how to cycle the tank.

For paros I wait two or three weeks. When kept right they are hardy fish so one week will probably be okay. It’s a small tank, so you don’t have to wait too long. You won’t get many bacteria in such acidic water anyway, so waiting for them doesn’t really make sense.

In normal aquaria you wait for nitrificating bacteria, which grow very slowly and are very delicate. Most bacteria do not thrive in acidic water, so probably these bacteria also won’t come in high numbers.

I think you should do that. Then start lowering pH. When pH is the right value week a week and then add paros.

All advice given here that implies to be cautious is good and should be followed by a beginner with Paros. But let me tell you that I very often have experienced quite the contrary: Licorice gouramies that are healthy in normal condition are not especially sensitive or “fragile”. Let me tell you how I do it in most cases:

– I have a place with the right water prepared with the right low mineral content and the right low pH. The first should lie between 10 and 80 Microsiemens/cm; mostly it is around 30-50. The second should be between 4 and 6. Since I use a demineralization-device I take the water from there (since it is nearly pure H2O), mix very few tap water in (“a cup”), give some drops (!) of my oak-essence or phosphorus-acid, constantly controlling the pH, and that’s it. If you use a RO-device you mostly could use the water directly coming from it, but often you have to adjust at least the pH. If you use good rain water: take it directly. Mostly the pH is acidly enough already. Many friends have good success with pure rain water. Many lower the pH with good acid peat. OK, that’s fine, but it is not necessary.
– So the water ist the most important thing. Prepare it before and control its values before you fill it in the tank.
– I clean a used 12-liter-tank (I only have these in my rack) thoroughly with hot water
– Then I add a layer of small-grained brownish gravel or peat (millimeters only, much less than one centimeter)
– Next come the small pieces of well-soaken wood, best freshly from a peat-cutting place, or, if not weak and fouling, recycled from the old tank or a bucket with destilled water
– and the well-cleaned cave
– and a big leaf of Terminalia catappa upright at the back side, held by a piece of the wood. Sometimes I add a few alder-cones, too. Mostly dry, they will sink down the next days. They especially will darken the water and contribute to a low pH.
– Then I place the tank in the rack
– Then I fill it about half with a watering-can; the water should have a temperature between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius
– Then I give about 5 to 20 well-soaken leaves of oak or beech on the ground, some here, less there
– Then I add a few small plants (small young plants of swimming Ceratopteris: the best, Javamoss, Javafern, Salvinia, perhaps a small rank of a Ludwigia). Plants, together with the wood, are structuring the free water space for our fish that come from dense riparian niches. Additionally, especially the Ceratopteris help with water hygiene by growing fastly and lowing the organic loadens from feeding
– Then I add the rest of water
– And then – don’t scream and be frightened! – I add the pair of Paros, immediately after! I have never experienced a loss of the fish by that quick set-up. Of course, you should not do if you are not certain about your wood. If it leads to the development of cloudy bacteria-population it is the wrong wood, you must throw it out immediately. But if you are sure of it then there is no danger for the fish. If the wood is well-soaken since weeks (or was never dry: the best). In a tank with a thick layer of gravel you have much more bacteria-problems. Then you cannot follow my method and you go more risks. If you have used a much thicker layer of gravel (the normal aquarium thickness for planting rooted plants) then be cautious and wait.
– The fish mostly will need some days for coming acquainted with their new home and its structure. But the they will display and mostly spawn. Sometime they spawn even the second day in the morning already.
– If there is a marked development of bacteria you have made a mistake. Mostly with the wood or the gravel.

But to say it again: If you are uncertain about the fish, the wood, the water: follow the advice of the other friends and their remarks before mine, taking more time. My intention only was to say: Don’t be frightened. Good Paros (from a private breeder who knows to handle them) are not delicate or especially sensitive. They are hardy if they receive their proper environment. Mostly there is no risk of getting things much more quicker to the end. In a real blackwater-tank you have some problems more than the normal aquarist has, but you have some problems less, too. For instance the bacteria-problem of a fresh set-up.

[quote=”Peter Finke” post=1773]

– I have a place with the right water prepared with the right low mineral content and the right low pH. The first should lie between 10 and 80 Microsiemens/cm; mostly it is around 30-50. The second should be between 4 and 6. Since I use a demineralization-device I take the water from there (since it is nearly pure H2O), mix very few tap water in (“a cup”), give some drops (!) of my oak-essence or phosphorus-acid, constantly controlling the pH, and that’s it.[/quote]

Hello, Peter,

do you use self-made oak-essence? Would you give us your recepy? Or do you use a commercial brand? If the latter is right – which brand do you use, and have you measured the conductance after adding the oak-essence?
I bought Amtra Eichenextrakt (it was recommended in the IGl-Forum by experienced paro-breeders) and found that it increases the conductance more or less significantly. Since I discovered this I am not so happy using it ……….. I use rain water with a conductance of around 40 µS/cm and a pH level of 6,0, and I made good experiences with lowering the pH level to about 5,0 by hanging a satchet with pine bark into the water, for a week, before I use the water for a water change.

[quote=”Peter Finke” post=1780]The simplest way seems to me to use pure rain water. Again I repeat that all people whom I know that they are working on this base have no problems with breeding our fish. Among them are the best Paro-breeders I know. Some even maintain that pure rain water is better than anything else. [/quote]

Do you mean they really use only rain water – without adding any acids (except perhaps peat fibres or something like that). That they take the pH as it is? (Even if it is, as in my case, about 6,0 – never more)?

[quote=”Peter Finke” post=2220]
Speaking of pure rain-water I meant not to mix it up with tap water or something else.[/quote]

Ah, ok. That’s what I do – take only rain water, which here always has a pH of 6.0 (I measure it regularly when preparing the water for the change).