Pelvicachromis Taeniatus. 'Bipindi'

[ste12000]

These fish brought the freeswimming fry out yesterday, I took some pics for you guys..

 

[firetank]

gorgeous... bear me in mind for future reference when theyre ready..

what perameters were the tanks??

 

[ste12000]

Thanks Firetank, i will certainly let you know when they are ready. In a couple of months we will be snowed under with quality dwarfs, Two strains of Taeniatus brought out fry and my Apisto Hoignei and Pertensis have both bred this week, although the pertensis female has been back out of the cave today so the eggs may have disappeared..That will be the third time the eggs have gone. I am also lucky enough to be getting some P.subocellatus 'Matadi' sent by our friend Ed seeley..Cant wait.
Right, water parimeters....The dwarf tanks are located on my bottom shelf in the fishroom, left to right they hold,
P.'Nigerian red',
A.Pertensis',
A.Agassizi,
A.Iniridae,
P.Taeniatus 'Bipindi'

Water is very soft at around 30ppm on the tds meter.this is how low my tap water is(lucky me) Ph is unchecked but not low enough for Iniridae which havent done anything since i got them from Mark Breeze...I would imagine its around 5.
Decor is sand substrate(playpit), wood with a lot of tiny fragments scraped from the shops basket(It's ok they already know im crazy), i also use a lot of oak and beech leaves collected freshly fallen from a huge forest that's quite near to home..
Nitrates,ammonia????????
People might slate me for this but i do not test my water..I rely on daily water changes on all of my 24 tanks in the fishroom, my water is superb and i have not had deaths or disease in well over 6 years. My discus and dwarfs have never had any problems and as you can see the fry prove my point.

ONE NOTE..IF YOU ARE A BEGINNER OR HAVE BEEN IN THE HOBBY FOR LESS THAN 5 YEARS I WOULD NOT RECOMEND NOT TESTING YOUR WATER. ONLY AFTER YEARS OF TESTING DID I BECOME COMPETENT ENOUGH TO NOT TEST..TESTING YOUR WATER SHOULD BE ESSENTIAL TO LEARNING THE ART OF FISHKEEPING AND WATER CHEMISTRY.

 

[firetank]

superb news ive got a couple of tanks definately set aside for your broodstock..

"spawny" in every sense of the term is your water naturally untreated ph 5 or are you artificially lowering it (peat filtration, acid addition??) mines 6.8 and i would prefer it lower....

on testing I think it should be an essential part of every fishkeepers armoury, at the LFS we always used to recommend treat the cause not the symptom but people seemed happier spending £30 on meds and treatments and replacement fish instead of £15 on a master test kit. Of course a regular water change and tank maintenace schedule goes hand in hand with testing as essential.

keep the pics coming

 

[ste12000]

It comes out of the tap at around 6.2, sometimes slighty higher or even lower. I find that with a low GH of around 2 its drops quite quickly to low PH, the water is a nice amber from the wood and leaf tannins, this helps drop the ph and create blackwater creek conditions..The fish are thriving.

 

[ed seeley]

How lucky are you to have tap water like that! I've got to have a RO unit to get the water like that!

The pair of Bipindi are settling in fine now Ste; thanks very much.

Tried to take a photo of the Matadi raising tank today as I'd just given all the plants a trim and tidy up before the holidays and sorted the automatic feeder out, but only had my phone with me and they were rubbish! Tank looks good though. There were about 8 female's all displaying to each other at one point! I'll send them up after the holiday postal impasse has cleared.

 

[firetank]

ed ever use this to drop-the ph???

http://www.growell.co.uk/p/0130/pH-Up-and-Down.html

was wondering its suitability

Craig

 

[ed seeley]

ed ever use this to drop-the ph???

http://www.growell.co.uk/p/0130/pH-Up-and-Down.html

was wondering its suitability

Craig

In my opinion, don't do it!

I've never used pH adjusters or buffers for a couple of reasons.
First of all the fish we keep that love acidic water come from water that is mineral poor and everything you add to the water ups the TDS which is the opposite of what you want, IMO.
Secondly they run out eventually and knowing me I would forget to add them one week and the whole thing would go wrong!

The only time I ever tried one I also found it wasn't that effective at lowering the pH anyway so I bought a RO unit for a very reasonable price from RO man and have never looked back! The great thing is the RO unit removes almost everything, including the high Nitrate that is sometimes in my tap water, and my fish thrive using it - I noticed the difference very quickly after switching - though that is a subjective judgement and could just have been wishful thinking...

I won't go back to tap water for my tanks at home.

 

[firetank]

I thought the powder buffers affected TDS but with that being 81% pure acid wouldnt of...?>>??

thought it may have been a cost effective way of hitting the really low ph for Nannochromis etc.

havent measured my GH|KH of my tapwater yet but am intent on doing so but
I do have a 3 stage 50Gpd unit in reserve anyway, back to bogwood\leaf litter etc to condition blackwater properties I reckon then??

 

[ed seeley]

TDS means Total Dissolved Solids and, as such, includes everything dissolved in water, including acids. Acids are simply compounds that are proton donors and therefore these add to the TDS too.

In my opinion RO is pretty cost effective and gives me the mineral poor water I'm after. Especially if you use the waste water like I do to top up my koi pond! Pre-filters cost me about £8 for a pair!

 

[firetank]

TDS means Total Dissolved Solids and, as such, includes everything dissolved in water, including acids. Acids are simply compounds that are proton donors and therefore these add to the TDS too.

In my opinion RO is pretty cost effective and gives me the mineral poor water I'm after. Especially if you use the waste water like I do to top up my koi pond! Pre-filters cost me about £8 for a pair!

my error:

Phosphoric acid is also used in hydroponics pH solutions to lower the pH of nutrient solutions. While other types of acids can be used, phosphorus is a nutrient used by plants, especially during flowering, making phosphoric acid particularly desirable. General Hydroponics pH Down liquid solution contains phosphoric acid in addition to citric acid and ammonium bisulfate with buffers to maintain a stable pH in the nutrient reservoir.

wont be using that then!!