tolstoy21

Do your walls leak, as in water form the garden slowly seeping through the walls? Or is the 'moist' just condensation?

1000% agree. Yeah my wife stands on our hardwood floor situated right above the first room and says 'Yay! Heated floors!'

Thanks. I've bred this species a number of times in the past, but took a break from them for no real reason except got busy with other breeding projects. Right now I have a couple of ten gallons already full of teeny-tiny fry, but, like I said, I wanted to see if this spawning mop thing made things a bit easier cause I hate hatching fry and snails at the same time!

I hung (glued) those pink styro insulation panels against the exterior concrete walls in my basement, then sheet rocked over that. Kind of just followed the typical recommended way people finish basements they are going to turn into living spaces and heat. But I only did this for the small corner of the basement I was using to make the fish room. I framed out and insulated the interior fishroom walls, and for the doorway, I hung the strip curtain (so much easier to use than a door and retains heat much better).

As far as insulation, are the walls open and not insulated? If so, you can just use regular insulation bats rated for the weather in your area. I have a fish room in my basement, and to keep the heat in the area where the racks are I used a vinyl strip curtain. (Below is just a random image from the internet). These things work great and will definitely help if your space is going to be exposed frequently to the winter air.

Here's a short clip of my sawbwa replendens getting in the mood after they got a new spawning mop (if this thing can be called a mop). I used to float java fern in their tank, and that works very well, but I can't really clean that after use to get rid of snail eggs (and there are a lot), and it's harder to see the eggs in. Here's hoping this giant pipe green pipe cleaner thing works out and does't become a floating breakfast buffet for the sawbwas!

I jumped in just as it was ending. 😞 Going to catch it on the replay. 😀

I use a filter sock clipped to the side of the aquarium. These also work great for siphoning water out if you don't want to suck up small fish. I use them to do water changes on tanks with teeny-tiny fry or shrimp. I use a python hook to regulate the water flow into the sock since it has a ball valve on it. The sock does the diffusion. Filter socks are a super-simple and inexpensive solution that require no DIY skills at all. They are available to most aquarium stores.

The best thing to know is that 1 mg/L = 1 part per million (ppm). As @nabokovfan87 mentioned, GH is comprised of calcium and magnesium. Adding your numbers, you get 29.5ppm total (27 calcium + 2.5 magnesium). One dGH (degrees of general hardness) is equal to 17.9 mg/L or 17.9 ppm. So, if we divide 29.5 by 17.9, you are looking at GH reading of 1.6. KH contributes to the alkalinity or acidity of the water. But the measurement is typically just referred to as alkalinity. KH is comprised of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Calcium is the pure elemental form of the mineral, while calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a compound comprised of calcium, carbon and oxygen. Unfortunately, well water tests do not include numbers for KH. Ph is typically the measure of importance for a home. But from this we can make some assumptions about KH. Your water is slightly acidic, so it most likely has little to no KH (I'd take a guess of a KH of 1 or less, but I could be wrong). In my experience, I find the API GH/KH drop kits, and the Sera GH test kit, to be fairly accurate when compared to professional testing. Using either of these should give you decent understanding of your GH and KH. In general, your water sounds perfect for South American fish! But maybe boost the GH a tad if you also want live plants. I am partial to using Equilibrium as a GH/mineral additive, but it will cloud your water a little bit for about a day after dosing.

Specifically I keep my Ph at around 6.4-6.6 because this is what my water measures out of the tap. According to research, at a temperature of 26C (78.8F), the below graph represents the relationship between Ph and the male/female gender ratios in A. Cacatuoides -- In Cacatuoides, the relationship between temperature and gender is equally as strong as that of Ph. So as temps decrease below 78.8F, the percentage of offspring should skew female at a given Ph; as the temps increase, the percentage should skew towards males. This influence of ph/temp on gender is not necessarily the same for every species (some apistogramma are more influenced by Ph than temp and vice versa), but for the majority of species studied there is a measurable correlation between gender and environmental factors. Environmental factors have been shown to effect apistogramma sex determination during the first month of life, with the influence decreasing linearly over time. So the ultimate sex ratio is determined over a roughly 30-day period, after birth, and is not set at conception/incubation. For anyone interested in the topic, the research can be found in these two journal articles -- Effect of ph on Sex Ratio in Cichlids and a Poecilliid (Teleostei) David A. Rubin Copeia, Vol. 1985, No. 1 (Feb. 11, 1985), pp. 233-235 (3 pages) Environmental Determination of Sex in Apistogramma(Cichlidae) and two other fresh water fishes (Teleostei) Römer & Beisenherz (1996) Journal of Fish Biology 48, 714–725.

