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I have a Hanna PH200 meter and keeping the probe hydrated has always been problematic.
The solution I've tried and seems to be working is to fill the protective cap just shy of overflowing. Then I seal the joint with a strip of electricians tape. I don't use my pH meter often but so far so good.
I don't know much about Biotocus but ideally I think Dicrossus like to have about enough territory to contain a billiard table. That said, the firts time I had Dicrossus filamentosus breed was in a home made ten gallon tank. I built a lot of them using the L X W X H dimensions of 20 in X 12 in X...
Too bad so many states banned sales and/or possession of piranha.
Our local fish store had a breeding group like yours and often had 1 inch fry selling for less than $3.00 each. Sadly our state criminalized piranha.
Very often, in the USA, the best way to find any Copella are as by catch among a group of Nannostomus.
Usually only a few specimens and good luck hoping you will find some more somewhere else so having to begin with but a few is our best option. This once happened to me and I found just three...
How odd, I just happened across the listing for these caves yesterday and thought the design had some potential. If for a smaller entry hole some adaptations were made, for breeding Apistogramma. Same for some of the smaller plecos.
I euthanize fish that are this sick. MacZ called it correctly...organ failure due to internal bacterial infection.
It simply isn't worth doing heroic treatments for incurable diseases and this case is one of those hopeless ones. Worse yet, it is acting as a reservoir of the disease alive or dead...
It actually goes both ways. I sometimes can't help myself by joking a little now and then.
You just happen to be someone on the forum I find who is fun to debate over the finer points of fish keeping.
It is a remarkable day when MacZ and I agree on something like this. I think we may be on to something people.
I too have rarely kept a particular Apistogramma which lived more than 3 years. I have had slightly better mileage among the Dicrossus filamentosus I've kept when they were allotted...
I agree although whether it is a specific disease I do have my doubts. My hypothesis is that Apistogramma species are the Cichlid analogue of annual killifish. They live out their lives in marginally survivable biotopes and I suspect nature has bestowed a remarkably resilient ability to rally...
I agree completely. It has happened to me too many times. It often happened after a recent spawn in my own experience. Though unlikely among A. borelli, which are mainly from tank raised strains, I have noticed that among wild caught Apistogramma for them to rally back to good health, spawn...
I like most Nannostomus species but in your 60 inch I'd go with the N. unifasciatus because they are one of the larger pencils. I think they would be more noticeable than the smaller N. marilynae.
I must be lucky. I've kept Apistogramma spp. for a long time but I have never seen any that took the eyes out of any fish, let alone a Corydoras. Never seen one that tried swallowing any catfish either.
However I have fed live albino Ancistrus larvae to my Discus and they ate them with relish...
I also have trouble growing plants in my black water Betta coccina tanks. Have not tried Salvinia natans but couldn't get a starter culture of Salvinia minima to take off. Najas sprigs barely hang on. Potted Crypt. wendtii does fine as does Anubias barteri super glued to the bogwood. Hair algae...
I think you are doing fine and agree with you about your testing regime.
Last year an old friend of mine bought seven assorted domestic discus which were about 4 inches in diameter.
He likes to feed and feed and feed his fish. He has more types of fancy prepared foods than I would have thought...
If you're not doing so already, I would recommend that you keep and eye on the nitrogenous compounds. Do not allow nitrites to reach measurable levels.
You are not starving them if they eat. You don't want to even have a need to siphon leftovers. It means too much, food they don't want yet, are not interested in or all the above. Their needs aren't all that complicated. I've shared what I know can work for beginners to experts.
You have more...
I pointed out that Symphysodon were omnivores quite a ways back in this thread.
The current issue is to make them at ease in the evirons of the temp QT and get them eating something while avoiding any water pollution. New discus keepers often try to feed newly arrived too much and too often...