Water parameters and fish suitability

[DeliciousRoastPotato]

The tank will be heavily planted and I've already purchased some aquasoil (the store had Nisso brand if that matters).

Parameters from water fresh out of the tap: Ph = 7.8 dGH = 4, dKH = 3. These figures seem consistent the official water report from my area (attached).
Two days after adding the aquasoil to a small tank I'm growing plants in before setting up the main tank: Ph < 7 (don't remember precisely, not that it matters much), dGH = 4, dKH = 1.

As it'll be the first time I've kept fish since I was a kid (I've done a stack of reading since then over the years but that only gets you so far). I'd rather pick fish for the water I've got rather than the other way around. AI has been saying that my water parameters fit better with softwater fish from SA than for some of my other choices (south-east asian fish like honey gouramis which officially water that is a bit less soft).

Which dwarf cichlids (if any) work with the water both before and after the aquasoil's buffering capacity is exhausted? I know from reading around here that sometimes people on here disagree with the suggested parameters on aquarium websites (e.g. temperatures for a. borelli).

Candidate species include
- A. cacatuoides
- A. borelli
- A. hongsloi
- A. trifasciata
- A. bitaeniata
- Nannacara anomala

 

[MacZ]

Honestly, I would remove the soil again right away and work with sand instead while using RO as your sourcewater. Sand is also the most recommendable substrate for dwarf cichlids.

Soil (and for that matter limestone the other direction) causes parameter swings with each waterchange unless you use even softer source water. The swings can cause a base stress level you do not want.

Generally you can keep them all in your source water, with all these fish being available as domestic breeds mainly anyway. Exception A. bitaeniata, which I recommend keeping only if you have RO or similar sourcewater.
If you want to breed and/or keep the fish healthy longterm go full RO with diverse and healthy food.

And please ignore what AI told you. e.g. Trichogaster chuna and many other south east asian species come from just as soft and acidic waters as most south american or central african fish. Those are the three main regions of softwater, where the water parameters are basically interchangeable.

 

[Mike Wise]

As MacZ wrote, all but A. bitaeniata should be able to live well in your Kurnell/Sydney tap water. Even A. bitaeniata will do well once organics are added to the water to lower the pH a bit. I've had several different forms of A. bitaeniata successfully reproduce for me in organics-filtered water over the decades. My Denver tap water is very similar to yours. Besides, living in Oz I imagine that most of your apistos are domestically bred and adapted to local water values. I do agree with MacZ that sand would be a much better substrate for these mini eartheaters.

 

[DeliciousRoastPotato]

Thanks MacZ and Mike Wise.

I did make AI provide receipts about those water sources not getting to negligible harvest during the monsoon season. It did find water testing from the relevant rivers that showed the water never got super soft at any point in the year. Of course, the species may well be adaptable enough anyway (or might cope ok but with reduced hardiness etc).

While I may well go RO system in the future, I will not do it in the first year (especially given I’m an early career teacher). I’m in an apartment which makes collecting rainwater much more difficult. I’d basically have to leave buckets at a friend’s place ancross the road and collect periodically. Sounds like a hassle.

I’ve already opened one of the two bags of aquasoil so I’m sort of locked in to using it. I can cap with sand if need be. I knew rams needed sand but good to know apistogrammas are the same. I suspect this might defeat the part of the value of the point of the aquasoil in the first place but ethical animal husbandry comes first.

The tank will be a triangular aquascape layout where the right side of the tank is planted like crazy, shorter plants used in the middle and maybe 20cm of open swimming space on the left. It will be a community tank with attention made to ensure I don’t have other fish competing for the same territory and water height as the cichlids (I remember from childhood that they like their territories). I’d want to make sure they don’t claim the entire planted section for themselves though.

Would I just go sand in the open areas or (as I assume) I should go sand everywhere?

 

[anewbie]

Thanks MacZ and Mike Wise.

I did make AI provide receipts about those water sources not getting to negligible harvest during the monsoon season. It did find water testing from the relevant rivers that showed the water never got super soft at any point in the year. Of course, the species may well be adaptable enough anyway (or might cope ok but with reduced hardiness etc).

While I may well go RO system in the future, I will not do it in the first year (especially given I’m an early career teacher). I’m in an apartment which makes collecting rainwater much more difficult. I’d basically have to leave buckets at a friend’s place ancross the road and collect periodically. Sounds like a hassle.

I’ve already opened one of the two bags of aquasoil so I’m sort of locked in to using it. I can cap with sand if need be. I knew rams needed sand but good to know apistogrammas are the same. I suspect this might defeat the part of the value of the point of the aquasoil in the first place but ethical animal husbandry comes first.

The tank will be a triangular aquascape layout where the right side of the tank is planted like crazy, shorter plants used in the middle and maybe 20cm of open swimming space on the left. It will be a community tank with attention made to ensure I don’t have other fish competing for the same territory and water height as the cichlids (I remember from childhood that they like their territories). I’d want to make sure they don’t claim the entire planted section for themselves though.

Would I just go sand in the open areas or (as I assume) I should go sand everywhere?

In your current situation i would not bother with ro or rain water; just go with a species that does not require such.

 

[MacZ]

It did find water testing from the relevant rivers that showed the water never got super soft at any point in the year.

Water values South America (Map pH) - Südamerikafans

The water values have an essential role for fishes and plants in the water. Do you know the values of the waters of South America?

www.suedamerikafans.de

You might find this interesting. Water parameters may vary widely between the river main channels and the small tributaries where the fish occur.

It will be a community tank with attention made to ensure I don’t have other fish competing for the same territory and water height as the cichlids (I remember from childhood that they like their territories). I’d want to make sure they don’t claim the entire planted section for themselves though.

With the scape you describe I'd go the completely stress free road and only get a single male. The scape would not work out for more, as they are mostly aggressive among each other and open spaces are usually claimed by the dominant fish, chasing away the other relentlessly. And if breeding occurs the females can push all other fish in one corner of the tank, including the male. Both scenarios can end in deaths as dwarf cichlids tend to collapse under stress (social and environmental).

 

[Mike Wise]

Since I don't see the size of the tank mentioned, I can't recommend numbers of apistos but a community tank should never have a breeding pair of apistos - or almost any cichlids for that matter. I think it is possible to add sand substrate to a part of the tank, but separate it with a barrier of some kind. I wouldn't cover the soil with sand. I've been to the Amazon on several occasions during the dry season. Testing always showed soft to moderately soft water (<100 µS/cm). After heavy rains where water levels in rivers rose several meters the water tested very soft, like rain water. Still these fish are adaptable. As long as extremes are avoided they will adapt.