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biodives

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Everything posted by biodives

  1. Too bad I didn't see this earlier. Next time your in town PM me directly and I'd be happy to talk fish with you and show my tanks. Cheers, Bart
  2. This is going to happen sooner or later. Same when one fish of a breeding pair dies. For common fish you can just buy some more, but N. beckfordi are not always available. I tend to let them live out their lives in a community tank but that only works if you have multiple tanks and I've not had the issue where harassment started as the group got smaller. If I knew someone who had a larger group and was willing to adopt a few more I would donate the fish, but again finding a match will be tricky for less common fish.
  3. The mystery plant looks like it may be Java fern. Just google for it and compare to what you have as the picture isn't entirely clear. It is normally grown on wood (as are at least some of the Anubias) and don't like to be planted, so it is worth figuring out for sure what it is. Swordplants and cryptocoryne are examples of plants with good root systems that like to be planted. Some taller stem plants can be used to hide the equipment.
  4. There is no 'one correct way' to do it. I am growing plants on sterile pool filter sand, play box sand, as well as Edmonton river valley mud, sand with potting soil and the expensive ADA soils. Even those with sterile sand don't get fertilizer, just occasionally some trace minerals as my tanks run on pure RO water. Some grow just in sun light, others with fancy LED lights or DIY LED lights, some grow in the near dark under a layer of floating plants. In brighter light with more nutrition plants grow more robust but in the end I find plants to be very adaptable. The one thing I don't use is gravel. You can grow plants in them as well but I prefer a not-too-fine sand. Of course some plants are more demanding than others. Floating plants and plants that can take up all their nutrients from the water (and can be grown without planting) obviously don't care much about the soil. Plants from rich boggy soils are probably more picky but I grow swordplants and most stem plants just fine. To give an extreme example: Tonina fluviatilis is supposedly a high-tech plant that needs bright light, rich soil, CO2 and fertilizer. I grow it submerged in a zero tech tank with no light (just sunlight), CO2, or filter, not even an air stone. Again mine are not as picture-perfect as those pampered to perfection or the once I have that grow emerged, but they are growing. If you want to grow plants that demand high light intensity or want the high-tech look then getting the bright lights, special soils, and a CO2 setup is the way to go. If you want an IMHO more natural look then it really doesn't have to be that hard.
  5. Sounds you've caught tank fever. Best disease there is
  6. Welcome to the hobby and have fun selecting the fish (and some plants?) for the tank and see them develop.
  7. I've been doing this for two years and my advice is - don't worry. I use 100% pure RO water in all my tanks and nearly all have an inert pool filter sand substrate. None of the tanks have had pH issues. Actually, the difficulty is to get the pH to go down. If you don't use peat or other things to bring the pH down, then just RO will take it to 6.2-6.8 but I find it slowly creeps up if you just do water top-ups. But all but the trickiest apistos are breeding happily at those pH values and the soft water (20-60ppm). What species of dwarf cichlids are you keeping. Not all of them need (very) soft water.
  8. The joys of starting a new hobby and learning lots of weird and wonderful new things. Good luck and perhaps you can consider buying a 300G tank for your wife, because nothing says I love you better than a bit tank
  9. I visited him two weekends ago and he had some VERY nice Apistogramma borellii 'Opal' (the one with the red/pearl markings on the cheeks). You should check if he still has them, quite likely he does. You can reach him by email at curtis.jerrom@gmail.com. He also has Badis badis and Badis sp. 'Buxar' which are small cichlid-like (but not closely related) fish from Indo-China.
  10. Welcome to AA. For Apistos have a look at Curtis Jerrom he has several apistos and also angels. The A. borellii 'Opal' would be a good starter apisto as they handle harder water better and stay smaller than some others. Having pairs of apisto and rams in a 55 can result in territorial problems, especially if they start mating. However, you can try and relocate a pair to the 75G if needed. PS: Curtis posts his stocklist in this group's "livestock classifieds" section under
  11. ACE is indeed the place to go. Ages are a bit skewed to the higher end but there are a bunch of young members as well and more are welcome. Moving to a planted tank need not be an expensive undertaking depending on the types of plants you intend on keeping.
  12. I'll head out on Holidays the day before but intend to have another ACE member bring some of my plants and perhaps some young adult apisto pairs (panduro and sp. Abacaxis).
