• Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!

Search results

  1. dw1305

    Advice on my two A. nijsseni

    Hi all, They are, and nice looking fish. cheers Darrel
  2. dw1305

    acidic bacteria and co2

    Hi all, I'd guess that if you re-run evolution, you wouldn't end up with vastly differing results, mainly because of the chemical structure of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O) etc., and their relative abundance on Earth. Because carbon has four bonds and nitrogen three, they offer a huge...
  3. dw1305

    acidic bacteria and co2

    Hi all, I don't think you need to worry. As an example if you have vegetated soft water the pH can be really variable during the diurnal cycle as the plants deplete CO2 via photosynthesis. This situation would be pretty frequent in S. America in clear water rivers etc...
  4. dw1305

    Introducing microfauna: scuds, amphipods, isopods into botanical tank

    Hi all, I think that is an advantage with using Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) in the culture tanks. I've never had any problems with water quality, but I know it is very common when the Blackworms are fed with <"brown paper towels"> etc. Details on UKAPS...
  5. dw1305

    BACK IN BLACK

    Hi all, On the UKAPS forum we've spoken with a couple of the leading scientific research labs about this, and their answers are illuminating. I'll add in the threads, a lot of the journal articles (and other relevant threads) are linked in. <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of...
  6. dw1305

    Species and sex id ?

    Hi all, Most are all right in soft water, the ones from Sri Lanka are more likely to like harder water. I use mainly Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia and C x willisii. It has pretty plastic growth rate, if you feed it plenty it <"grows like wild fire">, but it will subsist on <"petrol fumes">...
  7. dw1305

    Species and sex id ?

    Hi all, I agree with @rasmusW, a <"lot more plants"> would help. As well as a quick growing plant (Ceratopteris thalictroides?) for "now", I would actually recommend plants that "take a long time to grow", like <"Cryptocoryne spp., Bolbitis heudelotii and Anubias barteri">. The reason for...
  8. dw1305

    Single Male options

    Hi all, It does, via ion exchange. The cation exchange sites are initially populated by a proton (H+) ion, which is swapped for a cation, with higher valency, like Ca++, from the water column. Yes that is it, it's ion exchange and depends on both the concentration of ions and their valency No...
  9. dw1305

    HTH pool filter sand for agassizii

    Hi all, In the UK they should say "100% silica sand". I think the last bag I bought was from the (UK) supermarket Morrisons. It was something like £5 for 20 Kg. "Kiln Dried Paving Sand" might be another option? I'm not sure about the USA or Europe but "block paving" is very popular in the UK...
  10. dw1305

    maturing an aquarium

    Hi all, I'll put this here: On UKAPS we've recently talked to Josh Neufeld, a scientist from the The University of Waterloo and also a fish keeper. <"Strangers in your home: Archaea thrive in aquarium biofilters – Dr Josh D Neufeld"> pages 14 - 20. This is the UKAPS thread. I know the "microbes...
  11. dw1305

    HTH pool filter sand for agassizii

    Hi all, I've gone over to using finer sand, and I like it, and so do the fish. Somewhere @Mike Wise or @Tom C posted a picture of the substrate that they picked up when they collected some fish, and it was very fine particles. Edit: Found it...
  12. dw1305

    Single Male options

    Hi all, That is a good looking fish. Was it fast flowing water? I'm going to guess not. cheers Darrel
  13. dw1305

    Id species (sold as Apistogramma sp. "Ipiranga")

    Hi all, The problem with identification is that Apistogramma spp. are part of the on-going <"Geophagine adaptive radiation">* and I'm guessing that forest clearance and climate change will lead to most species becoming extinct before they are ever scientifically described. At some point in the...
  14. dw1305

    What Baby Apisto is this?

    Hi all, I'm sorry to hear that, but it may be nothing to do with you and just be that they are very inbred and unhealthy fish now, a bit like Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi). cheers Darrel
  15. dw1305

    Water Testing Kit

    Hi all, Not that then, it doesn't contain any fixed nitrogen. and is only a "fertiliser" in the loosest of terms. I'll be honest I don't know the actual numbers. At some point I will attempt to quantify that (using the <"Solufeed combination"> above) and either urea (CO(NH2)2) or ammonium...
  16. dw1305

    Water Testing Kit

    Hi all, I can't help with that bit. Which fertiliser is it? cheers Darrel
  17. dw1305

    Water Testing Kit

    Hi all, Perfect, I'm going to tell you that you have more fixed nitrogen then you have measured. Why (and how) can I say this? It is because the plants can't <"lie"> and tells me that fixed nitrogen isn't the <"limiting nutrient"> for plant growth. The <"leaf colour chart"> has to work as a...
  18. dw1305

    Water Testing Kit

    Hi all, The original version of the <"Duckweed Index"> used <"a rooted emergent plant">, because of this access to aerial gases. The reason for a floating plant is purely convenience. They may not be <"quite as good"> as an emergent plant, but they are much more <"plug and play">. cheers Darrel
  19. dw1305

    Water Testing Kit

    Hi all, You may find that test kits are a viable option, purely because you may have a lot more NO3- to measure. You would need to use serial dilution to give you a more accurate reading, basically carry on diluting the water to be tested, and then multiply the value of a colour (that reads in...
  20. dw1305

    Water Testing Kit

    Hi all, You can "dial in" <"leaf colour"> (and growth rate) to any nutrient dosing regime. Like @MacZ says I try and just keep the <"plants in slow growth">, but other people use much heavier nutrient additions. I went away from Common Duckweed (Lemna minor) because it doesn't do well in very...
View older results
Top