KentFishFanUK
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Posts posted by KentFishFanUK
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Thanks @Odd Duck! I haven't been active on the forum in a little while, my ADD brain makes me go hard on things like the forum/hobby in general for a while then other life gets in the way and I 'forget' about it for a time before I'm back in hard haha - but I admit it has given me the warm and fuzzies to be tagged even though I've not been around!
Few bits going on in the hobby for me, my breeding programme for a few different types of Japanese ricefish in outdoor ponds is getting off the ground nicely but running out of time this year before the weather gets too cold for breeding. Hopefully next spring I'll be in a place to start spreading them around!
Still struggling to breed my panda corydoras' but my wild type Endlers are doing well.
Got a couple new live food cultures, a high density vinegar eel culture and moina in green water which is a nice addition to hatching bbs.
Bought a new 4' tank and stand which will be my main display in my living room, it's around 280 litres so roughly the same as a 75 Gallon? Won't seem like a lot for most of you guys but in the UK that's considered a pretty large tank. Also quite an upgrade to my current 20 Gallon display on a repurposed baby change unit! I plan to do a nice aquascape in a roughly 'south american' (inspired) biotope. Still in its box at the moment though as need to get the right substrate and wood and lighting etc in (cue my wife's "what's wrong with all the bits of wood and stuff you have in the shed already?" 😂). Still I'm excited to eventually get around to setting it all up!
I'm gonna tag @laritheloud your turn! (Don't think you've been tagged yet!)
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On 7/28/2022 at 2:51 PM, Odd Duck said:
Yes, to the high density vinegar eel culture. It works very well! It’s nearly identical to microworm/banana worm/Walter worm culture except for using 1/2 vinegar for the liquid and topping off with vinegar if the culture gets too dry. I still maintain a liquid culture as back up since they are so very easy to maintain long term in liquid. In the high density culture it’s important to restart cultures at least every 4-8 weeks. For max production for a larger breeding facility, restarting every 2-4 weeks would likely be much better. The benefit for the higher maintenance is MUCH easier harvesting along with higher production level. I 100% recommend trying the high density culture method for vinegar eels.
And I’ve never appreciated that vinegar eels swim near the surface after feeding. They get eaten too fast in most cases, but they disperse enough and my old eyes can’t follow individual worms, so I couldn’t tell you where any extras end up once they disperse and the bulk of them are eaten.
Thank you! I will definitely give it a go then. I have my vinegar eels split between four small cultures that I rotate so have plenty to work with. I'm starting to get more and more fry to feed so would definitely help.
On 7/28/2022 at 1:43 PM, _Eric_ said:I don’t have any experience, but if you give it a try, please post your results. Definitely interested.
Haven't tried it yet but the lady who told me about this method did an experiment for me, she put a bunch in some water in a glass and she's just sent me a video (about 24 hours later) of them all swimming around near the surface, none appear to have died or anything so looks good!
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Hi guys!
I'm currently getting more and more into live food culturing (other than hatching baby brine shrimp which I also do of course) for my fish and fry (infusoria, green water, moina, vinegar eels etc) and I've recently discovered a new method for culturing vinegar eels and I was wondering if anyone else had heard or tried it?
So I have my vinegar eels in the usual raw cider vinegar/water and apple slices mix that all the guides suggest.
The method I've seen recently is more like the typical micro/banana/walter culturing, done in a wet oats or mash potato medium only instead of using water you use the cider vinegar/water mix that we normally use for vinegar eels. The results I've seen pictures of seems good, much much higher culture density than the usual method and they start crawling up the sides just like the other worms making it really easy to harvest.
Now I know it loses some of the advantages of the usual method - it's more maintenance, more prone to crashing, maybe more smell etc however the main reason I like vinegar eels is because of their size and the way they congregate at the surface of the water (for my ricefish fry) and the fact they can live a fairly long time in an aquarium so it's harder to overfeed and pollute the water.
