Phillip

Couple different kind of rainbows, cherry barbs, cardinal tetras, and some cories.

I guess I’m going to have to start slowly increasing the tank temps for the summer. I don’t remember our water ever coming in this hot before.

I live in south Louisiana, and it’s super hot right now. I was just doing a water change and noticed the water felt hotter than normal. When it hits springtime I usually only use water from the cold tap because it’s warm enough. Well today water coming out of the cold tap only is 84 degrees! I’m not sure what to do now. I use a python and fill straight from the tap. I don’t t have a storage container or pump to fill so the water can chill to room temp. I’ve removed about 25% of the water from all of my tanks and don’t know how to refill them now. Ugh! I keep all of my tanks between 76-78.

I’m fairly new on the breeding side. I have been keeping them for a while and have had zero issues. When I had them in separate community tanks I didn’t really worry about them. I just fed wafers and veggie’s pretty often, and didn’t treat the tank and different than a regular community tank. I do kind of overfeed the bristlenose breeder tanks and change water more frequently. Are yours in a tank by themselves or community tank? Are they getting fed a dedicated diet? I would imagine in a community environment you’d see issues with other fish before the bristlenose. Are you adding any other chemicals? I ask because I saw issues in my tanks, and had otocinculus die when I used liquid carbon for algae. Something like that could be going on??

Wow I like the idea of the grey scale and different colors!

Yes pond is zero kh. I assume because it’s been getting rain water?? I posted on the forum my concerns for no kh the other day and I was told it was ok with apistos. Here is the ponds test strip:

According to Aquarium coop test strips: Tap: nitrate 0, nitrite 0, hardness 300, kh 180/300(hard to tell), ph 7.2 pond: nitrate 10, nitrite 0, hardness 300, kh 0, ph lower than 6.4(it was yellow, not even orange)

I’ll check out the thread. 1. tap kh 7, GH 161, ph 7.2 2. I’ve never done that before. I’ll try it and see what I get. 3. I have 2 sponge filters in it. It was chocked full with water lettuce that I thinned out today. 4. ph 3.5. I measured tds with a meter and got 450. I’ll use GH and kh test kits in the morning. I’ve actually seen that thread before. I was having the exact same issue with the chlorine! I was stumped on that too lol. Ponds are kicking my butt this year 🤷🏻‍♂️

I agree it seems impossible! That’s why I triple checked. I used AC test strips, API liquid test and a digital meter. Are were low. The test strip and only go to 6 I believe. My digital meter went to 3.5. I checked it and it was reading pretty close. I have a 7ph liquid and it read 6.94. I'm stumped. Maybe the tote is leaching some crap out??? I can’t explain the extra harness either. It’s next to my shed so the rain should pretty much go straight in.

That’s what I said! I used a couple different testing methods to verify too. I don’t get it.

I can’t figure out these water parameters. I have a 40 gallon container pond in the backyard. I initially filled it it from the hose. It’s been getting rain water about once a week or so when it rains. my tap water is around 7 pH and 220 hardness. I sampled it today and the pH is around 3.5 and hardness around 450. I have an Apistogramma trio, one piece of driftwood, some water lettuce, a couple Indian almond leaves and apisto caves. I can’t for the life of me figure out the ph and hardness!!!

Not these 2 lol! I thought I remembered reading these 2 couldn’t breed together. I ended up with some weird hybrid when I put them together I was going to do guppies and bn. The way these two fish breed I figured it would be a bad mix for me. They both breed like crazy and they’re would be babies everywhere real quick. Sooo many water changes lol!

Sphangum moss, like what’s used in terrariums?

Wow! They’re everywhere lol

Wow! We had 38 fry on the first one and I thought that was a lot!! I’m going to need more tanks…

Lol yeah I had a hard time getting the boys parents in the tank! Where do you put them when you pull them?

Bristlenose plecos seem to be pretty good parents. Is there any reason to remove the fry if they are in a species only tank? Can the fry stay with the parents forever, or should they be moved at a certain age?

Wow! I’m going to try this tomorrow. I’ve been getting similar results on my outside tubs and I’ve been stumped! Couldn’t figure out why I was picking up chlorine.

Gotcha. Thanks!

Thanks for the detailed post! I guess my main concern was no KH causing pH swings. I guess if only rain water is used that shouldn’t be an issue? Also, the GH is still right around my what my tap water is 220. That needs to come down to make the apistos happy right? I’d assume that would come down with the addition of rain water??

I have a small stock tank outside. I initially filled it with water from the hose. I haven’t topped it off with hose water anymore since the rain has been keeping it full. I sampled it today and noticed the kh is zero. I have some apistogramma sour there so the softer rain water should be good for them. Should I be worried about the low kh? Should I add something to help raise the kh? If I added something, is there something that won’t raise GH also? Thanks!

I liked the idea of one tank at a time in your fish room. I’d like to see each tank from start to finish. Your thoughts on fish stocking, possible tank mates, filter, substrate and plants would be great. Also, spawning process of each would be so cool!

I don’t like 2 hour live streams. I’m never around to catch them live, and I don’t have the time to listen for 2 hours. I love your videos no matter what format, just my email 2 cents.

I wouldn’t add the husks to my tank. You might get a better/quicker hatch if it was hotter?? Here’s a really good video:

Are oto’s known egg eaters? I have some oto’s in with rice fish. The past two nights when checking for rice fish eggs I’ve found an oto in the spawning mop. I assume he’s eating eggs, but I didn’t think they ate eggs. I guess I should move them out if I want to maximize eggs??