Marc Botham
New Member
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- 1
Hi,
Have a 180l tank with pair of Apisotgramma bitaeniata (WC) and pair of Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (TB). The male bitaeniata used to rule the roost occupying a territory at the 'deep end' of my tank (moderately aquascaped to produce a shallower planted end and a deeper unplanted end with large bog wood structures and leaf litter, sand substrate. He usually keeps the rams away and displays readily to the female who often follows him into one of his caves but then shows no further interest following which he chases her away. That was until a few days ago when suddenly I couldn't see him anywhere despite searchign with torches in all hiding places. Next day he showed up but then disappeared again and now he rarely ever shows himself. The rams have moved into the deep end and when I do see the male bitaeniata he keeps very close to the bottom, pretty much resting on it, has lost most of his briliiant coloration but otherwise looks fairly healthy. He now hides in the shallow end of the tank and when the female is near shows absolutely no interest. I wondered if anyone could offer any advice or information as to what might be causing this. I have done two substantial water changes over last week and have done some water quality tests: temp = 25oC, ph = 7.5 (struggling to get this down despite using RO water with ph minus solution and previously running water through peat filter), hardness (150 KH mg/l, 50 GH mg/l: again struggling to get this down), nitrate >0 <10, nitrite < 0.5 and ammonia < 0.5.
Thanks, Marc
Have a 180l tank with pair of Apisotgramma bitaeniata (WC) and pair of Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (TB). The male bitaeniata used to rule the roost occupying a territory at the 'deep end' of my tank (moderately aquascaped to produce a shallower planted end and a deeper unplanted end with large bog wood structures and leaf litter, sand substrate. He usually keeps the rams away and displays readily to the female who often follows him into one of his caves but then shows no further interest following which he chases her away. That was until a few days ago when suddenly I couldn't see him anywhere despite searchign with torches in all hiding places. Next day he showed up but then disappeared again and now he rarely ever shows himself. The rams have moved into the deep end and when I do see the male bitaeniata he keeps very close to the bottom, pretty much resting on it, has lost most of his briliiant coloration but otherwise looks fairly healthy. He now hides in the shallow end of the tank and when the female is near shows absolutely no interest. I wondered if anyone could offer any advice or information as to what might be causing this. I have done two substantial water changes over last week and have done some water quality tests: temp = 25oC, ph = 7.5 (struggling to get this down despite using RO water with ph minus solution and previously running water through peat filter), hardness (150 KH mg/l, 50 GH mg/l: again struggling to get this down), nitrate >0 <10, nitrite < 0.5 and ammonia < 0.5.
Thanks, Marc