Has anyone else tried this method? If so what I'd love to know is do the vinegar eels, once fed to a tank, still swim near the surface of the water and most importantly - do they still survive a long time? Slightly concerned that using this method could mean the vinegar eels are acclimated to 'terrestial' life and won't survive long in the water thus losing their main benefit (for me anyway). Obviously I'm no biologist and have no idea if it even works that way or if I'm worried for no reason.
Anyone have any thoughts or insight?
Edit: pic for reference
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On 7/20/2022 at 11:17 PM, Guppysnail said:
Definitely need calcium/magnesium food. What’s in the water keeps the shells looking good. What’s in the food helps them build shells and produce egg. Zoomed nano spirulina blocks from ACO or Amazon are the right ca/mg mix. Veggies are good for ther vitamins. If they are dying off slowly they are not getting enough/correct food. Whatever dissolves from the nano blocks helps get the right mix in your water. I hope that helps. Alternative is wondershell. Cuttle bone is good also.
Thanks! Do you know the best way to add some calcium without increasing hardness too much? i.e. adding only calcium and not magnesium or something or is it more complicated than that?
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On 7/20/2022 at 11:17 PM, Katherine said:
Yes.
Also yes.
That's the quick answers. I think the calcium in the water is related to not eroding old shell growth and calcium in the diet is related to making strong new growth. Is it old or new growth showing issues?
Old growth I'm pretty sure
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I have a big pink ramshorn snail colony in my jungle tank, recently a bunch seem to have died off and the rest seem to be getting white patches on their shells - my water tested 7.2 pH so I don't think it's erosion from acid, and the GH is 7°dH so it shouldn't be a calcium issue should it? Or could my general hardness be made of magnesium etc but still be calcium deficient? Or do snails need calcium rich foods even if there's calcium in the water?
Anyone have any advice?
@Guppysnail (sorry)
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On 6/11/2022 at 10:27 PM, Guppysnail said:
@KentFishFanUK interesting thing last night in my Pygmy tank. They have been spawning for a few months but never on the glass. I had the canister flow turned down very low and the hob that releases water across the surface pushing against the front glass was unplugged feeding frozen brine shrimp yesterday. I forgot to turn the flow up and plug the hob back in so only flow was a ugf. I had eggs everywhere on the front glass for the first time.
possibly the hair algae is protection from the flow? But flow itself inductee good lay time because in the wild it would mean higher O2 levels and less toxins? Total guess but wanted to throw it out there. Hard to see them but I had about 15-20 scattered on the front glass.Interesting! Definitely could be something to do with flow, didn't someone say after they hatch they are sensitive to flow? Maybe it's related.
(Thought I have to ask, canister was low, hob was off.. ugf was on? How many filters do you have 😂)
I have an internal power filter that provides quite a bit of flow pointed at/across the surface but the flow is much lower (going by the movement of particles and swaying of leaves) at the bottom of the tank. It's a bit of a jungle so I think all the plants slow it down quite a lot and it's a standard/high tank rather than a long - still yet to see an egg on the glass. Of course they could just be getting eaten before I see them
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Ok so on Wednesday I collected a bunch of hair algae* and put it in the tank...
I tried to weight it down with some ceramic rings which seemed to work for a while but after a day or two half of it was spilling out, typical! Anyway checked it each morning and this morning (Saturday) I got home from my night shift to this...
And there are quite a lot of eggs in it, at least a dozen but I suspect closer to two dozen. So I pulled it all (not easy as it had become entangled with the java moss) and stuck them in an empty tank to see if I can raise them.
So the hair algae definitely seems to work as a spawning media! But I need a way to keep it contained as for all I know they might have only used it because it was in the way of the java moss haha and if possible find a way to stop snails getting all over it (had to pull like a dozen ramshorn snails out of it as I'm pretty sure they munch on the eggs when they can). Any suggestions?
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On 6/9/2022 at 4:16 PM, Biotope Biologist said:
. I knew of the uses of specific PSB in aquaculture where large amounts of waste can be generated. Specifically I know that, and perhaps this is true in asian aquaculture, it is becoming more common place to use seepage fields and anoxic ponds to breakdown wastes rather than reliance on heavy duty and expensive filters to scrub the water.
