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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.So germ free water is needed- my tank has peat filtration, driftwood, and will have almond leaves as a substrate. All of this is decaying organic matter- it’s not likely to introduce germs the way a thick layer of gravel substrate would, is it?
I thought the leaves, driftwood and peat could be thought of as contributing humic substances, which is a good thing (and a quality of blackwater along with low ph and hardness and high temperature which all work together to kill most forms of life that live in freshwater habitats). But would a layer of almond leaves as a substrate and constant peat filtration make the tank not as germ free as it should be because of all the ever present decaying matter?
This is probably a VERY basic science question but I am just an aquarium hobbyist, not a scientist!That is really interesting, I never knew that the real issue is the germs and not hypersensitivity to ph and hardness.
I have a tank being prepared for blackwater fish, I am probably going to put chocolate gouramis in it (do you think they have the same issues, sensitivity to germs more than sensitivity to water conditions?).
I have a filter with peat in it, is there any reason not to just leave peat in a filter and let that run constantly? (and periodically replace the peat as it dissolves)
I will also follow the standard method of prefiltering the r/o/ water with peat before I use it for water changes. But in the main tank is it an ok idea to just have a peat filter running all the time?The tank is a Red Sea Max 35, intended as a coral tank but I am not using its strong filtration, just its glass cage and lighting. It has stacks of driftwood and a layer of floating water sprite, a filter with peat and a sponge filter and the temperature around 80 degrees.
I wonder how many chocolate gouramis (probably selatanensis) need to be kept to distribute the aggression, I’ve seen 15 gallon tanks with about 4 and they looked ok, but I’ve heard they will kill each other also. And finally, is there much difference in keeping chocolate gouramis than licorice gouramis, as far as the requirement for germ free acid water? Since they are both from the same or similar habitats, is it very similar the requirements they have?
I’ve read chocolate gouramis are really sensitive to disease, I wonder if this is different than licorice gouramis tendencies.
This is a long, not that concise post, sorry about that. But the information you mentioned about why these fish need the conditions they need is really fascinating.what plants are in those tanks? You previously mentioned water sprite and java moss as being safe for blackwater conditions, I can’t tell if there are other plant species in your tank photos.
I’m currently planning a chocolate gourami tank (a slightly bigger licorice gourami tank I guess), and want to use water sprite, but would love to add something like cryptocoryne (if it is even possible to use substrates in a blackwater tank).
Floating and emersed water sprite seems like a good idea, but what plants are in the tanks you’ve got pictured here?I was thinking of making more water than I need for emergencies or because it would be convenient, but since so little is needed it’s not really necessary.
The peat filtered water in the aquarium changes and becomes softer over time, and as was written before new water raises the pH a little. But this increase is harmless, is this because fish are less sensitive to pH increases than decreases, and also because if it is within the range of acceptable conditions, they can stand a little fluctuation? If the water is soft enough and acidic enough are paroshpromenus not terribly delicate? Not that I would test their limits but I’m thinking about the fact that soft acidic water with organic material will not be totally stable. And it sounds like they will live and breed fine despite that. What are safe levels of change in their aquariums?
Noticed another thread about magazine articles- I have an issue of Aquarium Fish International from March 2011 that has an article about breeding parosphromenus.That didn’t really answer the blackworm question, I think what I meant was that they are easily available in pretty large quantity from stores, so I only worried about keeping them alive. For a live food from a store it is actually a lot of food for the price, compared to other live foods. But they may not be available everywhere.
Putting a filter with peat in a 5 gallon container, this would work just as well as the drip method I think, but I wonder if it reaches a certain pH and then further filtering makes no difference, or if there is a certain time limit of filtering that you should follow.
Also wonder if it is possible to premix water and let it sit or if it will change over time.Thanks for the responses, good to know the pH is not likely to crash.
The R/O water I would use is sold in fish stores for people topping off saltwater tanks, I will learn what the values of it are. I liked the idea of adding blackwater extract just because it seems like you could have a formula that you repeat every time for exactly the same water. I will have to filter the r/o water, and I assume it usually ends up in the same range and there’s an amount of difference that can be tolerated safely. I wonder if cryptocoryne could be used, since they are amphibious. Pitcher plants or other interesting land plants would make a good display and it could be a biotope of where the fish come from, but I don’t know if those bog plants affect the water too much. Combining plants and weak filtration seem like a good idea.
For blackworms, they’re easily bought in stores where I am. I never tried to breed them, but they would always multiply in the gravel. This was a good thing for the dwarf puffers I was keeping since they would catch them throughout the day. But some don’t like worms in their tank. Over time they are supposed to get smaller and weaker in tanks, because of oxygen being less in the water column than if they could use the air (if I rememmber right.) Stores keep them in shallow water in refridgerators, so their metabolism slows down and they don’t need to be fed, I think.
They would die if the tank I kept them in had no aeration. They would eat pieces of brown grocery bag paper, and almost anything else. Keeping them in shallow water or keeping them submerged in water clean and aerated seemed the most important requirement for keeping them alive, I don’t know about breeding them.