  13. What does it mean that they are still good? They will still be there and release some tannins and acid but if you want to go to very low pH then the peach loses it's punch over time even when using RO water. In the Netherlands they used to harvest lots of "peat bricks" to heat homes in centuries past. I had some in the 70's for use in tanks but haven't seen any in ages.
  14. There are bogs fed by groundwater and bogs fed by rainwater. The former are not low pH and are what you find in most of Alberta. The latter are acidic and I believe are found in the North East of the province only. I get pure organic peat from a local garden store (All Seasons Gardens on 81Ave and about 100-101St). That bring RO water pH down to 4.5 when the peat is fresh. I just dump some in a garbage bin and stir occasional. In weekends I siphon it off for water changes. I can re-use the peat several times unit the pH won't go below 5.5 and then I replace with fresh peat. One bag of peat will last me probably half a year or so. The old peat you can use in your garden if you want to grow blueberries or other plants that like some acidity, or you can add lime to neutralize before use in your garden. PS: if you try to do anything while using tap water I think your bound for frustration
  15. Suggestions so far have been mostly for fry-food, or at least very small fish. An easy large life food is red wriggler worms. In between are grindal worms and white worms. They need regular feeding of small amounts of food but otherwise are not that difficult.
  16. My first hunch is also that the problem is with the measuring device. Take a look at plain tap water, it should be around pH 8. If also 10 then it's time to calibrate or get a new pH tester. If it works normal on tap water then your fish are in much more alkaline water then they should. Since you say they behave normal I guess it's the meter not the water that is the problem. PS: strong growth by plants that can use bicarbonate instead of CO2 can drive pH in natural lakes, and I expect tanks, to 9-10. So some fish can probably handle it for at least short periods.
  17. I echo all that John said. My general philosophy is you either match your water to the fish (if you want to keep those that do not take well to the local water supply) or you match your fish to the local water. Fortunately, very many fish, especially those that have been bred in captivity, are very tolerant to a wide range of water parameters. Quality of food, stocking level/aggression, access to shelter, concentration of waste products etc is more important for their long term health. If you do want to lower pH I'd recommend investing in an reverse osmosis (RO) system to get very soft water. That will automatically lower the pH and result in a stable predictable outcome, rather than a jojo pH going up and down each time you add chemicals. But for you current selection of fish there is no reason to do so.
  18. Welcome to AA and a big green thumbs up to your move into aquarium plants. They really make it closer to "its own little environment" you were talking about. I'm into low-tech planted tanks myself but there are reasons to like hi-tech or both. Just don't let anyone tell you that hi-tech is the only/best way to keep plants.
  19. This is perfectly normal in a well running tank. Mine do it very regularly. The males become more intensely coloured and shiver next to each other with their flanks pressed together. If females are ready they actually become more pale coloured. Mine do it mostly early in the morning and they spawn on the roots of my floating plants. Occasionally I have some fry survive by themselves but most eggs/fry get eaten. It is the only Nannostomus I have had spawn in my tanks and they are also very attractive and lively fish. Enjoy your new tank. You seem to be doing well. If you are interested in fish behaviour consider a pair of dwarf cichlids, they should go well with the tetras you already have. Bart
  20. My first thought when I saw the tank was also angels as the main eye catcher, school of tetras large enough to hold their own visually (rumminose, but many options), perhaps some hatchetfish gliding along the surface and cories playing on the bottom. Relatively standard inhabitants but later on you can add an oddity or two like a knife fish, dwarf cichlids, ...
  21. Welcome and nice to see a well-planted tank. I see a few small tetras, what are your plans regarding fish once the tank is settled in.
  22. I agree with the above, and with decent stocking level the plants will still go wild.
  23. biodives

    I'm back!

    There are also advantages in starting from scratch, such as learning from what you did and did not like about your previous setup. If costs is an issue you can always look out for other poor souls selling their equipment for "must be sold now' prices. Good luck with the new setup.
  24. Still a bit early but I hope your troubles are behind you now.
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