[Peter Finke]

The water: Since long I think that the fears and alarms on the delicacies and difficulties of Parosphromenus-fish are exaggerated. There are many cases that successfulbreeding has taken place with pH between 6 and 7, but always below 7. A low pH of the natural habitats is mostly an insurance of the absence of too many nocious germs, and this is mainly the function in the aquarium, too. If it is possible to keep the milieu rather free of a germ-concentration too high, then it will work with a higher pH, too. But the “softness” of the water is eesential, not for the adult fish but for the eggs and the very young.
The light: The problem is that light may induce too much chemical plant activity and induce instability of the water-parameters. Again, this is mostly no probmen for adult Paros, but young must be lucky to get a milieu as stable as possible. So, a good plant activity is doubtlessly very good for a fish-friendly milieu in general, but the fish from blackwaters are specialists that need their requirements. Myself, I am often working with many thriving plants, too, but it is always difficult to decide whether it’s good for the very young fish or not. The normal planted aquarium using fertilizers and much fast growing leafwork below the water-surface may produce conflicts. Many Parosphromenus cannot fully dispose of their peculiarities of a long adaptation to blackwater conditions.
But nevertheless: Even they (not their eggs ot very young larvae) are adaptive to a certain extent. One should make some experiments to find out one’s own best method. All our experiences show that five good Paro-breeders have developed five different methods.