ph and apisto iniridae (wild)

[trev12]

hey just wanted some info on my apistos.
I have wild caught apisto iniridae and I am using R/O water with some KH Booster from Nutrafin.
the tds of the R/O is 0 . and the ph is about 7.0
I need to get around ph of 4.0 or less for these guys. the tank is 4.8 ph now and the female is no longer hiding and getting picked on by the male. actually she is ready to spawn and he is on the run ..
So the problem is the ph wants to keep going up through the night and its 5.0-5.5 in the morning. im using ph down wich is sulphuric acid. I get the ph to 4.6 ish in the morning and that's fine for the day till the next morning. the perameters are less than 1 degree of hardness and the tds is around 40
why would my ph go up through the night?
any help would be great.
thanks
trev

 

[gerald]

Either the KH booster or other things in the tank are neutralizing the acid. 5.0 to 5.5 might be just fine. If that's where the pH seems to stabilize, I would leave it there and see if your fish breed. In very soft, low-ion water, a tiny shift in ion concentrations can appear as a significant pH change, even though its biologically insignificant. Fish dont necessarily need the extreme water conditions they were found in in the wild. It might be that 4.0 is iniridae's limit of tolerance, and other competing species fail at a higher pH, so iniridae may survive there because other species can't, not because that's their optimal pH.

 

[wethumbs]

Well said Gerald. Mine spawn and hatch around pH5.

 

[gerald]

Wet - What temperature would you suggest for Trev to get a good 50/50 sex ratio with iniridae? Seems like blackwater fish are generally more prone to skewed sex ratios than other fish. BTW Trev - sex determination in Apistos happens somewhere around 30 to 60 days after hatching, not at birth.