Hello from Norwich, UK

[affishionado]

Hi there!

I've been looking for a forum for a while and this one seems active with a large member base.

I've been keeping tropical fish for about a year now and currently have a Fluval Spec V (19 litres, pictured below) stocked with a betta (the gorgeous creature in my profile picture), ember tetras and pygmy corys. It's a little overstocked right now but I've got a nice little 30 litre cube that I'm working on - upgrading the lights and trying to decide on a layout.

I should be picking up a Fluval Roma 125 (litres) in a few days which I plan to stock with dwarf gouramis, a pair of apistogramma agassizii, a school of tetra (variety tbc) and a school of corys (maybe pandas).

I've been trying to get into aquascaping and it's been a steep learning curve. I've got a whole bunch of seiryu stone for the 125 along with some inert substrate (seachem flourite brown) and a CO2 system - I've got a plan for the layout but we'll see how well the vision translates into reality!

 

[fluttermoth]

Welcome to the forum, I love your username, genius

Your tank looks good; I'm guessing you have soft water?

 

[Colin_T]

hi and welcome to the forum

 

[affishionado]

Thank you! I tried with one f but it was already taken, same story on Instagram. It's the name of my pipe dream business!

I use tap water which is pretty hard where I come from (7.5-8 pH, I've forgotten what the KH and GH are but they're pretty high).

I use catappa leaves but I'm currently just tearing them up and using them like leaf litter. I've been thinking about boiling them up into some soup and using some peat in the tank. I'd love for the embers or corys to breed!

 

[fluttermoth]

Both those species really need soft water to breed successfully. The things you're doing at the moment will lower the pH, but won't really affect the hardness. You might have to 'cut' your tap water with some RO to reduce the hardness somewhat.

I'd also point out that your tanks are quite small; too small for breeding in all honesty. Fry need an awful lot of food and clean water, and it gets hard to keep the conditions good in small tanks. You'd also really need to separate your breeding fish; the other fish (including the parents) in a community tank will (very enthusiastically!) eat the eggs or fry.

Breeding fish is a fascinating part of the hobby, but can need some thinking about. Don't let me put you off though! With some care over your water and a larger tank you could do very well

 

[affishionado]

I don't think you could put me off =P

I've been considering using RO water for a while... My LFS sells it but I don't drive and I don't want to get stuck having to walk there every weekend to get more. Changing the water parameters seems a bit like a Pandora's box to me... I nearly bought some RO equipment from Gumtree but I wasn't fast enough. I'm keeping my eye out for now, and might buy a new kit when my budget allows later this year.

I have a few extra tanks I could use for breeding and for fry, I have an empty 75 litre and an 88 litre that aren't exactly show tanks. Hoping to pick up that Fluval Roma in a week or two so maybe some of the fish I stock in that could get down to it!

Do you use peat and catappa leaves? Would you have any advice for me on them?

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid I can't help you there, my water is so soft, I have to keep it buffered up a little to stop my pH crashing!

You should probably start a thread and get some more experienced advice

 

[seangee]

My water is fairly hard and slightly alkaline. TBH I think it is too much effort to try to change it. You won't get the pH to stay down with peat / catappa etc. I have considered mixing in RO (my tetras and corys don't spawn either) but have decided to just accept that is the way it is.

My next tank will be populated with hard water species so I guess I'll be posting "baby pics" in a few months time