GH/KH levels

[Wolf]

I finally got a tetra gh/KH test kit today to test my water. My fish have spawned around 5 times now and I have about 30 free swimmers this time around but I am getting a lot of fungused or white eggs. Using the tetra kit which gives german hardness it says my GH 5 KH 2. This sounds good to me as far as hardness goes. Does anyone think that sounds right? I thought my water was harder. I heard to have good buffering a kh of 3 or more is preferred but I'm not getting any ph fluctuations when I test my water daily. Anyones incite is appreciated. Thanks.

John

[Don_Lee]

That is a good range for adult fish. As long as the KH stays around 2, I would think you would be safe. A tad of baking soda would bring it up, but I would tend to say if it aint broke don't fix it.

For the babies/eggs, I believe you would want your water to be alot softer.

Don

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Wolf:
My new batch of babies were spawned in GH 6 and the last batch were in GH 9. You should be fine. Most all the eggs hatched both times. I did not have a problem with fungus.
Carol :heart1:

[Wolf]

Thanks for the advice. I will just let it stay where it's at for now and check it daily. It could be they are just young fish and haven't got it right yet. I also did a 25% water change the day after they laid the eggs. Next time I am going to wait until they hatch before I change the water and see what happens.

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Wolf:
The eggs are fertilized right away or not at all. I continue daily water changes - say 20%. My thought is more fresh water would mean less fungus. Once I have wigglers I am very careful with the water changes as the wigglers are delicate. They are sensitive to both changes in water parameters and water current.
Carol :heart1:

[Wolf]

Thanks Carol. I have around 30 free swimmers now but they don't seem to be finding the parents very easily so I turned off the light and lowered the water level to just above the sponge. I also took out my other sponge so I only have one in the tank now with them. I hope they attach soon.

[Carol_Roberts]

Turn your light back on or leave the room light on. I leave a room light on 24/7 from wiggler to 3 weeks free swimming. They have to be able to see mom and dad. Turn sponge air down low . . . . bubble . . . . bubble . . . . bubble. They are also attrated to movement.
CArol :heart1:

[Wolf]

Ok Carol. I turned the light back on like you suggested and they have around 30 fry now feeding off their backs. Woohoo :D. This is the farthest they have gone so far so I'm crossing my fingers. I will start trying to feed them BBS and crushed tetra bits tomorrow or Tuesday. BTW I learned how to age my water right reading one of your post so I guess you could say that you have helped me a bunch in getting this far. Thanks.

John

[Carol_Roberts]

You are welcome John. Glad I could help you - just like I was helped when I first found the forums. My babies don't really start eating bbs,ect. until about 9 days free swimming.
CArol :heart1:

[Wolf]

Here is a picture of the fish with the fry. In the picture, you can only see one little one by the red arrow. I took this picture yesterday before they attached and the camera left with my friend.

[Carol_Roberts]

Your discus look huge - which one is the male?
Carol :heart1:

[DiscusDuo]

those are some beautiful fish!! I was just wondering what the orange one is, becuase we have juvenile that looks alot like that and when we purchased it we were told he was a red dragon, just wondering if they told us the right thing.
thanks for sharing your pics! Good luck with those babies!

[Wolf]

They aren't that big really. They are around 5" a little bigger than a cd. They are my first two fish so they had it kind of rough at first. The male is the blue cobalt and the female is a pigeon blood of some type. They are still less than a year old and the male is still growing.