Congochromis sabinae "super red"

[slimbolen99]

Finally got another spawn out of my Congochromis sabinae "super red" F1's. These guys are picky sometimes. Actually did a water change last night, hoping to get them in the mood again, but today, went downstairs and to my delight, one of the pairs was herding a huge free swimming spawn around.

Haven't got any definite water parameters, but my best guess is pH around 6.0; temp about 76*F. They more than likely spawned in a coconut shell cave.

Very very poor cell phone video. I'll get something better later, but this will have to do for now.
[video=youtube;jN9d3b7ppu8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN9d3b7ppu8[/video]

In the video, the male is front and center, the female is back there towards the back.

 

[wethumbs]

Those are some good looking fish you have there!

 

[slimbolen99]

You know it!

 

[wethumbs]

How did the earlier spawn go? Any idea on the sex ratio on those?

 

[slimbolen99]

I screwed up and stole the fry after about two weeks. Out of the 50 or so, I managed to raise up 4. I'm pretty sure I have at least one female, maybe two. The exact ratio of the entire spawn, however, would be impossible to tell, obviously.

My mistake was that after I stole them, I didn't have any BBS to feed, and my tanks were too "new"; there wasn't enough scum for the babies to feed off of. I plan on leaving these in with the parents longer...and now have a BBS hatchery in use.

 

[wethumbs]

Female has a small silver spot on both side of the genital papilla. In addition, only male has pattern on the top edge of the caudal fin. They are sexable by 8 weeks.

 

[slimbolen99]

Just got my Hanna TDS/pH/Conductivity/Temp test thingy-ma-bob today. Here's what the water looks like in this tank...
Temp: 76.6*F
pH: 5.55
PPM: 324
Conductivity: 656

 

[slimbolen99]

Which, I'm basically assuming means that my water is still moderately hard, but I am getting the pH down to a reasonable level.

 

[Mike Wise]

Probably most of your harndess is total hardness (dGH) not the carbonate type (dKH), which tends to affect spawnings of softwater fish more than.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

pH: 5.55, PPM: 324 Conductivity: 656......Which, I'm basically assuming means that my water is still moderately hard, but I am getting the pH down to a reasonable level.

Certainly is pretty salty, although you can't tell the hardness from the TDS values, unless you know you have a lot of calcium in the source water? This would tie in with Ted's comments on TDS and pH in this post. <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/showthread.php?12048>

cheers Darrel

 

[gerald]

If all of the conductivity you measured is from NaCl, then 650 microSiemens would be roughly 1 teaspoon of salt in 5 gallons -- I doubt that's enough to cause problems with breeding or health, even in obligate blackwater fish. However, if Ca + Mg ions are a major component of that conductivity, then it might be a problem. Measure your GH hardness with a liquid color indicator test kit. The cheap pet store ones are fine for measuring +/- 10 ppm; you really dont need greater accuracy than that.

>> Certainly is pretty salty, although you can't tell the hardness from the TDS values,...

 

[slimbolen99]

I can assure you that there is no "salt" in this water; but I am headed to the store now to buy a gH / kH testing kit.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I can assure you that there is no "salt" in this water;

It doesn't have to be salt(s) you've added. Pure H2O is an electrical insulator, and conductivity is a linear measure of the solutes (both salts and weak acids) in solution. TDS is usually pretty well correlated with conductivity (TDS is much more difficult to measure).

In this case because the conductivity is so high we know that there must be solutes present. This is why Gerald wrote:

However, if Ca + Mg ions are a major component of that conductivity, then it might be a problem. Measure your GH hardness with a liquid color indicator test kit. The cheap pet store ones are fine for measuring +/- 10 ppm; you really dont need greater accuracy than that.

If they are the 2+ ions (that we measure as dGH) they are implicated in the failure of spawning, if they are Na+, K+ etc they aren't as important (see Ted's post in the linked thread)

Linear relationship of TDS/conductivity

cheers Darrel

 

[slimbolen99]

That's a helpful explanation. Thank you. Still haven't found a liquid kH/dH test kit yet. Will be interesting to see what the numbers look like.

 

[slimbolen99]

The fry with the parents, in the community tank, are getting much much bigger than the fry in my grow out tank. Here's a few foraging on the java moss in the community tank.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Are you using bare bottom grow-outs?

 

[slimbolen99]

No. Never had good luck with them, so I'm using 10 gallons with pool filter sand, some plants such as swords, wisteria, etc, with a fair amount of java moss. Water changes on the 75s and the 10s are on the same frequency, 3x a week. The 75s get a 50% water change, the 10s get about a 33% water change.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Here's a few foraging on the java moss in the community tank.

Very cute, looks like they've enjoyed their BBS.

cheers Darrel

 

[slimbolen99]

Tested the water again today, this time I have a kH and gH test kit from API.

pH: 5.3
µS: 791
PPM: 444

kH: 2* (two drops turned the solution as the test kit indicated)
dH: 9* (nine drops turned the solution as the test kit indicated)

 

[wethumbs]

I have had 6 spawns from the WC pair last year. I always leave the fry with the parents for at least 5 weeks. The pair is ready to spawn again by 6 weeks if I let them. I raise the fry in much softer water (approx 150 to 300µS) and lower pH (less than 5) as well to make sure I get a more female favored ratio. The only thing I have to watch out of in such soft water is velvet outbreak, which a quick dose of CuSO4 will take care of in a day or two.