tolstoy21

Another option with more reviews from Hanna Instruments. https://www.hannainst.com/hi9813-6-portable-ph-ec-tds-temperature-meter-with-cal-check.html

I have a less expensive (but not cheap) Ph pen from them and like it. It holds calibration well, but does require calibration from time to time. My only complaint about the pen is that the screws to calibrate it are just too damn small. One of these day's I'm going to upgrade to something that also does TDS and EC and is easier to calibrate.

I use Poly-Fil in all my HOBs and box filters. It's my preferred mechanical filtration method. I use only it and ceramic media. I'll put it on top the ceramics. Depending on the tank, it can fill and need to be replaced quickly, or it can last a couple weeks.

Take a look at Milwaukee Instruments. https://milwaukeeinstruments.com/milwaukee-mW806-pro-4-in-1-ph-ec-tds-temp-combo-meter-with-atc/

I have a group of 5 (was 6, but lost one) coming close to 2 years of age. No spawning yet for me. 😞 Congrats on the spawn!

I forget how many spawns they sampled. I am assuming a decent amount, because they did mention the findings applied equally to F1 generations, as well as F-something-like-12-or-so. The effect varied from one species to another in degree, but typically the trend was the same. Only one or two species studied showed no statistical differences from environment factors. They did study one other species of fish, but I believe it was a non cichlid. But I could be remembering incorrectly. I keep pairs in 20g highs. I will relocate the males to 10 gallons typically, but currently those are taken up by my crystal red shrimp that I'm trying to selectively breed and refine. I try not to mix my breeding fish too much since I'm trying to keep track of which fish is which for better understanding of lines etc. There is no real way to use dividers in my setup since the tanks are situated in "portrait" orientation. Yup. Totally been there!

I use 20 highs simply for the water volume (over 10 gallons) and because I can accommodate for them more easily when the tank is situated in "portrait" orientation rather than "landscape". So the space isn't necessarily wasted if it's used to increase the water volume over other tank size choices. I agree that more bottom real estate is the way to go if you're not trying to maximize tank density on a rack. This is why I don't do more than a pair of fish in any 20 high, just not enough footprint for more than one male and one female (and for other reasons, liking being able to keep better track of who is spawning with whom, etc.)

Yes, I agree 100%. I hope I didn't come off as suggesting otherwise. The situation is unique and different than other scenarios, and not one I would advocate as a "normal" fish keeping practice. If I had attempted to keep 4 males in a 40G, I would want them to be able to establish territories and would expect them to fight a bit more viciously and act more territorial. But I would not actually setup a tank like this, as I even had troubles with 2 males in a 125G. The one who had staked out the tank would find and kill any later introduced males as he had already decided the entire tank was his. I've seen the same with females. They also will fight for and defend a breeding area from other females (at least I've seen this with cacatuodies), but they get the most aggressive when defending eggs or fry.

There have been scientific studies on the influence of both temperature and Ph on a couple dozen different apistogramma species that have revealed a direct correlation between these environmental factors and gender ratios. I was able to search through an online archive I have access to via work and found a few studies on the topic. The first of these studies has been pretty well quoted in lots of old threads on the web in regards to this topic. The two studies of note are: Environmental determination of sex in Apistogramma (Cichlidae) and two other freshwater fishes (Teleostei) from the Journal of Fish Biology (Romer and Beisenherz, 1996) Influence of temperature on fertility, growth rates, and reproductive success on selected species of Apistogramma (Romer, 2001) I summarized some of the findings of the first study in this thread a few weeks back -- In regards to my personal observations, something does influence this because I have personally had some almost all female spawns, with like 90% females (in very large spawns too), and the same with male heavy ones (smaller spawns). I've had this happen with cacatuoides, baenschi and agassizii alike. Since my last male-heavy spawn, I'm now experimenting with environmental factors and taking more notes. Currently I am growing out more baenschi and some abacaxis, and will hopefully have better data for these two batches than I have kept in the past. I'm taking recordings of tank params every two weeks, and will eventually do a male/female count when they are old enough to be sexed with a modicum of accuracy. I've noticed the same, but this is hit-or-miss with pairs. Some pairs will raise spawns more cooperatively than others. Sometimes the female will give the male a stern warning, other times she will wind up killing him. (Other times, one or both eat their kids). I just had a spawn of trifaciata this week and I'm keeping a close eye on the pair to see how this plays out. I'd hate to lose this batch (or a parent), but it's helpful for me to know what their parenting style is like so I know who needs to be separated and who does not. I currently don't have enough tanks to separate out every single male. And I don't want to stick the males in community tanks for fear of losing track of who is who. Ha! 100% been there!!!! I had this happen with a large piece of malysian driftwood in a growout. Fish would wedge themselves into the tiniest crevices where they could not be extracted (by me at least) or even seen. Before I knew exactly what was going on, I would lift the piece out to clean or net out fish and then I'd find a handful of apistos flopping around on the floor. I'd think WTF? How the heck did they get there? Unfortunately, I lost a few this way until I understood exactly what was happening. Since then, I stopped using anything in the tank that they could defensively wedge themselves into like this.

