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  1. Bart Hazes

    Media to Waste Ratio

    I think it is rooted somewhere but there are too many side branches to really know what goes where (and in this very shallow tub I don't really get to see through the sides). Sometimes I have bits of plants that are too small or all-but dead and would normally be discarded but I throw them in...
  2. Bart Hazes

    Pulling Apisto Fry

    I just put my second breeding box to work on a dozen A. ortegai fry. One pair gave up as they were too much harrased by 6 geophagus. The other pair did well but I decided to remove part of the spawn to split the risk with now 12 in a breeding box hanging on the outside of the tank and getting...
  3. Bart Hazes

    pool filter sand vs. play sand

    The pH paper came in the mail today. First lesson. My tanks are not nearly as acidic as I thought. In the 6-6.5 range. I had expected at least a unit lower. I then tried a bit of my vinegar eel solution and that read at or below the scale minimum of 3.5. I then tried the pH 4.0 calibration...
  4. Bart Hazes

    pool filter sand vs. play sand

    As a scientist I care about accurate absolute measurements. As an aquarist some reasonably proxy that tells me if my tank is stable or drifting is good enough, at least for now. I was struggling more with pH. In my very soft water the pH pens tend to take a long time to achieve a stable readout...
  5. Bart Hazes

    Nijsenni and Panduro

    Great. Let me know how that works out. If you google for - stiphodon blue green algae - you'll find a bunch of sites commenting on it eating of blue-green algae. But it would be nice to see for yourself.
  6. Bart Hazes

    pool filter sand vs. play sand

    Yes I meant, and normally use, TDS. I think it is a lousy name because there are many dissolving solids, like sugar, that don't contribute to TDS. If you are going to measure ionic contend why not use conductivity but those meters cost more so there must be a difference between them.
  7. Bart Hazes

    Nijsenni and Panduro

    The blue neon goby, Stiphodon atropurpureus, is one that is said to eat, or even prefer, blue green algae. One of our fish stores had them a while ago and I was severely tempted as they are beautiful and with interesting substrate-perching and burying behaviour. Their life history with migration...
  8. Bart Hazes

    Nijsenni and Panduro

    Here is a pic of some sword plant leafs covered in algae with some of the Apistogramma ortegai fry that got their first outing yesterday.
  9. Bart Hazes

    2 Pair in a 4 ft tank?

    The fact that you are not interested in breeding doesn't mean you fish are not interested in breeding. In fact, the universe seems to dictate that if you do not wanting them to breed they will :) Still with a proper setup I think you could have two pairs as long as they don't both breed at the...
  10. Bart Hazes

    Media to Waste Ratio

    This tank was set up on April 25, so still relatively new. I don't use a gravel vac and only siphon of detritus if the layer gets too thick, otherwise I consider it plant and fry food factories. In this tank neither windows or sand have ever been cleaned. For the last little while the tank also...
  11. Bart Hazes

    Media to Waste Ratio

    I think there is another plant called pennywort, the one I have is Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian pennywort). It normally forms long submerged strings. All my tanks are open-top tanks with low humidity, especially in winter. A lot of people use pothos that only have their roots in the tank...
  12. Bart Hazes

    Spawning A. norberti & fry

    Ten days ago my A. norberti kept me up all evening pretending to spawn. That is, the female was pulling out every trick in the book to get the male interested to spawn but whenever she dove in the coconut cave the male would just leave. Next morning the female was still at it and the male still...
  13. Bart Hazes

    A. cacatuoides decided to spawn

    That's a monster of a tank. Hope you apistos don't suffer from agoraphobia :) Over the past year my tanks have become increasingly shallow. Starting with 24" tall 90 gallon to 16" tall 80 gallon (48x24x16), to 12" tall 50 gallon (48x24x12), and even plastic tubs with only 2-3" of water in them...
  14. Bart Hazes

    Nijsenni and Panduro

    You made my day. I have two tanks with serious blue-green algae but I've been hesitant to give them a thorough overhaul as there are breeding apistos in them. Some of the biotope footage also shows plants heavily coated in detritus and algae with happy fish swimming all around. I bet the algae...
  15. Bart Hazes

    Media to Waste Ratio

    I love your creeping jenny, above water. I have a Brazilian pennywort in a 3" deep guppy tub that is growing out of the water and has now made a white flower. I have a few tanks that really do need work in terms of eliminating (most of) the algae but I have breeding apistos in them and don't...
  16. Bart Hazes

    Amano shrimp

    My amanos are perfectly happy in very soft acidic water with 6 Dicrossus filamentosus as company. I got them to eat algae which they didn't (or at least not in noticeable amounts). They do eat oak leafs and the oak leaf half-life is a lot shorter now the amanos are in there, and they just leave...
  17. Bart Hazes

    Hydra invading

    I've had hydra in breeding boxes and tanks where I was feeding a lot of BBS. Once I stopped feeding it the hydra spontaneously disappeared. I didn't find the hydra to be an issue, apart from stealing some of the BBS, and they are actually quite pretty if you get your magnifying glass out. Maybe...
  18. Bart Hazes

    Media to Waste Ratio

    Yes please post the link. The more readers the merrier.
  19. Bart Hazes

    Media to Waste Ratio

    Great stuff. I'll check out those papers. Should have no problem getting them via my University library.
  20. Bart Hazes

    pool filter sand vs. play sand

    I'm with Gerald on the small grain/compaction not being an issue. I've seen some apistogramma biotope footage from Ivan Mikolji and it had very fine white sand so that is what I look for. I have used Canadian Tire PFS and I like how it absolutely does not affect water hardness but it looks like...
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