Re: Corys, otos and ditherfish - yes or no

["Stan A. Rogge" <stan@rogge.net>]

My advice would be to go RO.  Not sure that using peat is going to
soften your water all that much...in fact I fear it will raise the
conductivity even higher.  Peat tannins are a nice touch (I think), but
as a water conditioner to soften I personally feel its not that great.
An RO unit would offer the most flexibility and control.  Naturally a
conductivity/TDS meter is a must have.  The TDS meters on the market are
actually just conductivity meters with a built in conversion factor,
usually 0.5.

For breeding a TDS level under 40 is nice....... For pH I would just let
it drift downward to low 5's, but really would not take specific action
to set it or buffer it to some specific value.  Naturally you would not
want it much lower than 5.0 or so....but I suggest worrying about the
conductivity a lot more and the pH I do not see as something so crucial
that you pour in any goop to fix it to some level like 6.8.

My 2 cents for what its worth.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Per Wigstal" <per_wigstal@yahoo.co.uk>
To: <apisto@v2.listbox.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2003 3:46 AM
Subject: Re: Corys, otos and ditherfish - yes or no


| Hello Nuno!
|
| I noticed that you haven´t got any replies yet.
| Here are some thoughts from me at least:
|
| 1. I think that the tank is much too small for keeping agassizi and
Macmasteri. they are both fairly big apistospecies. And especially the
Macmasteri can be very aggressive.
|
| 2.I do not think that these species ever share habitats in nature.
Read about the species, and where they normally are collected. That will
give you a better understanding about the fishes.
|
| 3. The  fishes you mentioned are all alright as company to apistos.
| Perhaps add a couple of fastswimming tetras to keep the apistos calm.
|
| 4.  Read about the species, and where they normally are collected.
That will give you a better understanding about the water requirements
of the species you intend to keep..
|
| Best regards/ Per
|
| Nuno Prazeres <rute_p@hotmail.com> wrote:
| Hi!
|
| I am preparing a 95 gal tank (with additional capacity - 30 gal from
the
| sump) to host two trios of apisto - agassizii + macmasteri complex (do
they
| share habitats in nature?). The tank will be set up with driftwood,
rocks
| and plants. The goal is to watch the inter and intraspecific behaviour
of
| these fish in a quite low stockage environment.
|
| Giving this goal, is it appropriate to use a few small species corys
| (hastatus???) and otos as cleaners and typical ditherfish like pencils
| and/or hachet fish? Would those fish interfere in the behaviour of the
| apistos or they will just contribute to make it more evident as they
are
| said to work as a sort of assurance there is no predator threat
arround?
|
| Another thing...
|
| How acid should the water be?
| How hard should it be?
| Mine comes from the tap at 100 ppm General Hardness and 7,4 pH which
is not
| too bad - is a smaller setup a bit peat filtering and CO2 are enough
to get
| it to pH 6,2 and 60ppm GH.
| Should I use peat and/or CO2 or get serious and go straight to RO?
|
|
| Thanks for any help
|
| Nuno Prazeres
|
| _________________________________________________________________
| MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
| http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
| -- This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com. For
| instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help, email
| apisto-request@listbox.com. apisto-digest@listbox.com also available.
| Web archives at http://lists.thekrib.com/apisto Trading at
| http://blox.dropship.org/mailman/listinfo/apisto_trader
|
|
| ---------------------------------
| Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE
Yahoo!Messenger
|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
| -- This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com. For
| instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help, email
| apisto-request@listbox.com. apisto-digest@listbox.com also available.
| Web archives at http://lists.thekrib.com/apisto Trading at
| http://blox.dropship.org/mailman/listinfo/apisto_trader
|
|


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-- This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com. For
instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help, email
apisto-request@listbox.com. apisto-digest@listbox.com also available.
Web archives at http://lists.thekrib.com/apisto Trading at
http://blox.dropship.org/mailman/listinfo/apisto_trader