From what I have gathered on Rhodopseudomonas (Rps.) palustris and other similar species is that they are particularly good at breaking down a lot of the “waste products” we see in the fish industry. Fats, proteins, ammonia, and nitrogenous wastes. And because this species can both respire and photosynthesize it makes it particularly useful in these conditions. However, everything I have read states that this species respires the most efficiently at (<1%) dissolved oxygen and depending on the presence of oxygen can breakdown nitrogen into several products. The article you have at the top, and wikipedia references it heavily, used this bacteria in conjunction with a rich community of other bacteria to facilitate heavy breakdown of nitrogenous waste and ammonia. I only looked at a few other articles that cited their work and it seems that others have come to similar conclusions, especially in regards to aquaculture. This is very important research as many peoples across the world rely on fish proteins as their main source of protein and fats.
source: (2014) world J microbiology biotechnology issue 30:2523-2531
But this is where my opinion on the matter ends. In aquarium use I’m not sure PSB specifically contributes enough to the already existing population of photosynthetic and heterotrophic bacteria that exists in a healthy aquarium. This bacteria population is available to us all for free through our water sources so purchase of a bacterial mix is rarely necessary."Interesting you do have me down a rabbit hole here" - yay my plan worked haha.
Thanks! I really appreciate you taking a look, great to get a scientific opinion!
When you say it works best at <1% dissolved oxygen, what's a normal % in our aquarium? I'm not sure if it's like our aquariums (assuming they are well oxygenated) are at 100% or what the normal range is (I did try googling but I can only find explanations talking about PPM of d.o.) so not sure if there would be areas in that range within our aquariums or if that's unrealistic without a plenum or something.
TIA!
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On 6/9/2022 at 9:55 PM, Jennifer V said:
Keep me updated about your success with green water. I've heard that it can be tough to get, unless you don't want it, of course.
Well I didn't want it really but decided to capitalise and try to make a green water culture out of it haha
Of course now I'm trying to keep it going it will probably disappear!
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On 6/8/2022 at 11:32 PM, Zenzo said:
If you are a member of the Aquarium Co-Op YouTube channel, we will be learning about daphnia culturing from an expert this August.
Out of all the great speakers you have had or have lined up, this is literally my most looked forward to meeting! Can't wait, hoping to catch it live with pen and notebook in hand haha but so far I've only managed to watch them all after the fact (stupid shift work/time zones 😑).
Side note, really enjoyed your last few videos about stocking ideas etc (on the 'more' channel? Can't remember) keep up the good work! I love that you have some more non-typical ideas compared with other tubers!
On 6/7/2022 at 10:31 PM, Jennifer V said:Hi Nerms!
I've read the ACO article about raising daphnia a few times but I got some from a lovely local supplier and somehow killed all of them overnight. May I please see pics of your setup?
I have heard that moina are just as good (and same process) as daphnia but much more hardy/tolerant of stocking density, temperature and varying water parameters. I didn't have any luck with my first daphnia attempt either so going to try moina as soon as I got some more green water going!
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@Biotope Biologist as a biologist if you are interested and have the time I'd really appreciate you having a look at those studies and see if I'm understanding it wrong.
My friend is enthusiastic about it to say the least, passionate even (he has been using it for many years and swears by it, he's even gone so far as creating his own culture 'recipe' which he uses by the gallon in his facility) so it's hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm and I find myself really wanting it to be a thing so unbiased thoughts would be great!
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Ok so here are the things I read:
There were quite a few others as well that I disregarded either because they seemed to also be selling PSB probiotic products, or they were regarding saltwater aquaculture, or they were talking about using it as aquaculture/agriculture feed rather than probiotic.
There were also results coming from Asian Facebook groups/forums which does seem to suggest its use is more common in Asia.
I'm going to try it out and will report back anything I notice, though without setting up even more tanks to perform real experiments I'm not sure how I can really judge if it's doing anything!
