I brought in the altums into a tnanke at 4.2 pH and TDS in the 30 ppm range. However, I had no intention of keeping them there over time. I spent 6 months moving them from4.2 to 6.0.
The biggest issue with wild altums is no the parameters as much as it is their immune systems. The nitrifying bacteria in the acid waters in the wild are the same ones we have in our tanks at more traditional pH levels. There has been a fair amount of research on this. These bacteria are "designed" to use ammonia as NH3 and have many receptors for this. But they also have some receptors which enables them to take in ammonium NH4. However, they do not process NH4 as efficiently as they do with the NH3. This is both because there are fewer NH4 receptors than there are ones for NH3 and then because they process NH4 less efficiently.
The big difference between 100% of the ammonia being in the NH4 form and what that means for the bacteria, for the fish it means at means the ammonia in the NH4 form is way less toxic than NH3. The difference between what happens in a tank at a fairly acid pH and what is happening in the wild is that the later has been around for a very long time and this means the bacteria and NH4 are long ago in balance so the levels of NH4 is handled completely and does not reach the levels are worth talking about. This is just the same as it is in a cycled tank- the ammonia being created os nbeong handled quickly.
In a new tank the time to establish a cycle in acid water are much longer than they are for a cycle to establish in closer to a pH of 7.0 and above. The difference in these two environments is that a cycle at neutral and higher can have ammonia in the NH3 form able to kill fish. But in the wild or in a tank with an acid pH, the ammonia is not harmful when it is all NH4. So, the danger of NH3 is not there and even though the time for establishing the cycle takes longer, it is also way less harmful. The cycle will still establish itself which removes the threat that NH4 will be high enough for long enough to create issues.
Next, there is a difference bwteen hardness and TDS. The former is only a part of the latter. If we test water using a haedness test and then we test it with a YDS meter, there results will not be the same ppm numbers. The TDS meter will measure almost everything in thewater buit will not identify what or how much of what contributes ti the reading. On the other hand a hardness tes measures only the calcium and magnesium ions in the water.
This is how Crysal Quest explains it (Crystal Quest is a manufacturer of water filtration products. We ship our products worldwide and serve Residential, Commercial, and Industrial markets.)
TDS vs Water Hardness: Not the Same Thing
Your TDS meter reads 400 ppm. Your neighbor says you have hard water. Are those the same problem? They're not. TDS and water hardness measure completely different things, and confusing them leads to buying the wrong treatment system.
TDS counts everything dissolved in your water. Hardness counts only calcium and magnesium. A softener fixes hardness. A reverse osmosis system fixes TDS.
from
https://crystalquest.com/blogs/contaminants/tds-vs-hardness-water-guide
Here is what I learned very early on after getting my first RO/DI unit. I expected the output water to be 0 TDS and neutral pH. What I got was not that. As soon as I tested the output water I got a TDS reading. I could not understand why at first. What I realizes is that the output water absorbs atmospheric gassdes including CO2. CO2 in water will create some amount of carbonic acid.
Carbon dioxide(CO2) in water undergoes a reversible reaction to form carbonic acid (H2CO3). This weak acid then further breaks down (dissociates) into hydrogen ions (H+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3-).
Why the above matters is that SeriouslyFish gives levels of hardness not TDS. The below is from the
Epic Water Filters Site
The other thing I would point out about clown loach migration as spelled out by Seriously Fish:
Age also plays a part, with juveniles remaining in the floodplainbreeding grounds for several months whereas the adults typically return to the main rivers post-
spawning with very old individuals probably not migrating at all (see ‘breeding’).
The remaining
fry stay in the flooded areas until the waters begin to recede at which point they typically measure around 30 mm SL.
They then move into the smaller tributaries until large enough to complete their passage into the major channels where they remain until sexually
mature and able to undertake
spawning migrations of their own.
There exist reports suggesting that the Bornean populations inhabiting permanent waters such as the Danau Sentarum lake system do not perform such migrations although we’ve been unable to confirm this definitively as yet.
At one time all traded fish were wild-collected, mostly from Sumatra, but these days the situation is less clear. While many thousands of wild specimens are still caught and sold annually, farmers in Southeast Asia have been artificially breeding the
species via the use of hormones for several years.
More recently breeders from the Czech Republic and other parts of Eastern Europe have perfected a similar technique which has seen the price of the once-expensive captive-bred fish drop considerably.
The above would suggest that there is likely a difference in the parameters for the water involved when it comes to breeding as well as the age and size of the clowns involved.
What i do know is my largest clowm at 12 inches has been in my tanks for over 1+20 years. It and the rest of the group have lived in my tap water the entire time. My KH tends to be 3-4 dg (53-71 ppm, ), the TDS tends to be 83 ppm (it can be lower of higher due to excess raim or drought conditions) amd the pH is fairly stable at about 7.0 give of take 0.2.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned about getting wild fish from very soft acid water was not as much the pH and TDS levels, it had to do with the differences in the nature of their immune systems and the pathogens for which they have a defence vs. the nature of the bacteria and viruses that are found in the tap water most of us have. The fish come to us with little or no immunity against our typical pathogens.
In order to get imported Altums to survive I had to set up a new tank with RO/DI water and nothing taken for any of my existing tanks. I actually ran a UV sterilizer on the tank for my next attempt for a couple of weeks to insure most of the potential pathohens to be reduced or destroyed.
But the Altums i got which lasted the longest for me and which have now been in the tank of a member of my fish club now for almost 2 years were not wild caught. They were F1 fish bred by Mike T. in Las vegas under the supervision of one of the Admins of the now defunct wild Angel forum. I had gotten aletums on a few occasions including some from the Rio Atabapo.
I suggest, if you have not seen it before, that you watch this vid in that respect.
