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It seems like every question leads to more questions, blackwater fish are apparently just as difficult as they are rumored to be.
Here are some questions presented as coherently as I can manage-1. I am using Sera peat granules for filtering, maybe instead of or in addition to testing the water to find out when they are no longer altering the water the way I want them to, I could just frequently replace them with new peat before the old peat loses its water softening properties. Even in r.o water, once the peat whas broken down there’s a danger of hardness and ph rises?
2. There is a sponge filter from a dismantled aquarium being used in my tank, it was left out of the tank for days and remained wet and I am hoping it will help cycle the tank with either live nitrifying bacteria or the waste it will add to the tank if it is just a dirty sponge that will introduce pollution. Is cycling a blackwater tank any different than cycling a normal tank? Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate, just test the water and when it turns into nitrate the tank is cycled?
3. I have decided against chocolate gouramis, the tank is not really big enough for such mean fish. I want to have a large group of licorice gouramis. Perhaps this will show their natural social behavior, their own sheltered area with lots of conspecifics. It’s about 20-25 gallons of water so would 7 fish (and hopefully babies eventually) be an ok stocking density?
4. What are the germ kits you mentioned, is there a brand that is better than any other? And should I use uv filtration? Seems like it couldn’t hurt.
Right now the challenge is figuring out when the tank is cycled and clean enough to introduce licorice gouramis. So hopefully this will keep progressing, and I will eventually be able to post a picture of a succesful tank with healthy licorice gouramis.forgot this-
5. In a larger tank like I am setting up, would it be good to introduce as many small live organisms that will live among the leaves as possible? There are lots of rotifers or whatever else is available that could be critical for keeping babies alive. Is there a risk of disease from this (the source I would get them from sells them in clean water so I don’t think that would be the problem), and has anyone else had success with this, a larger tank that is seeded with tons of little live organisms to help ease the transition for baby fish? I had baby microctenopoma ansorgi survive in a densely planted tank with no food added, they suddenly swimming around happily with no intervention. So who knows what can magically happen in a planted, organic matter filled tank.For a scientist, Jacob, it’s quite normal that every answer leads to new questions. That’s completely right.
1. Even such commercial products must make use of suppliers, and peat is never the same. We know of peat that leads to a rise of hardness. So I can only give the advice to test it. But since the main effect for Parosphromenus-aquaristics is the lowering of the pH, you can try out pH-lowering acids with very often a good success. I have often used the product by Sera for this aim. Certainly, with good acid peat you introduce further humine substances which are of good use. But you can have succes with acids, too.
2. I should not use that old sponge again. Wash it completely before. Bacteria need to grow accustomed to the environment, and if the water etc. conditions before were different, the result may be contraproductive, in that they die first, possibly. Therefore have a new start of that sponge filter. I use no filter at all and mostly everything does well.
3. It’s a good idea to keep a group of Parosphromenusof the same species in a larger tank to study their behaviour. But for a beginner I think it is better to keep two pairs each separately in a small tank and breed them first, because it’s difficult to manage the feeding of the young in a tank too big. Mostly fish that are not engaged in own breeding activities tend to feed on the young of others. On the other hand: some will perhaps survive if you feed brine shrimp regularly and give Parameciumor (better) rotifiers the first week after swimming out. But to find them in a bg tank is … not easy. Anyhow: For a somewhat experienced breeder your plan is charming.
4. The kit I used lately and found very useful is called “Cult-Dip-combi” and is manufactured by the famous international chemistry company ERNST MERCK in D-64271 Darmstadt (Germany). The reference number in Merck’s list is 1.00778.0001. It contains ten kits for ten tests. Look at Merck’s site in the internet and find out how to order it. Normally it is not sold in aquarium shops. Most aquarists don’t need that. They open the tap for their Platys, and that’s it.But let me say a general thing: This all sounds rather complicated. If you manage to get hold of some healthy Parosphromenus-fish, if you use pure c.o-water or pure rain-water, if you present them their caves, make the light not too bright, shadowed by water sprite etc., if you feed them now in summer with Culex larvae, glassworms, small Daphnia, brine shrimp, Moina (or only two of all that): You will have success. Those fish are not as delicate as all this seems to indicate. I think, you will do that quite right, even without your fine filtering system and without daily controls of the water. But you should be equipped for that.
Hmm, now I have this over sized tank set up. Maybe a pair or small group of sphaerichthys may be better, if I am cautious with their social behavior. I just was keeping freshwater pipefish, so I have experience with inundating a tank with live food, but it did get tiresome. Then again they probably had drastically bigger appetites than licorice gouramis.
