Re: [Killietalk] Aphyosemion Coeleste

["M. Frauley and G. Elson" <fraulels at videotron_ca>]

Henry,
It may be a simple matter of time. I can see how you'd want to reproduce
your coeleste quickly, given how hard they can be to find and how
beautiful they are. However, they may not be on the same page yet. With
a lot of young killies, I expect a few weeks of white eggs when they
start up, before the male becomes fully fertile. I have some ogoense
80/23 that gave me white eggs for two months, then suddenly switched to
excellent fertility. That can happen at both ends of the life cycle for
these fishes.

I am lucky in that my rainwater tests neutral, and has given me no
problems over the past 8 years of using it, even though I live in a
major city within sight of the highrises and office towers. My city
(Montreal) doesn't have a major smog problem, and I'm far enough from
highways or heavy industry. That being said, when I started with my
rainwater, I didn't try it on things like coeleste, or delicate dwarf
cichlids. 

Unless you have steady rainfall, or great resources for holding rain, it
isn't ideal. A drought (or in my case, a long cold snowy winter) means
instability in your water supply, and that can be bad for your killies.
I can store about 80 gallons, and use it judiciously. A Reverse Osmosis
system would be better, although it demands more resources and space.

Or, you can be patient and see if, in a few weeks, you start getting
good eggs with the water you have.

Gary

Little Dude wrote:
> 
> Hey,
> How can I tell what type of Coeleste I have?  When I got them, they were
> just labeled Aphyosemion Coeleste.  I got them at the last SFBAKA meeting.
> I use water from tap with a PH of ~7.6 but with the peat moss the PH lowers
> and when I recently checked, it was around 6.8.
> I was wondering about the rainwater that you keep your fishes in.  Is it
> better to have them in rainwater?
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