[Peter Finke]

Bartan is completely right. It’s a very bad thing to establish a community tank for Paros. At least one shoukld select conveniant companios (as Boraras spec. for instance, but not Tanichthys, Catfish or even “Neons”. It’s of no use to do this “for the beginning” only. This is just the standard thinking for the standard type of aquarium with a thick layer of stony gravels in order to plant the usual plants. They will change the water values completely; you cannot estanblish a backwater aquarium for long with such a gravel and plants like Echinodorus spec. and Hygrophila difformis.
The second bad thing is to mix different species of Paros, because the females are very similar. In some cases you will be unable to keep them apart, and the males will possibly or probably also. Of course this is done by the normal petshops already. But the first mistakes happen there. We have several cases where they sold the wrong females, and now the aquarists complain about seeing no spawning or – worse – do see spawning but there are weak larvae developing from the eggs doomed to death.
It is wrong to think Paros to be very delicate and difficult. If given the right water with 10 to 60 Microsiemens/cm (I doubt that your RO-water is beyond 100, at least for long) and the fish are healthy you can establish a small tank with peat and beech leaves on the ground, wood from fresh peat-cuttings, a big Catappa-leaf at the back side, a little quantity of Javamoss, Ceratopteris at the water surface and – most important – one or two small caves with horizontal roof, and give the fish immediately in it. Normally I practise it like this and there are no losses. In cases I doubt it because of the condition of the fish I wait for three or four days using that fine Easy Life-milk from Zeolith first. That is undoubtedly a helpful invention but it’s the only thing that I still buy at the Zoo-shops.
The whole aquarium literature and trade is completely fixed on the normally structured medium big or big tank with all the things the industry want to sell in the meantime. There is nearly no explanation of the different type that a blackwater tank must be. Besides, the water must not be dark or “black”. It must contain humic substances but mostly it can well be clear, perhaps a little yellowish or slightly tea-coloured.