Pair of Apistogramma agassizi - ?'s

[LindaMC]

I purchased a pair of juvenille apisto agassizi red tails right before Xmas and I'm curious as to when/if they will breed. They are currently in my 29 gallon planted tank, along with 1 adult male blue ram, 2 juvenille wild blue rams, 2 lemon tetras, 2 harlequins, a pair of ottos and a very young SAE. I've read that the agassizis are one of the hardest to breed. Is there anything I can do to help them along? My water is soft, pH 6.4, KH bounces back and forth between 80 and 120.

I love these fish, they have so much personality. They are always the first fish, along with the male adult ram, to greet me in the morning, coming right out to the top front of the tank. They eat brine shrimp right from my fingers.

Any thoughts, suggestions, advice is greatly appreciated!

Linda

 

[tjudy]

Hi Linda,

I have not found aggies to be hard to breed, but the fry are sometimes hard to raise. Your water parameters are a little confusing to me. You describe the KH as 80 - 120... do you mean total dissolved solids? KH is measured of a lower scale, and KH 10 - 20 is hard by our standards. KH is a reading of the carbonate hardness, which affects the pH. TDS is the measure of dissolved salts (ions) and is most accurately measured by electrical conductivity. 80 - 120 ppm TDS (160 - 240 mS conductivity) is soft enough for aggies and the pH is probably OK too.

 

[inexorable]

KH and stuff

Hi gang. Just curious whichtest kits the resident dwarf cichlid gurus use. The ones I have tried don't seem very precise - color changes corresponding to a broad range of magnitude - and I am curious if there are kits available in the US whose scale can be read directly in German degrees, as I find it annoying to have to refer to conversion table/info. Is it worthwhile to acquire a conductivity meter?

Dave

 

[Mike Wise]

I use Tetra's GH & KH tests & a meter for pH & conductivity (µS or TDS).

 

[Zapisto]

I use Tetra GH & KH Also like mike
and Hanna PH & TDS meter and i am trying rigth now a Pinpoint TDS meter.

 

[tjudy]

I have a Hanna KH test kit and a Hanna combo conductivity/pH meter. I do not test for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.

 

[LindaMC]

Hi Trudy, sorry it took me so long to answer your question regarding my water parameters. I have a couple of different test kits, one is the 5 in 1 test kit by Jungle Labs where the KH (alkalinity) is always at 80 on the strip, my hardness is soft, right in the middle, usually about 100 or 120 according to these test strips. Now my other kits, one for PH is by Aquarium Pharm. and it's the one you add the drops to the water, showing my PH at 6.6 to 6.8 depending on when I test. The other kit is for KH (alkalinity) and that one is always at 120. Would the other fish in my tank have any affect on whether or not my apistos spawn?

 

[inexorable]

Kh

The confusion is that the test kit Linda is reading measures KH in ppm, not German degrees. I have an equivalent test kit. It is annoying to me that the color scale doesn't provide readings in Greman degrees (I believe most of the best selling KH/GH kits sold in the bix box pet store chains in US are in ppm, particularly the "quick dip strip" variety) To convert ppm ===> German degrees, you have to multiply by 0.056. One german degree is equal to 17.86 ppm. The test I'm looking at now (Mardel 5 in 1 dip strip) ranges from KH 0ppm - 300ppm or 0 degrees - 16.8 degrees. There are 6 color swatches to compare the strip with; 0, 80, 120, 180, 240. The top 4, corresponding to 120, 180, 240, and 300ppm are close shades of green, which annoys me. It would be more useful for SA dwarf cichlid enthusiasts if there were more color swatches, particularly in the lower region of the overall test range. I guess all you have to know if you're breeding Apistos is the thing should be near the yellow-green region = ) The GH reads in the range 0- 23.8 degrees.
I got a good question, how do color blind male aquarists test their water parameters? I know that color blind people are virtually disqualified to work as electricians, telephone linemen. I said male, because I recall the overwheming majority of colorblind persons are male = )

Dave

Hi Linda,

Your water parameters are a little confusing to me. You describe the KH as 80 - 120... do you mean total dissolved solids? KH is measured of a lower scale, and KH 10 - 20 is hard by our standards. KH is a reading of the carbonate hardness, which affects the pH. TDS is the measure of dissolved salts (ions) and is most accurately measured by electrical conductivity. 80 - 120 ppm TDS (160 - 240 mS conductivity) is soft enough for aggies and the pH is probably OK too.

 

[Mike Wise]

My guess is the color blind people do not use test strips. The advantage of using the liquid tests for hardness is that it is change from one color to another, which anyone with normal eye sight can see, not the color itself that is important.