Re: Spawning of Cardinals/Glossostigma

[toado <toado at ihug_co.nz>]

Macon Cowles wrote:
> 
> Toado, you have to share with us on the AGA list what the final outcome was
> of your spawning cardinals.  I have never heard of that being achieved
> before.
> 

Macon,
I'm afraid Its not too relevant to APD so I'll try to keep it brief.
I must admit it took me by surprise, but the outcome was rather
predictable- a feeding frenzy!. I hope to try raising some next year if
I can find the tank space. It'll have to be next year as my secret
weapon, mosquito larvae, are only raisable in summer months. The Germans
have quite a lot of experience with tetras in general (and damn near
anything else on aquaria) so grab a german dictionary and check out some
of what they have on the net. As for good relevant guides in translation
I'm afraid Baensh Vol.1 is all I have: Its brief, but excellent advice.
To be honest I keep them as 'dithers' for my poison: SA dwarf cichlids.
Cardinals, Rummy-noses, and 'rocket' pencil-fish all spawn in the
'community', but the eggs are tucker within seconds :). If you like I
can give you, or anyone else interested, more info off-list. You'll need
to be patient tho'- My ISP account sucks & I've a hell of a lot to do at
the moment :(.

So far as plants are concerned these guys (and the other species i'm
fond of) form a few majour restrictions.
They don't appreciate companions that are aggro or too active. I imagine
SAE's would be too much for them, so I use Ancistrus instead.
They have a majour aversion to strong light so I keep the level at just
over 1.5W/gallon. This rules out Cabomba and Limnophilia, they grow very
'stringy'. Besides they grow too rapidly for my taste (I hate pruning
every week :)).
These fish insist on extreemly soft water to breed (1-2 dKH) so
Vallisneria etc are out of the question. The required pH of 6 or less is
tough on plants, but for me relatively easy to achieve. I use a
combination of peat extract and CO2. Different peat sources will buffer
with this combo (pretty much irrespective of the amount of extract) at
different pH's. Its very much a game of trial and error- check it in a
large jar rather than your tank.

Plant species I've had success with include Java fern, Anubias and the
smaller Cryptocorynes. Swords all do very well- I suspect their demands
for calcium may be related to higher light levels. A.undulatus flowers,
but the leaf stems are rather long. The other Aponogeton I keep,
A.crispus does very well.
Of bunch plants I hate those that require replanting too often- If a
quick 'mow' doesn't keep them short and looking good I can't be
bothered. Macaya (grows a little too fast), Heteranthera ('bushes-up'
really nice) and Rotala macandra are my favorites. Alternanthera
reineckii grows, though not well. R. macandra 'should' require more
light, but I havn't found It a problem.

Glossostigma (rather surprisingly) does extreemly well. I weighted a few
branches down with small pebbles as the plant I purchased was growing
almost vertically. It took a few weeks to establish, but after that it
rages :). In three months It had carpeted the entire tank.

I can't say the aquarium texts have been a very good guide to plants I
can sucessfully grow so I'd be very interested to hear from aquarists
who keep other species under conditions similar to mine.
 
Cheers,
Toado.

---

References:

• Spawning of Cardinals
• From: sealaw at nela_org (Macon Cowles)

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