TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
I was just reading an interesting paper on the Rio Negro and mechanisms of sodium uptake and regulation of 8 species, including neon tetra and angels. The point of the study was to see how different fish manage sodium issues in varying pH levels. What was concluded is the fish use different means for this and that some could do well even below a 4.0 pH while others did not.
One part of the study was to compare how the fish reacted to the natural water from the Rio negro and regional wells vs. deionized water reconstituted with the exact same minerals as the river/wells. The result was that the fish did better in the natrural water. What this study also showed was that, even with species that live in the exact same water, their tolerances and ability to adapt to various levels was not the same. However, they all seem to thrive in the same river. The researchers concluded this was likely due to the humic substance etc, that gave the water its stained color.
/home.sandiego.edu/~gmorse/pdfs/Gonzalez.pdf
The fish in this study are ones many of of actually keep: Corydoras julii, C. julii (2 mM NaCl), Pimelodes, Hemigrammus, Carnegiella strigata, Apistogramma A, Geophagus, Satanoperca jurupari, Paracheirodon innesi, Paracheirodon axelrodi, Gymnocorymbus ternetzic, Pterophyllum scalare
How much do any of us, as hobbyists, actually know about water parameters, about which fish can handle what and why? How many of us can even test our water to know?
I know those videos from their pre-English versions. I know them because I keep altums. I wanted to learn all I could before I got them. That included watching those vids. I can tell you it is not easy to replicate their natural environment when you receive them a matter of weeks after they have been removed from the wild. I can also say that failing to hit a number of key parameters and avoiding many others is essential and still no guarantee of success. But this tends to be true for any fish that comes out of waters with almost 0 conductivity/TDS and a pH well under 5.0. And despite all my studying and efforts, I have managed to lose way more of these fish than I have kept alive. Unfortunately, this is the norm for most who try.
But I do not believe in perfect conditions. These do not really exist. Fish are all adapted to live in a range because nature does not supply constant levels. So fish are adapted to live in the range that nature offers in the places where they live. Our goal as keepers is to keep the conditions for out fish within their range. In the range is perfect and out of the range, i.e at the extremes and beyond, is not within the "ideal range" and will be bad for the fish. That is it can weaken them, it can shorten their lives or even kill them.
One part of the study was to compare how the fish reacted to the natural water from the Rio negro and regional wells vs. deionized water reconstituted with the exact same minerals as the river/wells. The result was that the fish did better in the natrural water. What this study also showed was that, even with species that live in the exact same water, their tolerances and ability to adapt to various levels was not the same. However, they all seem to thrive in the same river. The researchers concluded this was likely due to the humic substance etc, that gave the water its stained color.
from Diverse strategies for ion regulation in fish collected from the ion‐poor, acidic Rio Negro http
/home.sandiego.edu/~gmorse/pdfs/Gonzalez.pdfThe fish in this study are ones many of of actually keep: Corydoras julii, C. julii (2 mM NaCl), Pimelodes, Hemigrammus, Carnegiella strigata, Apistogramma A, Geophagus, Satanoperca jurupari, Paracheirodon innesi, Paracheirodon axelrodi, Gymnocorymbus ternetzic, Pterophyllum scalare
How much do any of us, as hobbyists, actually know about water parameters, about which fish can handle what and why? How many of us can even test our water to know?
I know those videos from their pre-English versions. I know them because I keep altums. I wanted to learn all I could before I got them. That included watching those vids. I can tell you it is not easy to replicate their natural environment when you receive them a matter of weeks after they have been removed from the wild. I can also say that failing to hit a number of key parameters and avoiding many others is essential and still no guarantee of success. But this tends to be true for any fish that comes out of waters with almost 0 conductivity/TDS and a pH well under 5.0. And despite all my studying and efforts, I have managed to lose way more of these fish than I have kept alive. Unfortunately, this is the norm for most who try.
But I do not believe in perfect conditions. These do not really exist. Fish are all adapted to live in a range because nature does not supply constant levels. So fish are adapted to live in the range that nature offers in the places where they live. Our goal as keepers is to keep the conditions for out fish within their range. In the range is perfect and out of the range, i.e at the extremes and beyond, is not within the "ideal range" and will be bad for the fish. That is it can weaken them, it can shorten their lives or even kill them.
