What is perfect water?

[Apsnake]

I'm having a lot of trouble breeding my apistos at the moment. Previously I have had spawns from a few species and even the sp. I keep at this moment have spawned for me but not amounted to anything. My macmasteri pair spawned twice in a month and now haven't for over a month the male is very aggressive now. My trifasciata harem 1m4f aren't interested in the males advances and are harassed because of it. I would like to know what the ideal hardness ph and foods to try and induce spawning. I have looked all over the web for these answers but there is no specifics as I well know. I just want a spawn to cover the costs of fish as it stands and I'm happy to let nature take its course after. I will attach my water parameters from the provider. Hardness is showing 58.8ca.mg/l and the rest is in the attached. Are my water params impossible to breed in consistently? I have easy access to ro but have never been sure how essential it is. Everyone else seems to have no trouble breeding most apistos yet I seem to struggle. My water is conditioned with an unlimited supply of alder cones also. Any helped appreciated.

 

[themountain]

wow...a lot of chlorine....that cant be helpful Conductivity is rather high too and Ph certainly not suitable for trifasciata.
Better get an RO and mix your water

 

[Apsnake]

I use prime to remove chlorine and always slightly overdose it so hopefully that's one thing ticked off. I noticed it was high too! I am going to get some r.o water from a friend today, what kind of percentage should I mix tap water for my macmasteri. I haven't used it before and am under the impression I can't use pure r.o water for changes? Is this still the case for getting really soft acidic water? Should I still treat r.o water with alder cones? My water is actually very different in the tanks compared to from the tap, my PH is certainly not that high and rather sits around 6-6.5 it's mainly the water hardness and conductivity that worries me. Thanks for the reply though buddy.

 

[Mike Wise]

I'm happy that I don't have your water! Still, it's not terrible for white-/clear-/seasonal1y variable-water species like A. macmasteri and A. trifasciata. Yes, I'd mix r/o with tap water and get it down to around 100 µS/cm. Just use straight r/o for water changes for the next month or two. You should notice an increase in breeding interest and vitality in your fish. After that just just use a 50/50 mix.

Realize that water values are only one part of successfully breeding apistos. I believe water quality/tank maintenance and food quality are just as - if not more - important. Tank lay-out is very important, too.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I haven't used it before and am under the impression I can't use pure r.o water for changes? Is this still the case for getting really soft acidic water? Should I still treat r.o water with alder cones?

If you have a conductivity meter you can just add RO to your tap until you get to a suitable conductivity level, about 100 - 120 microS should be OK.

If you don't have a conductivity meter you could try ~20% tap to 80% RO.

I also live in the S. of the UK (near Bath) and have hard tap water, and I use rain-water, I don't know if that is an option for you?

cheers Darrel

 

[Apsnake]

It's quite funny because that's what my fish guy says every time I order apistos He's like don't you want some neolamps they'd be better for your water I'm just like no strictly apistos. He's offered me all sorts of kribs I'm just tearing my hair out trying to get my first spawns from them. I have introduced r.o water to my 60l with my Mac pair. Water is looking better params though my 200l will get 10% a week change with r.o from now onwards so really hoping this should help. Thanks for the help though guys x

 

[Apsnake]

I would worry about the pollution levels in my area. Rainwater would be easy to collect it's bloody miserable round my ways. But I'm very close to gatwick airport and there is industrial estates local also so would worry about pollutants being a problem! Do you have anything similar?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I would worry about the pollution levels in my area. Rainwater would be easy to collect it's bloody miserable round my ways. But I'm very close to gatwick airport and there is industrial estates local also so would worry about pollutants being a problem! Do you have anything similar?

I live East of Bath (in Corsham) so it is quite rural.

I use a <"Daphnia Bioassay"> to check that the water is OK to use. Basically you add Daphnia to the water butt, and when you harvest the water, as long as it has swimming Daphnia in it, it is safe to use.

cheers Darrel

 

[Apsnake]

I'm happy that I don't have your water! Still, it's not terrible for white-/clear-/seasonal1y variable-water species like A. macmasteri and A. trifasciata. Yes, I'd mix r/o with tap water and get it down to around 100 µS/cm. Just use straight r/o for water changes for the next month or two. You should notice an increase in breeding interest and vitality in your fish. After that just just use a 50/50 mix.

Realize that water values are only one part of successfully breeding apistos. I believe water quality/tank maintenance and food quality are just as - if not more - important. Tank lay-out is very important, too.

So in an unusual turn of events since I posted this one of my trifasciata females have spawned which I'm over the moon about! I posted before about eating eggs and had itchy hands so I pulled the cave and placed it in a sterilised 2l jug with the water from breeder. I added 6 small alder comes and have a air line running under the cave so it's hitting the eggs and turned it down to about 4bps. There's 17 eggs and none look fungused so I assume the female has already removed any unwanted eggs and the leftovers are looking a beigey pink colour. Am I looking to have fry soon? I have seen fertile eggs before and these look good tbh. Over the next few days is it likely that the eggs will fungus even though they are fertile? Thanks again and apologies for being so persistent with my questions I'm a bit of an apistophile and would hate to lose yet another spawn when I'm putting so much into it!

 

[Mike Wise]

Personally I've never hatched eggs artificially. Anyway, you should know if you're successful in 2-3 days. Good luck!