Re: Apistograma Cacatuiodes

["Colleen McGuire" <colleem@rcn.com>]

Hi Mike,
Thank you very much for your input. I have been running the Fluval peat
granular through my filter cartridge, but it doesn't seem to be doing the
trick. I don't know the purity of it, perhaps a trips to the lawn and garden
store will make a difference.
    I just read in one of my back issues of  Freshwater and Marine Aquariums
about the boiling of the water idea. I am in the process of trying it out. I
am curious though, why do you indicate to siphone off the top 1/3 of the
water?
In the species clarification, I belive I have the cacatuoides. I am a little
disheartened, I thought they were the same as the Inca's. Nonetheless, they
are beautiful specimens. I hope to have some fry ready for the aca
convention in July.
    Would you recommend that I can put the cacatuoides in the same tank with
pelviachromis pulchers? Right now I only have the pair in a 10 gallon tank.
I was looking at the apistograma borelli as well. I thought the two would be
a nice contrast to each other. tia Colleen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike & Diane Wise" <apistowise@bewellnet.com>
To: <apisto@v2.listbox.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: Apistograma Cacatuiodes


> Colleen,
>
> A. sp. Inca looks like A. nijsseni with an expanded dorsal fin, like A.
sp. Breitbinden/Broad-band. A 3X cacatuoides is a standard yellow A.
cacatuoides with large amounts of red on the dorsal, caudal, & anal fins.
Rayon Vert Aqua has good photos of both species on its site, or look through
a search engine for the 2 names.
>
> As for you hard water, the KH can be reduced by boiling the water, letting
it cool slightly, & siphoning off the top 1/3 of the water. The boiling
drives off gasses including CO2 & causes the CO3 to precipitate out &
concentrate in the bottom of the pan. This is an old, old, method & not very
useful for quantities of water more than 5 gallons/20 liters at a time. You
> can also dilute your tap water with distilled (expensive) or rainwater
(irregular). Neither are ideal options.
>
> Probably the best method to slightly soften the water is to run the water
through sphagnum peat. It will lower the KH more than the GH. Never use the
standard aquarium water softening pillows. These just substitute chloride
ions for the other ions. This increases your conductivity - something
apistos don't like.
>
> There are several apistos that will breed in your water as it is. A.
cacatuoides is one. Unfortunately A. sp. Inca does not. Others I'd suggest
are A. sp. Rotpunkt, A. borellii, A. macmasteri, A. viejita forms, A.
eunotus forms, & A caetei forms. Experienced breeders can even get others to
breed in such water, but the number of fry are usually low.
>
> Mike Wise
>
> Colleen McGuire wrote:
>
> > Could someone explain to me the difference of  tripple red Cacatuiodes
and inca's? I thought they were one in the same. Also, what are some
suggestions as to lower the kh and gh? Right now in my cacatuiode tank I am
running 4degrees kh and  11 degrees gh. I don't have a reverse osmosis unit,
and I haven't had much luck with the water softener pillows. tia. Colleen
> >
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>
>
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