Specific water change advise for apistos

[mooman]

Ok, so I'm ready to start monkeying with my ph in order to get a reluctant pair of A. panduros to spawn. They are well bonded, and performing pre-spawning "fish slaps" and "shimies" on a regular basis. I moved them to a ten gallon and have been fasting them for about a week in preparation for a water change and lots of live food. I have purchased ten gallons of ro water and I'm trying to condition it with peat. I boiled some "peat pellets" for about half an hour, ran it through a coffee filter and slowly added it to one bucket (no change in ph after adding all the DIY extract) Suggestions? Comments?

How low should I get the ph? Should I do one large 80% change or two smaller 50% changes several days apart? My ph is currently 7.2 so I don't want to shock them to bad.

Thanks in advance for any advice you have

 

[tjnelson44]

Mooman, what are your current water parameters such as tds or hardness and kh? I usually don't use peat unless I really need it and I have found that I hardly ever need it with the fish I keep. While it is good stuff, it does require a bit of extra work and I can be a bit lazy sometimes. I only start to mess with the pH when other tricks fail. When I try to induce a stubborn pair of apistos to spawn, I just do about 25-50% water change with ro water that is a few degrees cooler than the tank. While this does not significantly affect the pH in my tanks, it does make a big difference in the tds. This drop in tds really gets them going. I have never tried fasting them for a week, I don't know any thing about that. Check you water quality, the better it is, the better your chances for a spawn.
good luck,
Trevor

 

[mooman]

My water parameters are ph=7.2, kh=2, gh=7. Water is very clean. I've tried large water changes (60%) with cooler, mostly ro water, as well as different live foods. I really feel I've tried everything except changing ph. I guess my main question is whether to make it two back to back 50% water changes, or one large 75% water change?

The female is so plumb, and they've been courting so heavily for a month now that I feel like there is some trigger that they are waiting for.

 

[farm41]

Lot's of oak leaves in the tank helps. Do you have access to them?

Mine spawned at 6 Ph and EC of <80µS.

 

[scott]

personally i do the one 75% change. it works for my fish all the time and ive never had any signs of shock in the fish. GOOD LUCK!