Re: Columbian Red-Tailed Tetras and peat use questions

[conwayte <conwayte@enter.net>]

Sarah LeGates 

>Hello all,
>
>I originally started with three of these fish in a 56 gal with a trio
>of Heros severus.  I lost one in a heat wave this summer, and the
>other two were getting mauled in the incessant breeding territory
>defense of the severums.  They were, in turn, also mauling
>themselves--has anyone else observed this sort of intraspecific
>aggression in these tetras?  At this point they are doing fine as
>"company" fish for my altispinosa (since I only have one!) rather
>than targets for a spawning pair, and the aggression between them has
>subsided as well.
>
>On a related but slightly more topical note, the severums live in the
>same chicago lime-water conditions that I mentioned in my previous
>message.  These fish have spawned every 2-3 weeks for the last year
>but I've never had a single egg hatch.  I'd love to see some
>parenting behavior from them; I suspect the tds levels in my water
>are preventing the eggs from being fertilized.  I don't have the
>space or money for an RO unit, so I'd like to try using peat to lower
>the pH and carbonate levels in this tank.  I've read the Krib
>archives on peat use, but they leave out certain crucial details such
>as the following: exactly how does one boil peat?  Without going
>through three pages of pH and %concentration calculations, can anyone
>give me a rough dry volume/pH change estimate I might use to
>determine how much peat to boil and in turn to put into my tank? 
>Should I introduce the peat "all at once", or in stages.  Etc, etc. 
>If anyone has gone through a conversion story like this with a tank
>of this size, I'd love to hear about it (I've got another large tank
>in the works that I'm planning to set up with A. cacatuoides, and I
>may as well get used to the water tweaking process now...).
>
>Thanks,
>
>Sarah LeGates
>
>--- Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com> wrote:
>> Jack,
>> 
>> I think we are talking about the same fish, but my Colombian
>> Red-fin Blue Tetras
>> don't seem to be causing any trouble for me. 
>
>>______ 
>> Jack Betz wrote:
>> 
>> > Sarah,
>> >  I had a group of 6 of these Columbia Red Tailed tetras and they
>> were the
>> > most aggressive tetras I have ever had. 
>> 
>>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Thousands of Stores.  Millions of Products.  All in one place.
>Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>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.
>Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!
>
Do you mean the little blue piranhas with the red fins?
Yes definetly agressive fish.  I had six in heavily planted 20 high, 
moved them to a heavily planted 30, removed 3 and put them in a "fin 
recovery tank".

Mine set up a pecking order, big dog out front and the rest behind 
him/her fighting to see who was next in line.  Every now and then big dog 
would hammer one of them.

Now they are all in a heavily planted 10 gal along with 2 am. flags (who 
ate more than just the algae in my other tank) until I figure out what to 
do with them.   Fins are damaged but not near as bad as before.

tc


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!