Apistogramma bittaeniata

[slickwillislim]

I am getting two pairs of these apistos and wondered if anyone had any experience with these specifically. I ordered them from apistodave on aquabid he seemed to have a lot of good feedback so I thought i would take a risk, and buy some fish online.

Currently i only have 1-29 gallon community with 9 silver tips and a small zebra loach, 2 amano shrimp, 3 ottos. I dont really expect any fry because of the loach and tetras. I was planning on putting both pairs in there but after doing more reading decided that I should put one of the pairs in a seperate 20 gallon by themselves.

The 29 is planted and i have to dose nitrates just so my plants can survive so the bio load of the two pairs shouldnt be a problem so i will see what happens with them together in the 29. I will search for another 20. I am a little strapped for cash so i am looking around for something used and cheap so it might take a little while.

I have medium hard water at a kh of 6-7 and a gh around 10. I have access to an RO system but its old and needs new filters. Do you think its neccessary to have a lower kh/gh. I know breeding is very limited at this higher gh/kh but will the fish still be fine. I was thinking about using have RO water to just cut those numbers in have so my plants wouldnt suffer to much.

Thanks for your time
-William

 

[Mike Wise]

Your bitaeniata should be OK in your water as long as it remains below pH 7. Don't expect successful spawns until the pH is around 6 & the water is fairly soft.

 

[slickwillislim]

I assume you mean lower ph through lower kh not through co2 injection is this correct. I currently slightly overdose with my co2 and have a ph around 6.6 to 6.8. Do you think a mix of half tap to half RO would be a good way of lowering both or should i just modify the water with peat or a pillow.

Do you think the two pairs will be fine in the 29 until i can find a new 20 gallon or should i put one pair in the tank and the other in a net breader thing to keep them seperated. I dont know how long until i can get a new tank and get it running but i think i can do it in the next few weeks do you think its safe to keep the to pairs in there together for that long.

Thanks
-william

 

[fishgeek]

if your lower the kh by diluting your water with r/o , then the same addition of CO2 will produce a lower pH

peat will also remove some kH though will add more H+ ions in the form of natural hummic and fulvic acids released by the peat

i would just lower your kH with the r/o dilution and watch what happens with your pH closely in the first instance


andrew

 

[slickwillislim]

yes i realize less kh means a lower ph with equal co2. I just figured when you say I need a lower ph that you want me to accomplish that with lowering kh not by increasing co2. I was going to do this mostly to lower my gh. I just hope my plants dont suffer but i am pretty sure they will be fine if i slowely lower the kh. More and more RO each weekly water change until i reach the desired level.

I will try and get my RO filter up and running we took it out of the kitchen about 8 months ago when we started to redo our kitchen so i am almost positive it still works. I read some where your supposed to replace the filters every 6 months but i dont think ours have been changed in ten years.

 

[ragmansrams]

if you talked to dave

when you bought the fish the first thing you should of did was talk to dave he is probably the most knowledgeble of all the fish people in this forum put toghether and he would probably spend time with you on the phone since you bought his fish