Not sure about a 'hurry' unless you have a lot of it. Then yeah. If you have a bunch of decent sized-plants, you can get a jump start. This is my plan, to grow out as much of the floating bits as I can and then look for some very nice large-sized driftwood pieces and connect the fern to that. Then perhaps sell or trade some of it at a swap once its firmly attached and full looking. I'd like to make very nice pieces that you don't normally at find at most LFS's that would be like a turn-key sort of instant aquascape for folks who don't have the patients to wait for the fern to grow in. In the meantime, while it grows out, I'll just enjoy it in my aquariums, and as it sends off more plantlets, I'll just rinse/repeat. I'm pretty sure this will be a no-profit/cut-even venture, but it's a much better plan than composting it!

😆 😆 😆 😆 They should make glo oscars and glo bichers!

Companies do this all the time with genetically modified things. It's widespread with seeds and crops. I'm not sure where I weigh in on the 'you can't patent a living thing' because then that leads to the, well then why is ok to buy, sell or own a living thing? This is a slippery slope so I just don't go down that path of thought. I probably shouldn't even have mentioned it in this thread! I'm thinking something along the lines of a fishy disco tech. But I guess that can also be under the sea, right?

Hmmmmm . . . then I shouldn't admit I'm getting ready to go all in on a glow-fish aquascape for my kid's room. Every time we go to the fish store, he asks me for glow fish and I always say "NO WAY!!!!!!' But recently I thought, you know, it might actually be fun to just embrace the whole glow-fish thing and go all in on the crazy plants and decorations and substrate and lights, etc. and just do it up to an extreme glow-fishiness!

I order mine through Home Depot. The brand I use is American Fire. You can get bags of it in various sizes, which I like to do to give a varied appearance. I have mine on top of black Flourite sand which is the same exact color and I believe made from lava rock as well. You can see it in my tank pic below. Just give it a good rinse, as it can sometimes be dusty. But as @Tanked said, yeah I've also used it straight out of the bag as well and its been fine (filters pulled dust out of water after less than a day). I'll even sometimes use the medium sized pieces as bio filtration in box filters. No issues using it at all. I never buy the stuff they have in the store cause it's always red (I like black) and never the size I want. You can also find American Fire lava rock on Amazon.

I do the same thing with the Ehiems. I dial them into the temp I want in a bucket first, then hook them up to an Inkbird and set the desired temp in again there as my failsafe. If I notice the Inkbird never getting to the desired temp according to it's probe, I'll tweak the Eheim a bit. I also have some that are at, or surpassed, the 5 year point. But these have been in and out of service. Only maybe 2 have been running non-stop.

I agree. The Eheim Jaggers seem to run forever. However, I find that their 'calibration' is hit or miss and well. A lot of mine are inaccurate in terms of what the dial says, and the calibration seems impossible to set given how far off they are (unless I'm doing something wrong). However, I still run them because of I have found them to run forever. I just dial them to the temp I want (ignoring what the dial says, if needed), then back them up with an Inkbird.

I have about 40+ male apistos of three different species in a 40G. Admittedly they have been in there longer than I'd like (I had massively male heavy spawns and it's hard to move males without accompanying females. I'm trying to raise them at lower temps now in an attempt to even out the ratios of future spawns). They are going on 6 - 8 months of age right now, and they do squabble at times. But what I notice from them is more like posturing and displaying. I have yet to lose a fish in this setup. All my fish are healthy and colored up well and show no stress. However, yeah they need new homes. I have a couple large ornaments for them to shelter in, but usually a handful of males will hang out together in the same cave, or skull or log (I think the key is to make sure the hides aren't small enough to be defended by a single individual). I also have large clumps of Java Fern, but this is more for them to feel comfortable from me or theoretical predators than it is to separate them from one another. Now, I don't advocate keeping apistos long term in this kind of setup as 'pets', but it does work if you are breeding and need to hold a large spawn for a period of time longer than you might have anticipated. Perhaps I might start offering some of these in the Sell/Trade section here for anyone interested, free of cost as long as shipping is covered by the recipient.

