Re: Peat....

[Pete Johnson <petej@tlg.net>]

Tracie> Do you use anything else to treat your water other than
Tracie> the peat? I have never tried to change the levels in my
Tracie> tanks..so I a little leary. Also, will adding the peat
Tracie> drop the PH too dramatically? My PH is currently running
Tracie> about 7.6 & I don't want to shock any of the fish in the
Tracie> tank.

I soften my local very hard alkaline water with a reverse osmosis unit, 
then add back a little tap water to give it some body. I occasionally try 
peat filtration to induce an Apisto to breed, but haven't had consistent 
results from its use. I have a few tanks which I keep fairly acid -- 
about 6.0 -- by using acid buffer from SeaChem. It's a good product. I 
initially got it because it contains no phosphates, unlike most other 
buffers (Kent also makes a phosphate-free buffer). Excess phosphates 
promote algae growth.

My treated water is very soft, and acidifying it can cause dramatic pH 
bounces because it has negligible buffering capacity. I have tanks that 
dropped below a pH of 4 when I was a bit liberal with acidifier. 
Fortunately Apistos seem pretty pH resilient, but rapid pH changes are 
not a good idea, and pH values below 4 aren't recommended for any living 
fish. I acidify verrry carefully now, and my pH rarely drops below 5.5. I 
keep most tanks between 6.5 and 7.

Tracie> I like some of the larger cichlids, but like to have
Tracie> a lot of small fish rather than a few large fish. (Though
Tracie> I did break down and buy a baby severum...he's still
Tracie> playing nice..but he is only the size of a silver dollar
Tracie> now!)

Large cichlids are beautiful and many have personalities, but I have 
generally small tanks and generally dwarf cichlids. I like the variety. 
The dwarfs also cooperate with planted tanks. I do have some beautiful 
large Geophagus which a friend is boarding with me while he moves from 
here and gets settled in a new plase.

Tracie> My other (smaller) tank is primarily gouramis and
Tracie> tetras. Actually, I just recently bred a pair of my
Tracie> honey dwarf gouramis.....my first venture into breeding.
Tracie> (Still waiting for the babies to get big enough to move
Tracie> out of the breeding tank.....I want to try again with
Tracie> something else now!!)

Breeding is a thrill. I haven't bred much of anything other than 
livebearers and a number of dwarf cichlid types, but I'd like to breed 
some other fish sometime, too. Gouramis, Corydoras, Loricariads and some 
of the pretty tetras: rummynose, in particular. I did just bred some 
beautiful long-finned white clouds. The babies are colored like neon 
tetras.


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     If wishes were fishes we'd all have ponds.

Pete Johnson        San Jose, CA       petej@tlg.net
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