Maybe I'll encourage my breeder friend to set up some real side by side experiments as he has the facility more capable than my 40ish gallon total tank volume 🤣
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On 6/8/2022 at 8:00 PM, Biotope Biologist said:
Depends I suppose. There are thousands of species of photosynthetic bacteria found in our aqueous environments. I assume I have this bacteria in my tanks just naturally same with algae and other microorganisms that just “appear” over time in a healthy environment.
But if you are specifically referring to purple photosynthesizing bacteria, it won’t work in our environment. These are anaerobic bacteria that use photosynthesis with the assistance of ferrous iron in their nitrogenase systems.
Here is an article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/photosynthetic-bacteria
And I believe they talk about this more in laymans terms on a different aquarium forum that references this article. You will have to use google here as this goes against forum rules.
We also talked about anaerobic environments in the aquarium extensively here:
Well that's what I thought but (according to Wikipedia 😅) purple non sulphur bacteria "can be mixotrophs, capable of anaerobic and aerobic respiration or fermentation" depending on the concentration of oxygen and light.
I've read two summaries of studies which tests their usefulness which do seem to suggest there is something in it... let me go find them, one was about how it changed the structure of the microbial community and improved water quality and the other was about it's effectiveness in a shrimp aquaculture (preventing disease and improving hatch and growth rates or something along those lines).
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Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with PSB use in aquatics?
By that I mean photosynthetic bacteria. Particularly purple non sulfur bacteria like rhodobacter?
I have a friend who spent many years in Asia where he fell in love with aquatics (particularly Japanese Medaka) and is now a breeder here in the UK. He swears by using it in all his set ups and the list of things he claims it helps with is borderline too good to be true. However from reading up about it the science does sort of seem to add up.
He says it's common practice in much of Asia to use it but it's practically unheard of here in the UK, I know most here are US based so wondered if you guys had any thoughts or experience of it?
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On 6/6/2022 at 11:07 AM, Guppysnail said:
Thanks this just reminded me I bought a pool noodle and scotch bright pads to make one of Deans floating spawning mops to try and simulate the anacharis floating for them to spawn on. I totally forgot because I have so many projects going on right now. I ordered one that showed a green pool noodle and got a blue one that’s why I did not do it right away. I was worried the blue would cause the pandas issue.
I’m not certain. The ones I pulled hatched but they did not make it past the egg sac still being absorbed. I had them in breeder boxes. Based on a few things I read I think even the small flow was to much for them. I also did not have plants in the box and it was sterile because I just got it so lacked micro fauna and biofilm first foods that I think might be essential.
I found one tiny fry that was almost done absorbing the egg sac in the parent tank when the pleco was still in there. I accidentally sucked it up in the python because I had seen no eggs in 2 weeks so thought I was safe to vac. The interesting thing was when I pinched the hose to let the fry back out it dove into and under the gravel. I have cheap big box gravel. My next attempt is going to be a floating coffee filter @TheDukeAnumber1 shared. I already have the styrofoam that it sits in. I want it to float in my ugly fry tank so when they hatch and the egg sac is absorbed if they don’t eat I can release them to them gravel. I did just pick up a micro worm culture so I’m hoping that helps stimulate them. The few that hatched for me were to small for BBS.
I had also bought some Java moss for my shrimp (I hate Java moss) to throw in the breeder box.Keep us posted!
I've not had any success past getting them to hatch either, except one - I pulled maybe 4 or 5 eggs a little while ago and wasn't sure what to do with them (my breeder box attempts were fails) so just chucked them into a 3 gallon tank that was quite established that I was mostly using to hold/grow out some plants (I don't like throwing trimmings away 😅) and didn't think any had made it but then randomly saw a super cute little fry in there a few days ago, probably half an inch long maybe slightly more and not really Cory shaped yet but does have the black band across its face already! Not sure what size it would be safe to add it back to my display tank with its parents though?
The eggs I pulled recently which have just hatched are in a plastic jug that I normally use for water changes haha but with some moss and a whole lot of infusoria so once I know they are all hatched I'm going to pour them into the plant tank and hopefully some will make it. Might have to reduce the bubbles on the sponge filter if they don't like flow. There also happens to be quite a lot of thread algae in there which I will remove a bit of but leave a bunch too. Fingers crossed!
