RE: Peat

["Tranquility Base" <TranquilityBase at NetZero_Net>]

Hi Brian,


First of all I do agree with you, people should use whatever method works
for them, if indeed they are having success. And I never meant to imply that
peat did not work. There is no question that Nothos will spawn in it. Peat
is also a fine material to store eggs in.

That having been said, I use fine black sand.  I collect as many fertile
eggs as I could possibly want in a small dish of black sand and I do not run
the risk of reducing the pH or softening the water and therein lies the crux
of our disagreement.

Peat messes with your water chemistry. I mix my water to the exact
parameters that I like and I want it to stay that way as long as possible.

From my personal experience, when I started out with annuals, my earliest
failures were directly attributable to pH crashes. I tested my tanks and
found that tanks with boiled peat had a significantly higher rate of pH
decline than tanks without peat.  Once I eliminated the peat, raising Nothos
became much easier. There is an added benefit to sand. I know just how many
eggs I am getting and hatching. And as I use very little peat in my egg
storage container it is easy to examine the eggs during storage.

OK, I know that doing more water changes, boiling peat and treating it with
base compounds can help to minimize the impact on the water chemistry as
will larger fish tanks containing more water. Some people use small
containers of peat rather than cover the bottom to reduce the amount of peat
in the water. Others move the fish to short term breeding setups to keep the
peat out of the maintenance tanks. But all of this adds additional work.

When I help out newbies, they usually have no clue why their fish died. Some
have an excellent grasp on water chemistry, others are clueless, most fall
somewhere in between.  I have spent a great deal of time sorting out what
went wrong and more often than not, there was usually something introduced
into the equation that could not be quantified easily. Peat is such a
variable: Was it boiled, if so how long? How much was used? What were the
tap water parameters when it was added vs when the fish died? How was it
treated? How long was the peat left in? Was the peat chemically treated with
fertilizers or pesticides before purchase? Was the peat reused from a tank
containing sick fish without boiling?  Were there any eggs in the peat when
it was stored? More than half the time the reply is a blank stare and a
profound "I DONNO".

More often than not, when the newbie gets the peat out they start having
real success.  Coincidence? Maybe. But it makes it much easier to solve
water quality problems, if that is indeed the real problem, when I am not
shooting at a moving target.

Does peat work? Most certainly yes! It has been used forever and many people
will continue to use it. Would I use it for softening water in a water aging
tank, I suppose I would. I might even use it for other specific issues. But
it is not required as a spawning medium for Nothos and with the advent of
coconut fiber it is slowly losing favor among SA Annual breeders.  I foresee
a future in this hobby where the use of peat will be substantially reduced
within the fish tank itself.

Finally with regard to Jersey Green Sand, although I never used it, I do
recall that it lost favor because it also may have affected the water
chemistry.  Silica sand has no such drawback and also avoids the pitfalls of
peat.

Brian, I have the highest regard for your contribution to the Notho hobby.
Indeed I enjoy raising offspring from some of the fish that you have
collected.  We certainly advocate differing methods and have good reasons to
do so. We can each attest to our success. In fact there is empirical
evidence that both methods work. One very experienced hobbyist once told me
that the underlying cause for many disputes in the hobby is that there is
more than one good method to accomplish the same objective. I suspect that
is true here.  So back to my original point Happy New Year, to you and
anyone else that has taken the time to read this ramble.


Peace,

~RJ~


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-killietalk at aka_org [mailto:owner-killietalk at aka_org]On
Behalf Of Brian R. Watters
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2002 1:17 PM
To: killietalk at aka_org
Subject: RE: Peat


Erik Pfingstner wrote:

>
> what kind of soil are most nothos having in nature?
>

Fine, soft muds with a low organic content.

>
> what kind of soil are most SAAs having in nature?
>

I would assume much the same as for Notho habitats but I have no personal
experience with SAA habitats in the field so I really cannot say.


RJ wrote:

>
> I maintain that its popularity is fading with its usefulness. The primary
> reasons are:
>
> .............
> 14) Many people have used peat for years and will never ever change
> regardless if there is a better method. To those stubborn diehards.....
>

These so-called "die-hards" stick with peat for the obvious reason - it
works, and it does so better than any other medium. In saying that there are
better materials/methods you are perhaps assuming that these "die-hards"
have not also experimented with those "modern", better, media. I can assure
you that at least one of those "die-hards" has done so and rejected them as
being inferior to peat.

What are these "modern" methods to which you refer ?

Green sand ? This has been around for ages and hardly qualifies as a new
method. The fact that it has been known for so long and has never really
caught on should tell you something. And, as I mentioned before, once you
recover the eggs from the sand what do you then store them in for incubation
? Peat ?

Silica sand ? This has also been known for ages and has never become as
popular as peat.

Coconut "peat" ? Yes, this is a relatively new medium but it really does not
differ very much from peat moss in many of its properties but, as I
mentioned in my previous message, I feel it is inferior to peat in many
respects. At least that has been my experience. It actually will discolor
water as badly or worse than will normal peat. It can get contaminated with
uneaten food in the same way that peat can. Admittedly, it does not clog up
filters to the same extent. As I also mentioned in my previous message, I
think it is too coarse and granular and I definitely get a lower egg yield
with it compared to finer peat. I also feel that it does not provide the
best environment for incubation of the eggs. I have not checked the effect
of coconut "peat" on pH but it is organic so I suspect it would also tend to
lower the pH if the water was soft.

Many people refer to this material as "Coir" or "Coconut fiber". I don't
think these terms accurately describe this material. The term "coir"
strictly refers only to coconut fiber component and, while this material
does have a significant fiber content, the majority of it comprises the
granular material that, with the fibers, makes up the internal part of the
coconut husk. I have examined coconut husks on numerous occasions in East
Africa in order to determine exactly what this material is. It is not, for
example, a dominantly fibrous material as is the peat fiber that comes from
Europe.

I would suggest that the majority of Notho breeders, throughout the world,
who have consistently had success with a wide range of Nothos over a long
period of time are those who use peat in one form or another (I know many of
them personally, so I am familiar with their methods).

Yes, there are some successful breeders who use other media, but they are in
the minority. The bottom line is that hobbyists should use whatever method
works best for them.
___________________________________________
Brian R. Watters
University of Regina
Regina, Sask. S4S 0A2, Canada
Ph: (306) 584-9161 (home); (306) 585-4663 (work)
Fax: (306) 585-5433
E-mail: bwatters at sk_sympatico.ca


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