P
phishophile
Guest
Hi guys, as you can see I'm new here. I just wanted to give you a fairly thorough background on my tanks and I do want some advice. I live in Hawaii which presents some unique problems. First off, I currently have a 75 gallon with ~3" of Flourite. This stuff was hella $$$ but it was the only relatively fine-grained dark gravel they sell here. 220 watts of CF lighting, 5500 K bulbs from AH supply. I wanted to keep hatchets but the fixture is very open to allow for ventilation in the heat :? . In it are 6 recently purchased diamond tetras, 5 neons (uh they were "starter" fish, sadly, the other 5 died off through neglect/inexperience), and 5. I swear cories are my fav fish but I seem to kill them rapidly. I set up a 10 gal separtae tank, with a sparse layer of large gravel, flowerpots, fake plants, driftwood, java moss, and a sponge filter. Whew. In that tank are 3 newly purchased apisto's, and a female ram. None of these fish are over 1" long -I put them in there because I didnt know how they would fare in the rather bare 75. Anyway, here's my story. I have a very soft spot for rams, and rather all small/South American fish. Long ago I bought a magnificent large wild male ram. All they sell here usually is longfinned/gold/only males, and so when you find a good one, it is special. Ahem, I had ruled out buying them over the net as shipping would be around $40, but I may change my mind. Anyways, this male lived over 2 years through my inexperience, and i never did find a mate for him. Actually, I did. I found a single beautiful female, and brought her home. Sadly, soon it was was the coldest day of the year (it got down to the low 70's, and being accustiomed to 82+ temps she died. (Incidentally I actually DID buy a heater for that rare "freeze", but it jammed and fried my beautiful cories and other fish. Ok, so yesterday day I find a female in the LFS. Wow, so I bought her, then put her in the 10 gal with the 3 mytery juvinile apistos. But my PH is 7.8, gH is 2, kH is 3. So any ideas how to care for these dwarfs till they grow a bit larger?
Ok, a few prblems with my 75. The lighting is fantastic for plants. Bright. And so my blackwater fish are freaked whenever I turn on the light (they have been living in the room lighting for about a year). One day I will fully plant it and add driftwood, but till then . . .
Whoo ok so then a few assorted problems I have are the Heat, the lights, the pH, and the current (got an Eheim cnaister, and the food is literally blown away, any idea on where to place the outlet bar so that CO2 is conserved/ tetras have a current, but apistos are not blown?). Sorry for the long post, but I HAD to tell someone! Oh and the reason I got into SA fish was that they like warm temps, its usually around 80 and now with the summer and lights it gets pretty high. I dearly wanted some other fish but I didn't want them to be subjected to imperfect comditions for the rest of your lives. Ok, so any comments, suggestions, etc welcome!
Ok, a few prblems with my 75. The lighting is fantastic for plants. Bright. And so my blackwater fish are freaked whenever I turn on the light (they have been living in the room lighting for about a year). One day I will fully plant it and add driftwood, but till then . . .
Whoo ok so then a few assorted problems I have are the Heat, the lights, the pH, and the current (got an Eheim cnaister, and the food is literally blown away, any idea on where to place the outlet bar so that CO2 is conserved/ tetras have a current, but apistos are not blown?). Sorry for the long post, but I HAD to tell someone! Oh and the reason I got into SA fish was that they like warm temps, its usually around 80 and now with the summer and lights it gets pretty high. I dearly wanted some other fish but I didn't want them to be subjected to imperfect comditions for the rest of your lives. Ok, so any comments, suggestions, etc welcome!
