[Killietalk] Plants, nitrates & shyness was ; Less KT, more breeding

["Ken" <ken_combs at sbcglobal.net>]

Just got home from the plant and 1st thing I'm thinking about is what I need
to do in that fishroom immediately...The last post got me to thinking about
our entire never ending quest for more fish and less time in the fish
room....

Longish post and a departure from the norm...but I figure the very ones that
usually delete my/every long post probably figure they know it all anyway
(or It can't enrich their knowledge anyhow)

1stly, I am currently re-learning the effects on water quality and fish
shyness/nervousness

2ndly; hand in hand with that is: lighting levels, cover, plants and nitrate
reduction

In short: I'm just about sold on "natural systems" & plants in general...and
actively growing plants just don't mitigate shyness/nervousness via "cover",
but also in tandem greatly reduce nitrates/improve water quality and I'm
thinking that side effect is altering the fishes behavior...

How many tanks have you seen with healthy "Activley" growing plants and sick
fish?

...and the "payoff" does not exactly translate into more fish, but the side
benefits appear to be almost gaudy colors in some fish, reduced female
"pinching" (from stress related male driving, secondary disease, et) and
most importantly, reduced time managing aquarium water quality

I know the skeptic/old timers are thinking "ditch fish", I change my water
2X mo and the fish are fine, blah blah blah...but I'm personally witnessing
(in some species profound) change in behavior as I crank up the lights,
ferts and plant cover and pay close attention to water quality...basically
I'm shooting for zero nitrates, pristine water and I can noticeably observe
a positive change in my fish (sounds obvious, but I'm stressing "pristine"
not just "good/acceptable")

I'm not saying simply jam in the hornwort under high lighting and all will
be well...I've informally experimented enough to observe certain "classes"
of killies require different arrangements of "cover" to feel comfortable.
..and it's still a learning process for me; especially with the variable
aphyosemions

Well I won't continue this "dissertation" anymore than the interest it
generates...but in my fishroom, gone are most (not all) of the slow air
driven sponge filters and the "classic" low light java moss crammed tanks...
in their place are high flow (vertical) inlets, dbl 40W T-8s and fast
growing nitrate reducing plants and a simple fert/H2O change routine...

...and no, fish aren't exactly flying outta my fishroom, but the quality of
the fish has improved and the time spent managing other issues has been
reduced....

I'll do a 2nd post w/ data & specifics in case someone is interested

KC

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