I do have a vinegar eel culture which I've been using to feed ricefish fry that I will probably feed to the panda fry too as though the other fry survived off of the infusoria and aufwuch or whatever in such a small tank I'm not sure there would be enough to supply a dozen or so hatchlings. I like the VE because they should survive at least a week (possibly indefinitely if some reports are to be believed) in the tank so less chance of overfeeding and fouling the water. Only problem is the VE mostly seem to congregate at the surface so not sure how easily the fry will find them, hopefully there is just enough flow to keep them moving around in the rest of the water column.
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On 6/6/2022 at 10:46 AM, Guppysnail said:
@KentFishFanUK it’s interesting you bring up the snails eating so the pandas may be suspending the eggs. I find the eggs on single strands of hair algae floating in the middle of the tank as well. My BN pleco was eating them off leaves. There might be something to that. I put lots on anubias in that tank so they would have large flat leaves to lay on and seldom see eggs on them. Instead I also find eggs on my anacharis leaves which are small but tall and flowing in the current.
The few I have found on the glass are always in spots where there is either diatom or green spot algae.
Same I've never seen eggs on driftwood, crpyts, anubias, java ferns only on java moss, BBA, thread algae and on the mass of pothos roots hanging into the tank - though this only before I added the java moss and had any of those algae's showing up.
So you'd think spawning mops would be attractive to them if they are green and suspended but @nabokovfan87 didn't get any spawning on his mops. So maybe it's a location and texture thing combined?
The location of my thread algae looks to me to be much more exposed (to like the tetras etc) but maybe the pandas in the wild live mostly alongside other benthic fish and less pelagic(?) ones? Maybe someone with more knowledge on fishes distribution could answer haha which could explain why they like to suspend the eggs away from the floor/broad leaves of plants
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On 6/5/2022 at 11:06 AM, Guppysnail said:
I thought this as well. I have not had the chance to pull any algae laid eggs yet so I don’t know. Im hoping instinct causes them to do this for whatever reason and it provides the fry whatever they need. Im hoping it’s the micro fauna first food and protection thing and they don’t get stuck but often the eggs get twisted up in from the current. I am just not certain if letting them in the algae is better. A few days ago I was able to move the pleco out of that tank that kept eating all the eggs.
Honestly I’m as curious as you about this.When mine were in with my guppies in a tank with almost no algae because the guppies eat it they would lay eggs on the glass
Since they are in their own tank now that grows algae and has a good amount of low ground plants vs. none in the guppy tank, I have only ever seen eggs on glass maybe 5 eggs total. I mentioned in my journal somewhere when they first started to spawn in their new tank I thought it curious they did not lay their eggs on glass.
I have only had my pandas about a year so I’m still learning about their behaviors.
Very cool to have someone to bounce theories off of on this odd seeming behavior.
Agreed! When I manage to test it out I'll be post back here with some pics and the results!
Its a fun experiment anyway. Plus I just love my pandas, I think they might be my favourite fish haha.
Side note, that batch of eggs I pulled has now mostly hatched! When do I start feeding them? Is the little 'bubble' looking thing on them the yolk sac?
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On 6/6/2022 at 12:44 AM, nabokovfan87 said:
I have two pretty good size pieces of mopani in my tank. The pandas have been with these pretty much ever since I've owned them. It was kept in a tub with a light on and far too many nitrates because I just couldn't do WCs. When I was able to move the fish out of the tub into the tank on dresser for winter the hardscape was decimated with BBA algae. It was so bad to the point where I was basically scrubbing it as hard as I could and it just laughed at me. I've since developed slightly better techniques to handle it and I am trying to reduce the hold this algae has on my hardscape and anubias.
That being said for context, here has been my experience.
My black corys don't use mops and I have never gotten them to reliably spawn. They did spawn once and it was near 100 eggs. Out of that spawn I managed to have 2 fry survive. (I now have the things on hand to pull eggs into a tumbler / breeder box).
