are great. In the vast majority of cases, lenses can be interchanged, even between brands. If they don't fit directly, there is usually an adapter. That said, in some edge cases you will lose autofocus. If you already have a camera body or lenses, check the compatibility chart...
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