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Thank you all for your kind advice.
I have now put a small cave in the tank to mitigate the presence of the other fish as best as I can until I set up another habitat.
I do currently use ro water with peat to lower the pH however thanks to the advice here I believe I need to become much more diligent in monitoring the water conductivity and overall quality.
I buy my ro water from the LFS. I think I’d better get a conductivity meter and take it with me from now on.
Thought I’d just add that adding to this forum sharing with a community of passionate and knowledgeable people is very rewarding. Even if there are disagreements, the benefit of the information here outweighs any discomfort resulting from disagreements. If you are interested, you will learn more than you realise if you keep an open mind.
I like to post on the progress of my paros and I like to read about the paros kept by other. Like Helene said, it’s simply love for these fish. Whether kept in my aquarium, your aquarium or left surviving in their natural habitat.
Please don’t feel that your opinion is less valid that others, and it’ll be a great shame if your paros were “lost” to the rest of us.
Well done for the project and the EU.
Here is the link for the BBC report.
Hi Helene,
Thanks for joining in this topic with your amazing video.
I think both you and Peter are right about the need for a separate breeding tank.
I’m looking into how I’m going to do this starting with a new home for my shrimp.
I’d like to say something about videos. I think that seeing the fish behaviour will beat any description or picture. There is so much that can be learned just by watching. I would encourage all keepers to make videos as watching someone else’s experience provides great perspective on what you may be doing right or wrong in your own tanks.
So I guess I’d like to challenge people to share their experiences with videos. :cheer:
Wow Helene,
What an amazing video.
Thank you for showing us something that is so rarely seen. I’ve gained so much insight just by watching your video of these fish.
Thank you Peter for that insight.
I will try to take your advice on board.
Its been a while since I made this video and certainly I see your point about the disturbances of the other residents of the tank.
I’ve since moved the paros to a bigger tank but I will certainly look into setting up a tank for breeding so that my courting pair can have some peace and quiet.
Hi guys,
I’m happy you would like to know more about my experience.
First of all I must tell you that I live in the UK.
I got my paros from a typical fish shop and they do all sorts of tropical, cold water and marine species as well as plants from Holland.
I think they use treated tap water at ph 7.2 but it is quite hard in my area. GH around 11 and Kh around 6 when I measured it.
However my shop sells pure RO which I use and with peat and JBL’s peat treatment I get water at Gh 3 and no Kh. Ph is below 5 and my test kit won’t measure lower.
The reason I say I rescued the fish is that although my shop is good, it does not provide a good environment for paros. Please see my previous topic for my meaning.
I use live food bought from the fish shop and will range from brine shrimp,daphinia, blood worms to glass worms. I also cultivate baby brine shrimp at home. Sometimes I have seen my fish take bites of dry food.
So the situation in the Uk is probably quite similar to elsewhere in Europe and you can buy all sorts of equipment and be as technical as you like. My friends keep fish but not especially difficult species but they have had experience in breeding bristlenosed plecs, and guppies. I have also bred swordtails and cories myself and I am also breeding cherry shrimp.
Please see my next topic for further developments on my paros.
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Peter,
Thank you for confirming my thoughts.
I did indeed get these from my local fish shop. I don’t know if you recall my previous video of paros being kept in an unsuitable environment at the LFS. Well I believe I rescued them and they have done very well since.
Interesting that you mention more videos. I don’t mean to tease however I will be posting…further developments 🙂 in the near future.
Hey Tom,
Sorry to see your original project didn’t work out.
Please update on your paro breeding project though. Always look forward to your good work.
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Nathea,
That looks great. Best of luck with your fish.
It looks like there are lots of hiding places. I have 6 young fish I rescued from the LFS in a 30l nano and I sometimes don’t see them at all. However I guess you’re trying to breed them.
Look forward to pics of your fish. I will upload some pics of my tank as soon as I get some decent images.
Martin,
Its so good to see someone keeping track of their experience in the way you have here.
Its really fascinating to see your set-up.
Thanks
Thanks for the advice Peter,
I’ll look out for flubernole but it seems to be listed on the internet as a pig wormer.??
Is the threat of hydra simply for predation against fry? My tank seems to have a lot of little unidentified inverts and I suspect that is good for micro predators such as paros. I’m sure if I use the treatment you have suggested these inverts would die also.
How big a problem is Hydra really? Is it a sign of good water quality or maybe poor water conditions? The presence of these small animals suggests to me that my tank may be ready to accept fish soon.
Anyway, will keep you “guys” 🙂 ….and dolls updated.
Thanks for the response guys,
I’ve looked on the box and the internet and I can’t find out the composition of this substrate. Only that it is being described as an all natural porous structure and it is made in Japan. I believe its probably the same as the ADA stuff.
I’m thinking that what happens is some sort of ion exchange going on where all the Kh value is being taken out of the water and then the pH buffering effect is gone and this in turn reduces pH. However this is a complete guess and its not based on any science, only what I have read elsewhere.
I am using a couple of different test kits that you can get from Tetra and API. These are probably the most well known and common test kits available in the UK. I’m pretty confident in accuracy as my friend has contacted the local water company and was able to confirm the readings from his API master test kit. These kits are the drop tests not the strips.
And I think you have to a certain extent answered your own third question Peter. I’ve often read on this forum the importance of balance and the creation of the right environment or “Milleau”. I don’t want to keep fish in a bare tank as this type of fish keeping feels just like keeping chickens in battery cages.
In any event, the species mentioned such as java moss and fern and crypts are exactly what I had in mind. But I’m guessing I probably wouldn’t have needed such a plant-emphasised substrate. I guess I wanted the substrate so I won’t have to dose with fertilizers. Dosing with fertilizers just don’t seem right to me. Even if it was ok to do it in a tank for Paros, I still wouldn’t like the idea.
Nathea is probably right that this effect won’t last. However, the idea of using a peat substrate is certainly something I’ve looked into. The problem is sourcing natural peat. I’ve located a source of Irish Sphagnum Moss peat which the seller assures me is cut from the ground and then packaged with nothing artificial but it is for gardening. I think that I may use this for water treatment which I have read about doing elsewhere.
I guess its about experimenting. I’ll update on any progress.