My pandas were in a 29G tank with Seiryu stone. I started with a few more, but after acclimation I ended up with 3 and now I have 25+. I got some variety of moss, not java moss, and I used that on my seiryu stone and that was the catalyst for them to spawn. I wasn't trying to spawn them, but I have seen eggs on the underside of these big pieces of mopani. I've seen them on the moss itself as well as on the glass. I can't be certain but I am pretty sure I have offered these pandas mops and they didn't use it either. There is a lot that goes into it, like the color of the moss itself.
I do see them in the roots of anubias like you've described and I do see them in big bushes of plants trying to lay eggs. The big takeaway for me is that pandas just want their eggs hidden. They want to try to protect them from predators and they simply are trying to find a place where they have a good chance of survival. I wonder if this algae spot you've mentioned is simply better protected than other spots in the tank.I definitely think they "prefer" some surfaces over others. It might be the right texture, but not the right texture in the right place too. They can be pretty picky in my experience. I try to keep "things I know they like" in the tank and once they do use it, then I check it every so often or I will see a fry one night. In the same tank, they would lay eggs on PSO once it went crazy and was the right size to hide the eggs enough.
One example of this, I have a really nice red lava rock that had a big bushel of anubias inside of it and it made this little cove for them to lay in. They do enjoy the bottom of anubias leaves, but because these leaves were in the corner of a tank and protected, they loved to lay on those leaves in that spot.
I'm at this point too 😕 I don't know if I should scrape certain parts of the tank to give them a clean surface or not.
I don't think the spot the algae was in was more protected, it was way more in the open and right under the light than the java moss is, completely exposed to the open area my neon tetras hang out suspended across some PSO leaves - but there may be something about the algae itself that protects them, maybe the other fish don't like swimming through it? Also I have a bit of a.... let's say 'healthy' pink ramshorn snail population 🤣 and I'm pretty sure they eat the eggs too, maybe being suspended like it was (rather than on the substrate or something) kept it up and away from the snails and maybe the pandas instinctively know this?
I might have to not only try diy-ing some sort of algae mop but also try a few in different areas of the tank and see if that makes much difference?
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On 6/5/2022 at 12:56 AM, Guppysnail said:
I can’t give you much more than you already stated. My pandas far prefer the filament green hair algae. That is where I find most eggs and they are usually twisted up in it.
My guesses were protection from fish predating, keeps nutrients down immediately around the egg so less chance of fungus etc. micro fauna live in the algae that, like shrimp, clean the eggs and keep fungus at bay.
All guesses as I have seen the same as you.
I find the micro fauna living in algae to be great fry food. I just let it grow. When the clumps get big I pull them out. It has never taken over a tank for and always stays manageable for me.
Amazing thanks! Glad to know you've had the same experience. I find it super interesting and I've googled a bunch about breeding corydoras and pandas in particular and have never seen it mentioned before.
Do you think that the pandas are just choosing it as a spawning site or do you think that having their preferred spawning site triggers more egg laying?
The algae seems to grow quite well in my water so I will see if I can find a way to use it but keeping it contained so I can easily pull it to try and hatch the eggs in a separate container.
The last batch of eggs I pulled I picked them out of most of the algae as I was worried that when they hatch they might get stuck in it, do you think it would be better to just leave them in it?
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Ok so I know many corydoras lay eggs on glass and other people will probably use spawning mops so this won't be of use to many other than myself but might be interesting anyway!
So recently I've observed a few interesting things with my panda corydoras in my community tank. There is always breeding activity going on and eggs being laid but no fry appearing without pulling the eggs. My pandas never lay eggs on the glass, they occasionally lay eggs on roots of pothos hanging in the tank but mostly they use the java moss.
