[Thomas Bukur]

… and another one from 2014:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID7Clj7__bc[/video]

I believe at 5:50 there is a female betta (edithae?) and some licorice gourami in the same picture.

I love these images of the wild habitats of these fish.

[Thomas Bukur]

Ok, so I will try to get a better test and also try to drop pH even more. Thanks for the comments.

[Thomas Bukur]

Yes, they fall down after a day or two.

I’m using RO water treated with peat, oak leaves and alder cones. So zero hardness there. But I fear that I might have a too heavy bacterial or fungi load. I’ll remove any litter soon and see what happens.

I feed with live white and red mosquito larvae. Hopefully I’ll have some black mosquito larvae soon in a bucket of water outside.

[Thomas Bukur]

Of course, we don’t know. And these tests only show the bacterial load, nothing about the species, some of which are indeed helpful in the maintenance of water quality. Nevertheless, I’m curious to see the results.

@RafEg That recipe probably includes something like agar and some sort of nutrient, usually bovine serum albumin (BSA), but any beef broth will do. I guess all biology students had to do that at one time during their studies. Even me, and I’m not a ‘wet-lab’ biologist. Try searching the internet for ‘home-made petri dish’ or something like that.

[Thomas Bukur]

Thanks for sharing! I’ll definitely try these. I love the fact that they also show fungal contamination.
Any expreiences on tolerated levels? I believe that rotting leaves, elder cones or any other matter will promote bacterial and fungal growth, which then can only be limited by very low pH and water changes. Am I right?
Also, I’ve read, that the fry of other blackwater fish feed on the mold (fungi?) that developed on decaying plant material. Is it wise to keep a tank close to sterile?

Best, Thomas

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