Yes, you absolutely can, but with the caveats that @itsfoxtail raised. I'd say itsfoxtail's points are 100% spot on in my experience. Agree 100% You can definitely breed apistos in 20G, and raise a decent number up to about three or four months of age. After that, you'll either need to move them to something like a 40 breeder (depending on the number of fry you are growing out), or trade or sell them. Also, very true. When crowded, they will stay smaller much longer, but . . . when separated out, they do tend to begin to take on size. If you are growing out a decent number, they tend to not get too aggressive with one another if there is no real opportunity for them to create and guard territories. They will squabble, but they don't kill one another (in my experience) like the adults defending their breeding area can. For this reason, I set up my grow outs with this in mind, that I don't want them creating territories. I may put in a large hollow-log style ornament (like the very nice one from pleco ceramics!) or a large patch of java fern, but nothing that a single fish can attempt to call their own. You can hold the fry well into adulthood this way, but it is better to try to find them new homes before this time.

Totally agree! I once had a bunch in some manzinita wood, about mid-tank height, and the roots all grew down in these tangles with a awesome kind of mangrovey kind of look With java fern, on the other hand, I find that since the roots are more hairlike, when they get out of control they tend to become mulm and detritus traps. I will occasionally pull mine out and give them a hair cut (or to be more accurate, a root cut!)

Thanks! I literally do nothing to care for it. I mean maybe every once in a while if I remember, I'll hit it with a fert, but other than that, it just does it's thing. It's also been growing and sending off plantlets now for about 2+ years. If there is one thing I have learned it's that java fern (and anubias) take patients. I found the way to grow them is to just forget you have them. Like buy a good sized, healthy bunch and then just forget you have them for a couple years. Then when you go back and look at what there is, you'll be like 'Holy cow, where did this all come from!?" You can't rush either of these plants, they are definitely a 'long game'. But in that long term, you will suddenly find you have more than you know what to do with. I keep java fern because I have a lot bare bottom breeding tanks that get torn down and set back up and java fern is easy to just move from tank-to-tank. It's one of the few plants I keep anymore and is more a convenience thing, but I do really like it.

I'll be shipping them again in January if anyone is interested. I'll post them here again with a 'nerm' discount like I had last time.

I have no rigid opinion on this topic, but my feeling is that keeping a larger number of 'same species' fish in a space that isn't how they would naturally co-mingle does reduce or alleviates aggression amongst fish that would otherwise want to establish and defend a territory (sometimes to the death) because there is no possibility of establishing that territory. Do the fish enjoy this arrangement? Dunno, they can't really answer that other than to perhaps exhibit stress. I personally wouldn't keep fish in this type of setup except in a grow-out tank, or a holding tank that is not meant to be a fish's lifelong home. But this is just me and my personal opinion. If someone else sets this kind of environment up, I won't judge. If someone else has done it and has had healthy, long-lived fish that have coexisted peacefully despite the fact that this isn't how we would find them in nature, all the power to them. A lot of what we do in this hobby isn't how a fish would exist in nature. Some of this is good, like no predators and a consistent, easy food supply! Some of this is bad, but usually the bad stems from either neglect or lack of experience. Either way, responsible pet owners should just look to exhibit some common sense and take whatever actions are needed to alleviate a bad environment they might have created for their pets, be it re-homing them, getting more tanks or dividers, etc.

Ah, missed this. Yeah I had similar problems with the pet-chain-store java fern. These plants were sold in tubes with moisture in them so I'm guessing not grown submerged? I don't know enough about java fern to be able to say if emerged vs submerged matters like it does in a lot of other plants. But . . . .since java fern is so slow growing, if you have melt back, and there are few leaves to begin with, you're left with a naked rhizome. The Coop sells some healthy java fern, as well as some other online places I won't mention by name cause I'm on the Coop's forum! I would buy a few of them so you can arrange them in a nice clump and not have to wait forever for them to fill in. I find planting in clusters of three to be effective visually for both aquarium and garden plants.

I literally do nothing with mine at all. Like no care in the least bit. The only thing I can think to test would be the Gh, as in, make sure there is at least some mineral hardness in the water. Also, make sure the rhizome isn't buried. It could also be where you're getting the plants from. I find starting with larger java ferns is easier than starting with the couple leaf ones you find at places like PetCo, etc. What I have been doing over the past 2 years is collected and potted all the little plantlets. Often I'll leave the broken off floating leaves in my tanks to make more plantlets. I started with 3 'mother pots' which were larger plants than on average, and that got me going . . . . I hate to admit that I recently threw out as much as is pictured here since I ran out of space for it all. But, I've since regretted that and am working on attaching everything to wood or potting it up so I can maybe sell it at a swap in the future. Below is only half of what I have from the three plants I started with. This is my Java Fern grow out tank! Hey how did this picture get in here?!?

I can't stop java fern from growing. I have so much java fern I'm going to have to buy a storage unit to keep it all! How do you plant it? What are your water params? I literally do nothing and it grows like mad (well more of a slow, smoldering madness, cause it grows slow).