Re: [Killietalk] A. Bitaeniatum hatching; first foods (newbie questions)

[Charles Harrison <Charles at inkmkr_com>]

> > in to hatch. The 30 eggs are in a
> > plastic shoebox with about 1/2 an inch of water, and a gentle air
> > stone for water circulation. My water has a pH of 8.2 and is very
> > hard.
>
> That's pretty hard for a rainforest *Chromaphyosemion*. In the 
> future you may want to do a couple of 50% water changes with RO or 
> distilled water to get the general hardness down where the egg 
> chorion isn't made too tough for hatching. [The high pH isn't any 
> problem unless you get an ammonium buildup, which could be tough on 
> new babies as some of it converts to ammonia.]

HUH? what is hard water? 150 to 200 ppm Carbonate hardness works 
quite well for my young newly hatched Chrom. alpha, Aph. mimbom etc.

Wonder what the hardness is and TDS as well.

Doesn't make quite so much difference as long as the pH doesn't get 
too much higher. Bigger responsibility is to keep the water fresh. 
Remove more than half the water daily and replace it. When the fry 
hatch, just pour them through a brine shrimp net and refill their 
container with Chlorine free water and wash them back into the shoe 
box. The more often the better, but at least once a week and get into 
the habit of changing as much water as often as you can.
Newly hatched BBS is great food for them and Micro-worms another 
great first food live a long time in a shoe box you describe.

Back to the water changing . . .

Charles H. Harrison, Ph. D.

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