I was keeping multi's for a few years, but then stopped. Totally miss them. Everyone in who is hooked on this hobby should try shellies at some point in their aquarium journey. Here is one of my fishies from back then. 🥲 (I miss you little fella!) One of these days I'm going to start a colony again.

Shellies are super fun! Especially if you have a nice big colony of them. They are so fascinating to watch.

I also love and am hooked on shrimp keeping. I don't keep many types (Crystal Red, Orange Rili, Tangerine Tiger), but I am always (ALWAYS!) temped to convert all my fish tanks in my fish room into shrimp tanks!

I'm kind of getting very hooked on tetras these days. This is my current favorite. Just picked up a small group of these beauties (picture below not mine). Hyphessobrycon spec. "Cherry Red". Next I'm thinking of getting some hyphessobrycon wadai, a.k.a 'blueberry tetras'. But that will probably have to wait until spring.

I have found that planning when they will spawn is like planning when it will rain. As you mentioned, there are definitely steps you can take to urge the process along (turning up heat), but I personally find it hard to get them to breed on a predictable schedule, at least not as predictable as fish like tetras and barbs. You can try keeping the tank around 76F, then turn it up to 79F - 80F until they spawn. I don't think this will affect their long term health or burn them out, but remember to turn the heat down shortly after the fry are born (within the following two weeks or so). Temps above 78F will sway your spawn to be heavily male. 78F seems to be a sweet spot for many species, producing a decently even ratio of male vs female offspring (according to research). Temps below 77 will start to tip the scales towards females. Ph levels will also have secondary influence on sex ratios, but not as strong as water temps.

Yeah, just as Fish Folk said. . . Cryopacks are very good at stabilizing temps inside a box. The turn liquid at temps above 72F and solid below that. The idea is that they absorb heat when the temps go north of 72F and will then release that heat back out into the box as the temps dip below 72F. I believe they cab be used in conjunction with heat or cold packs. I experimented with them a bit and cold packs, hoping I could make an ice pack last longer inside a box on a hot day (ice packs run out too fast to be of any use). I didn't have much luck achieving my objective, but I'm going to try again at some point. A while back I also once called the company to inquire about buying in bulk to lower the per-unit price, but their minimum order, if I remember correctly, was a case of something like 1500.

Tip: Don't get cut! Actually, my tip would be to practice scoring and snapping glass on some scrap pieces a few times to get it down before wrecking a larger, nice piece (that is, if you don't already have experience with a glass cutter). Actually, I haven't cut up an old tank, but I have made DIY lids from glass. There are a few YouTube videos on the subject. If I can find one, I'll link it. I know @Dean’s Fishroom has a bunch of DIY lids on his tanks (at least from what I've seen in his videos), and I feel like I've seen him in a video showing the processl or glass cutting or something. But I could be remembering that incorrectly. EDIT: Ok found it!

I have that in a few tanks and like it, but I have to admit, I like Peace River a little bit better because the pebbles are a wee bit bigger and thus easier to gravel vac. The one thing jungle river has going for it over peace river is that a 40lb bag of Jungle River is almost the same price as a 20lb bag of Peace River. Either way they are both very nice.

Yup. Totally safe.

So glad you are enjoying them! Fingers crossed for fry. One thing I have noticed about these fish is that they really color up splendidly over dark substrate. I have mine over Caribsea's Peace River substrate, and the blue in the males is somewhat subdued. However, over a black bottomed tank, their coloration really pops.

Next time you're at work, bring in a can of caviar and ask your co-worker to kindly add that to their tank and notify you when it's time to collect your fry.

I think Dan's method is the easiest I have come across.

What does everyone feed their Sterbai fry in the initial days? Are they ready to take BBS from day one?

What exactly are your concerns about their health in relation to spawning? I've bred a decent number of apistos, so maybe I can share some of my personal experiences.

You know, I don't know the answer to that question. I was going to reply with an answer, but quickly thought 'What the heck self, you don't know anything apistogramma crossing; don't even pretend you do and risk giving bad advice!" Wish I could be more helpful, but alas, can't help ya on this one.