I used a Mardel test strip and all the water values were at the lowest the test strip could register (pH and two kinds of hardness) and there was no nitrite but some nitrate.
I wonder if that is a good sign, that the sponge filter, other organic matter, and water sprite are combining to make this a normally functioning, cycled aquarium.
I have yet to put in the almond leaves as substrate. Products like melafix, would that be a good additive to new water, in addition to peat filtration? And speaking of peat filtration, the Sera product you mentioned that is designed to lower the pH, this is a safe and consistent way to get the proper water values? Couldn’t I combine that product with some blackwater extract for the humic substances? That sounds like a faster and more consistent way to prepare the water.
There is a little too much decaying matter in the tank for me to believe the tank is close enough to blackwater levels of cleanliness, and the nitrate readings are not perfect, so I will have to get it cleaner before I can think about introducing fish. There will have to be a breaking in period, maybe there will be a spike and then things will normalize like most tanks that are new. Thanks for the in depth responses, there are obstacles when you don’t know how to go about things but it’s rewarding once it starts to come together[quote=”Jacob” post=144]forgot this-
5. In a larger tank like I am setting up, would it be good to introduce as many small live organisms that will live among the leaves as possible? (…) [/quote]
Indeed, as you say yourself: “who knows …”. Certainly not “introduce as many small live organisms that will live among the leaves as possible”, if you want young fish survive. But introduce some that could possibly propagate and serve as food for the baby fish. But that’s one reason why keeping Parosphromenus in a larger tank is not a thing for beginners but the advanced: You don’t have things as much under control in a larger tank than in a lesser large. I always recommend to beginners in Parosphromenus-aquaristics the lesser. When they have enough young produced themselves, they might try the large adventure.So the tank is peat filtered and tests fine (based on multi puprpose test strips, and except for a little nitrate), but your idea of treating the water with pH lowering chemicals and then adding blackwater extract may be superior to relying on peat, which has to be tested to confirm its properties.
First I wonder what the best test kit is for blackwater, for the pH and hardness. There are low range test kits, I assume those are fine but maybe there are some particular test kits that are the best choice.
Then I would have to change the water until it is replaced with the new ph lowering and blackwater extract treated water.
You said you use a Sera ph lowering product, with that and blackwater extract, would that be good enough of a solution? The Indian Almond leaves I am going to use as substrate, there is no reaosn to add some kind of extract of them to new water as well?
A thick layer of leaves would look nice and probably hold lots of live food, hopefully the antibacterial properties they have would outweigh their ability to accumulate dirt like gravel would. Maybe not that thick a layer, but it is tempting because it would look so natural.Another thing is how much ph lowering additive should I use? I hear that they are really powerful, so I would like to know which brand and product to use and exactly how much per gallon.
Once I know the right amount to add it’s easier than dealing with peat. And adding blackwater extract is a good idea also, just combine the ph lowering chemicals and blackwater extract and that will be fine water?
And I can’t help but wonder about almond leaves and their lifespan, I will use them as the substrate so there will be a pretty large amount of them, should I replace them when they start to look really decomposed or is there a schedule people follow for replacing them that takes into account unobservable losses of their useful properties?
These questions are a little redundant but I know that once I’ve got the formula down it will become automatic.Hi Jacob, I use oak bark extract to reduce the pH value.
For humic substances i use Humin Aktiv (Femanga. You can buy the products at pet shops. Both are natural products.
I use RO water from the Drugstore (10 Liters for 3,50€)
I use leaves of beech tree. I collect them in the autumn and dry them.
Bevore I used this i pour over boiling water.Where do you come from? I live neer Ausburg, Germany
Greetings Hendrik
I’m near Boston, there are lots of very good fish stores here, it’s a good place to be if you want rare freshwater fish.
Hopefully we will have as much of a community of blackwater fish keepers as Germany does someday.
Maybe reading books like Baensch’s atlas influenced me to prefer rare freshwater fish where most Americans seem to like reef tanks.
Blackwater gouramis are impressive when you see them in well designed aquariums, they might be under the radar because freshwater fish are usually for people who don’t want to put in lots of effort (if they did they’d probably have flashy saltwater tanks.)
The small tanks a licorice gourami need make it a potentially great kind of aquarium for someone who doesn’t want to expend lots of money or effort but wants a rewarding aquarium.
Blackwater tanks with antibacterial substances in them are an appealing philosophy for fishkeeping, make your tank an antiseptically clean place, unlike a live rock kind of philosophy where it’s a lottery of good and bad organisms and a little too close to real nature!
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