Apistogramma Abacaxis Blackwateer Tank

[anewbie]

My tap water is relatively soft (~125µS/cm) but certainly not as soft as in my breeding tanks (~35µS/cm). Most fish are fairly adaptable. When acclimated to harder water they will not be severely impacted by it. I once saw a store that sold Cardinal Tetras that they slowly acclimated to 13ºdKH. They were very popular with hobbyists in the area where the town was on well water. Of course softwater fish don't usually breed successfully in hard water.

I'm sorry i just looked up tds using the location in your signature and it seems different area of the city has hardwater water 400+ ec vs the 120 ec you have.

I'm pretty sure that i read an article that indicated that softwater fishes longevity were impacted by mineral build up in organs in harder water but maybe it is only a few specific species and not generically true or maybe the impact while measurable is insignificant ?


One thing i've been finding is a lot of tap water bred fishes wont' last in my very soft acidic environment while wild caught versions will do extremely well - i presume it is bacteria issue but perhaps there is something else happening.

 

[Mike Wise]

I'm sorry i just looked up tds using the location in your signature and it seems different area of the city has hardwater water 400+ ec vs the 120 ec you have.

The Denver metro area has many suburbs that are not on Denver Water Department's water supply, which is basically mountain reservoirs that hold water from winter snows. Others parts get theirs from wells. Since I live in Denver itself I get soft water that runs pH 8 because the water department raises it to prevent water line erosion.

One thing i've been finding is a lot of tap water bred fishes wont' last in my very soft acidic environment while wild caught versions will do extremely well - i presume it is bacteria issue but perhaps there is something else happening.

My guess it is more due to the quality of the fish the breeders are producing. Rams are not the only fish with these problems.

 

[anewbie]

My guess it is more due to the quality of the fish the breeders are producing. Rams are not the only fish with these problems.

Just an fyi here - and what you say might be relevant but a lot of tetra that are tank raise will not do well compare to wc. What i mean by not well is they will mostly die off over the first 60 days of ownership so then i replace them with wc varities from the same store and those almost never die year in and year out. When i put the tank raised fishes in tap water (ec 220 to 240) they have no problems.

I know that the specific case i'm thinking of the aquarium is sub 5.5 ph so likely low ph bacteria but i do not know this is the cause of the death though it can be irritating. Anyway just to play it safe i mostly try to buy wc. As for rams - the ones i put in ro water seem to do well - well not as long lived as apisto but 2 or 3 years. I have a special fetish for gold rams not sure why; though if i put them in super low ph (sub 5) then they seem to quickly develop a bacteria infection and i have to give them antibiotics.