[bartian]

But why would tannic acid work, while acetic acid won’t? Acetic acid is the second most simple acid but tannic acis is huge and full of fenol, thus less stable.

[bartian]

Thanks for the answers.

Of course I mean pure white vinegar, no balsamico or other fancy food-aromatizing substances.

My only fear was there problably are bacteria or other microorganisms that use acetic acid for food. Still not clear if these live in aquariums too.
Apparently everyone knows vinegar is useless but nobody can tell why… The fact that other mixtures with acetic acid are used as food is of course not an argument.

Of course I won’t try vinegar in inhabited tanks, so, as we say here in the Netherlands: baat het niet dan schaadt het niet, and of course, niet geschoten is altijd mis.

[bartian]

Thanks for the quick answer!

I don’t care about what acid it is since they all do the same thing: freeing H3O+/H+. The main thing is vinegar is much stronger and easier to dose. I use a lot of peat and leaves for coloring the water and for enriching the pure RO water(H2O is really bad for organisms in pure form!) so I don’t think humic and tannins will be a problem.

[bartian]

Do you use a filter? When my paro’s did that it appeared the oak leaves on the bottom had started to rot because of lack of oxygen. Sulfates in the leaves then will be converted into H2S, which is toxic and smells really bad. Quickly refresh and structurally add more oxygen.

[bartian]

It appears to be the same as in my Betta strohi. It is mostly black/brown but when angry it gets blue and shiny from a certain angle.

I have never kept P. nagyi so I can’t tell anything about this being special or not.

[bartian]

Oh, I didn’t see that, only the second link. Thanks!

[bartian]

They sure eat it, even young ones. The worms are very thin so they fit in perfectly.

@Stefanie
Thanks! I’ll give it a try when I have found a good growing substrate.

[bartian]

These are excellent foods! I bred them for some time but lost them. Paros go crazy for it.

It’s a pity they are rare in the Netherlands, I can’t find a new starting population.

[bartian]

That layer supposedly consits of dead bacteria, died from lack of oxygen. This is the reason for me to use small filters.

[bartian]

That is quite serious. Do they sell Sera over there? Baktopur would treat it, maybe you can find something like that?

I have never had diseased paros. The boraras I kept with them one time had whte spot and later died of fungus, but the paros never had any symptoms. One time in an other tank, when some peat I put under the sand for the cryptos, started rotting I lost some Betta, but when I changed a lot of water the paros were more coloured than ever and even starded courting. Although they won’t come in contact with these in nature they seem to have an excellent immune system.

[bartian]

Good this comes up. I just spotted some P. bintan “Sentang” fry of about 1cm in my meter tank with Apistogramma and Dicrossus. I’m sure there are a lot more hiding in the big Ceratopteris since they spawn regularly.
I actually think paro’s do fine in bigger tanks if you allow them and their young to hide, although the adults rarely will do so. They are way more active and beautiful in bigger tanks. Also they seem to do a lot better when other species are around.

In most tanks I have a small filter for making sure oxygen is provided, for both fish and tank floor(which is covered with leaves) to prevent anaerobic reduction of waste. In most tanks with only labyrinths(I also keep wild Betta) there’s no filter at all, since they breathe air. In two of my tanks the filter a lot of filter material compared to pump capacity. In this way there isn’t too much water movement in both filter and tank, but most organic waste will be broken down by bacteria. In these two tanks conductivity stays very low. In fact, it doesn’t rise at all, even without any water changing.

[bartian]

I never use carbon. It’s only useful for filtering medicine residues after finishing the cure.

I only use ceramic rings and other bio-stuff. Sometimes also peat.
What I use for adding humic is oak, beech and other leaves. Those will stain the water and lower the pH.

[bartian]

I’m sorry…?
I really didn’t see that date. Actually I still don’t see it. In fact, I found a different publication date: “Published online at http://www.vertebrate-zoology.de on December 10, 2012”, which already passed.
I found the link at an other forum, and thought it would be good to inform other paro-keepers.
The link is also published at SeriouslyFish and some other sites…

Of course I have no intention to violate anyone or anything! I’m really sorry If I accidentally did so!

But if it shouldn’t be public why did they make it publically available on that site?

[bartian]

That could indeed be the new form. According to Horst Linke it is a distinct species and should be called P. sp. “Ampah”.
Let’s hope so!

[bartian]

I use a drop test from Sera, which goes to pH 4,5…

[Author]

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