At one point I had a small tuft of black beard algae (like maybe less than an inch in diameter/length) right next to my java moss and one day I noticed eggs in it from the corydoras, more than I had ever seen in the java moss at one time and in a much smaller area (I found at least 6 eggs in that small tuft of BBA). Now I know most fish hate the taste of BBA so I assumed it was just because the taste protected the eggs from being eaten by the other fish or snails etc and that's why it appeared that way - a survivorship bias so to speak, rather than the corydoras specifically preferring it to the java moss. The small tuft died off after a little while and I've not had any since and haven't thought much on it.
Then even more recently I had a but of a filamentous/blanket weed type algae bloom and I was being lax with removing it (my tanks are hardly designer aquascapes so I pretty much don't mind a bit of algae unless it seems to be causing problems with the plants) and there was a good bush of it going, maybe 6 inches long by a couple inches wide suspended across some plant leaves. One morning I turned the light on to discover it absolutely full of corydoras eggs, I think I counted at least 15 which is more than I've ever seen my cories lay at one time (I only have two females and four males). I have no idea if the 'spawning media' triggered more spawning than usual, or somehow protected the eggs from being eaten (not sure how as you can see right through it much easier than the java moss) or if it was simply a coincidence.
So anyway my plan to experiment is to cultivate a bunch of blanket weed type algae in a spare tank, then DIY some sort of mop with it (I was thinking a small plastic Tupperware container full of the stuff) and put it in my community tank and see what happens. My hope is to find out if;
a) the corydoras do actually prefer it as a spawning media and it wasn't just a fluke
b) this 'media' is somehow useful in protecting the eggs from the rest of the community
c) if having their preferred choice of spawning media actually encourages/triggers more spawning than would have occured otherwise (not sure how I will really determine this part)
Any thoughts or tips/advice?
Not sure how to contain the blanket weed in the container without restricting access but hopefully it will just sort of stay put.
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On 4/11/2022 at 2:31 PM, Flumpweesel said:
Yes - hoping for a pond in future to keep them.
Awesome! Let me know when you are ready, if you feel like treating yourself and splurging on some very fancy strains let me know! Recently made friends with a UK based breeder who is just starting to sell some of his lines, they are costly but amazing strains that you can't get hold of in shops over here.
Just trying to get the word out to other interested UK nerms!
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Are any UK members here interested in Medaka??
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Hi guys me again, been a while, back with more questions for you wonderful people.
This time I'm trying to understand GH specifically.
So I get that like mostly calcium and magnesium right? And technically it's separate from KH and it doesn't affect pH right?
I know that with most fish stable parameters are more important than specifics and they will acclimatise to whatever. I also know fish and shrimp, plants etc will all need at least some calcium and magnesium to live.
That being said my tap water is over 21°dH or 375 ppm which is quite high already but add to that some of my tanks require quite regular top offs due to evaporation (even with lids) and I am worried it's going to go up even more?
I don't have access to RO or distilled water and the tanks in question are just small fry grow out tanks (or even egg hatching Tupperware containers) so only running small sponge filters so can't add a water softening pillow or peat moss to them (to be honest I'd rather not anyway as in such small tanks I'd imagine it could change parameters very quickly if I like forgot to take it out for a while).
Do I have to worry? What affect could too much hardness have on eggs/fry/fish/shrimp?
Would moving eggs from a tank with medium hardness and putting them in my super hard treated tap water affect them? I'm sure I heard it said that they will adapt to conditions better if they hatch into them. My panda corydoras keep laying eggs in my community aquarium (pH/KH and GH all much more in the middle or parameters) but they keep getting eaten so was considering pulling some and hatching them out in Tupperware.
I saw one article that said Cattappa leaves are 'proven' to reduce GH as well as KH but didn't cite any references or explain how. Another article parroted that and then went on to explain it does this by releasing acids as it breaks down - I thought that acids only affected KH/pH though?
Do botanicals like drift wood and leaves etc reduce GH as well as KH somehow?
Could plants theoretically take up enough out of the water to lower it? Even my fry grow out tanks have quite a lot of plants (and algae).
Thanks in advance all!
A friendly game of tag
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Story of my life! 😂
Good to hear from you, congrats on getting the right help that's a big step! Wishing you all the best on your recovery