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Agree totally. I keep several varieties of the ornamental shrimps and with a TDS as low as Paros need, it seems that they would have serious problems molting and any baby survival..except a small few that do seem to defy the “ideal parameters”
Still seems like an interesting project outside the hobby “rules”.
Ha ! found the white pearl shrimp… here across the pond, they are more often named white snowball shrimp(zhangjiajiensis var. white), and there is also a blue variety of the same species. Thank you, good info.
“Neocaridina parvidentata” are listed here in the states as “caridina parvidentata” not sure if the same but they are called “Malawa” shrimp, which they say prefer hard water and are considered one of the Suluwasi species which do require very hard water high pH.
BUT:
I know of breeders that keep them in normal soft water situations, and they are VERY productive. I will contact the people and see if they know the actual parameters where these are found… it is possible that they are NOT Suluwasi Lakes type shrimp, and even tolerate low pH. If necessary I will get a few and see what happens.Nearly everone (shrimpers) keep their water in a pH area of 6.6 – 7.4
That does not mean they are not low pH tolerant at all… those are the parameters the industry goes for as a generic for nearly all of the ornamental types… Malawa are a clean species not bred for any special traits yet.Malawa is close to the same word as Malawi which would be an African species but I suspect not so.
I can easily get some and try although I only know of 2 folks that keep them.. ha another project !!!
And there is also a Malaya species I. looking into… it is a caridina type shrimp.
Sverting,
Your ideas sound interesting, but are not well grounded. Try keeping them as you wish but the purpose of this Forum is to help insure the survival of the species. If your fish try to spawn and fail in a large multi species aquarium the term “not a big problem” is indeed a problem.
You yourself are starting with tank raised fish so aren’t you starting with “lazy” fish? You might be confusing “lazy” with “tank adapted” fish or possibly “inbred” fish, which even happens in nature, in small pools and streams to some degree.
The people here on the Forum (many of them) are mostly well experienced breeders and their advice should be heeded for success in breeding.
A biotope enviroment as you you choose to do would be wonderful,but without listening to hose with experience you may be starting over again, through the failures that others have gone thru.
Please, I don’t want to discourage you at all, but also try to listen to those that give you advice on tank setups and spawning do’s and don’ts.
Your desires on keeping them is a noble one and I wish you luck.Update: Filamentosis Young
All 6 young fish are well and greet me at the front of the tank for feeding. The brine shrimp and moina are keeping them fat. I always tap the front of the tank just before food time.. it works well to bring them all out for inspection.. and it didn’t take long to train them.
I now suspect there are 4 males and 2 females. Still no strong colors but the males caudal fins are developing nice, The suspect females are very similar in patterns for now, but do also have a less developed caudal ie: more rounded.
The males are occasionaly sparring with each other, especially a more dominant male who keeps his colors darker. They do this in a head down manner and usually clamped fins, except the dominant who will also flare his fins for a full display.
Sorry to hear about your experience,
It is great to have experienced breeders on the forum like Helene and others, and please keep us all posted, especially if you find an answer about eggs sticking or not. (if there is just one answer and likely not)
Usually when fish are flashing against substrate, plants or rocks it is a sign of an external problem. Gill flukes, ich etc. I have little or no experience in fish meds and cannot recommend much of anything for you.
You fish will do fine once your pH gets down from the 8.0 Like I said before, I targeted 5.5 for pH and it seems to have settled in now. I got the fish from Wet Spot. Ordered them the day that they rec’d them from the shipper and they are doing well. If they had them for months I would not have ordered.
Get your tank and it’s parameters stable then treat the fish. If they are going “downhill” then treat them asap. to save them, it is all a risk with disease and meds.
I would suggest that you get a TDS meter (they are not too expensive). I did experiment with some pH down products but so far have found that they increase the TDS.
I am targeting a pH of 5.5 for now and a TDS of 12 or less (hopefully).
Anything below 6 pH is recommended.If you are getting 5.0 RO water you are fine. Be very slow to add to the tank if you are at 7.4 Take a week or 2 to slowly mix. The fish will be fine with slow changes.
The whole point of low pH appears to be achieving a very low bacterial count, as these fish have not evolved with a great deal of resistance to disease.
Sorry, I would also like to add that it is also very important (low pH and TDS) for successful spawning of the paros. That is why we are here… not to just have them, but have successful spawning to prevent likely extinctions.
Are you using RO water or distilled? Since the Hurricane they may have added other or stronger chemicals to prevent polution of drinking water. Severe storms like the Hurricane can easily wreak havoc on our water supplies, Wells included. Keep a close eye on you parameters as fish like paros probably thrive on stability of the enviroment.
Call your water company and ask if they have done anything different since the storm.
I too am on the East Coast but stay in touch with our water company whenever we have a weather crisis.
From the reading I have done so far 86f temperature might be pushing it for paros?
Mopani is a very dense wood from Africa, it just sinks and very heavy. Popular here in the States for Aquariums and Repites. But I have no doubts now that it was buffering the tank water to 6.6 – 6.7 pH
So the driftwood is out of the tank. All 6 babies were out eating Moina this morning! I’m very pleased not to have any loss.
The ones I suspect are males show the beginnings of a brilliant blue stripe on the borders of the dorsal, anal and caudal fins. No other colors except the 2 dark bars that are the body length.
They love the brine shrimp so I will start trying some soaked decapsulated shrimp eggs mixed in with the hatchlings.
O, it was the African Mopani wood!! It was buffering the pH. Now all is well and can continue lowering the pH.
Go, with Peter’s suggestion to use fresh bog or swamp wood.
Now I’m just using Oak, Beech and Catappa leaves, percolated peat moss for tannins and java moss floating.
today was their first fresh brine shrimp day. I was able to confirm 5 fish so I’m assuming 6 are still there. The males (at least 2) intensified their color a bit…basically just darkened up.
They pick at moina but feast on newly hatched brine shrimp. I did have to add a light layer of substrate. I noticed they spent as much time chasing moina reflections on the bottom as they did eating.
I am glad that Filamentosis is one of the less picky species and thank you for the recomendations! The learning curve is slow but very exciting.
Adjusting the water is a nightmare. Been droping in a lower pH slowly, got to 6.4 and it creeps back up to 6.7 (was 7.5) I think I’ll remove the mopani wood and try to find what is preventing a lower pH. My guess is that the mopani wood is buffering the pH. Still want target a pH of 5.5 which seems to be stable in a pastic bucket but something in tank has to go.
