Adjusting water chemistry, N. transvestitus

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I'm sure this thread is somewhat redundant compared with previous posts -- sorry!

I will be moving my N. transvestitus to a new tank and start messing with the water chemistry, hoping to get them to spawn. I realize that transvestitus prefer acidic and soft water.

My tap water is pretty hard Midwest water. I do have access to RO/DI water and have also obtained Seachem's Acid buffer.

How to best go about this? Do I blend tap water and RO water at a 50/50 ratio or would I want to use a different ratio? Should I add about 1/4 teaspoon of Acid buffer/20 gallon per day (and monitor pH/hardness) until the desired pH and hardness have been achieved? Is there anything else to consider? Thanks.

 

[tjudy]

Depending upon what your tap water parameters are, the amount you mix will determine the hardness values. My tap water is 800 mD TDS and KH 16. I mix approximately 8:1 RO:Tap to get 160 mS TDS and KH 3. I can use Seachem's acid buffer to reduce the pH to 6.0 before exhausting the carbonate in the water. Acid Buffer will reduce carbonates, so watch out for a pH crash.

I had a crash occur last week. I added Acid Buffer until the pH was 5.8. I wanted 5.0 so I kept adding each day. I came in to see dead plecos and measured the pH at 3.5! Amazingly the Biotodoma wavrini were happy in that. I did a wate rchange with my RO/Tap mix and the added KH brought the pH back up to 5.0.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Okay, I went ahead and played with the water chemistry. Here's what I did: I mixed 30% tap water with 70% distilled water and added 500 mg of Seachem Acid buffer per 10 gallon. I have been changing 30% of the water every three days and have monitored the pH and other variables for about 2 weeks now. The system appears to be stable.

My tap water is approx. 200 ppm GH, 120-150 ppm KH, pH 7.5. Now, with the procedure described above, the water parameters in the transvestitus tank changed to approx. 75 ppm GH, 40 ppm KH, pH 6.5 - 6.8.

I'm somewhat paranoid about eventually causing a pH crash if I added more Acid Buffer or increased the percentage of distilled water.

I realize that I haven't quite achieved the water conditions in transvestitus' natural habitat, but here my question to all transvestitus breeders: Will 75 GH/40 KH/pH 6.5 be sufficient to breed transvestitus? Thanks.

 

[Randall]

Breeding Nanochromis transvestitus

Hello Nebraska,

Lake Mai Ndombe contains among the softest, most acidic water on the African continent. The pH around Kutu has been recorded at 4.0 and the GH at about 1.4. To prompt your Nanochromis transvestitus to spawn, I'd mix discus strength water, nuke it with peat moss, and lose the acid buffer. I've had success breeding N. transvestitus with this formula in the past, and was able to maintain a stable pH of about 5.5. In addition, Lake Mai Ndombe is a black water biotope: you're N. transvestitus should respond well to the recipe.

Here's some reading. You can scroll down the the section concerning Lake Mai Ndombe.

http://www.apistogramma.com/cms/Art...c_Hemichromis_cerasogaster_(Boulenger,_1899)/

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Randall, thanks for the reading material. You've managed to get me interested in H. cerasogaster. Are they available in the hobby?

 

[Randall]

Hemichromis cerasogaster

Hello Nebraska,

Unfortunately, no. There was one US importation in 2002, so some hobbyists have Hemichromis cerasogaster, but no additional shipments since then. I'm trying to get them here again, but getting them collected is like pulling teeth.

All the best,

Randall Kohn