Steve from San Diego

[animalmgc]

well a week ago I bought a pair(m and f) cacatuoides double reds and really
love them.Been searching around and found this site.They are housed in a 55gal along with a pr of blue rams,4 otos ,amano syhrimp,and some rummy nose(bleheri)The tank is somewhat heavily planted.Hoping to continue my adventure with these fish once I purchase a 125.I also belong to a planted tank forum called SCAPE

 

[apistodave]

Hey Dude

Welcome to Apistogramma.com. I am a member of scape too.

 

[animalmgc]

bummer

changed a couple plants around and I guess I caused a ammonia spike and killed off both Apistos and 2 Rams.Funny that I was told Rummy Nose were more delicate and they all survived.Waiting to give everything a chance to settle down and then I'm Hoping Dave has those triple reds still or I really like these
maciliensis mamaore

 

[apistodave]

hmmmmmm

Changing a couple plants around shouldnt do that---I have lots of them!

 

[animalmgc]

I was thinking maybe its something I used in the substrate.It seemed odd to me too but the male ram came up with eye pop.The female Apisto was small and seemed very timid.I did see her eat some but basically was in hiding.She was the first to go.After her death the male went into hiding which was unusual he was real bold.But other signs in the tank blue green algae,green algae dust is where I came up with my conclussion.Only test I had at the moment was dip stix and it said it was border stressed about a .25 to a .5 reading.The other choice I have is they were too small(about a inch for the male and about 3/4"for the female)But is it true that rummy nose tetras are more delicate then Apistos.PH was around 6.8 to 7.0.I use 70% RO 10% tap 10%distilled with someAPIstress coat.Oh and the plants had MAjor roots to them Tiger LOtus and they were about 12 inches and had massive roots

 

[apistodave]

ahhh

OK popeye is major infectious!1) So let's see-where did you get alll your fish? 2) get rid of the lotus--it gives off a mild poison that helps it in Africa--but it stresses SA"s

 

[animalmgc]

I bought them at what I consider a repitable pet shop Pet Kingdom in Point Loma.Been going there for at least 10 yrs.They Keep and breed Discus,&Blue Rams.But this is the first time I saw Apistos there.They said they got them from Fl.The rams I bought @ aquabid from BlueRam06 seems real repitable and seems to have been doing the Aquabid gig seems like for sometime now.The rams have been in there since april

 

[apistodave]

hmmmmmmmmmmm

It could be that their source is shaky---what's in the tank now?? And hey you might as well contat me here [email protected]

 

[Mike Wise]

Rummynose Tetras are quite hardy if kept in water that is like yours - moderately soft and slightly acid. I notice that only the bottom dwelling fish had problems. Is it possible, when you disturbed the substrate by moving plants, that you exposed pockets of anaerobic decomposition and released H2S gas? What did the roots of the plants look like? It's always best to quarantine specimens for at least 4 weeks every time you buy a new fish. It helps them get over the stress of moving to new water conditions and prevents introducing possible pathogens to an established tank from the new fish.

 

[animalmgc]

thats what my thoughts were.My substrate consist of store bought soil soaked,strained,and skimmed with a net 3 times a day for a week.Then Dried out.repeating the process for 3 weeks.soil was blocked in with sand that wash washed sprinkled peat sparingly on top of that with turface then black cinder on top.The reason for blocking the soil in was to not allow the organic materials to mix.Maybe when uprooting I caused them to connect.Yes quarenteening new fish will happen nowexspecially with a 10 gal set up with RO for extra plants.I guess you can call it learning from your mistakes