Under The Mangrove

[Iiriva]

It's gorgeous!

 

[nellynelly]

Lookks great Ian.....How is you buddy? Been a while

 

[ian]

Thank you both!

And is that THE nelly? If so, then yes mate I'm fine, you're still on my Facebook I notice. Good to see ya still into the water and gill stuff.

 

[ian]

A couple of new pics...

i'm really enjoying these rams in the tank. They are still leaving the shrimp alone. There are even baby shrimp in the tank that aren't being touched

here's the male, he's hanging in this area a lot, so here's hoping for babies.

mangrove2 by Ian Holdich, on Flickr

the femail isn't far behind him

mangrove1 by Ian Holdich, on Flickr

and heres a token pic of the microphyllum, this is a really nice delicate plant, one of my faves at the moment.

mangrove3 by Ian Holdich, on Flickr

Here's a shot in the living room

mangrove4 by Ian Holdich, on Flickr

 

[DrRob]

My fish keep eating my microphyllum, which then clogs up the filter inlets.

Looking good mate.

 

[greenmumma141]

the mini makes the pic What kind of rams are they, german blue? Ive been thinking about a pair of bolivians for my tank, my ph is too high for german blues

 

[ian]

Thanks rob! What you got in there to eat the microphylum?

Thank you greenmumma, they are electric blue rams. Bolivians are the hardiest out of them all. These are sensitive little things, they tend to like soft water with a low tds.

 

[greenmumma141]

Thank you greenmumma, they are electric blue rams. Bolivians are the hardiest out of them all. These are sensitive little things, they tend to like soft water with a low tds.

[sub]what does tds mean? [/sub]

 

[ian]

It's total dissolvable solids, more and more fishkeepers are now using this as a guide rather than ph, gh, kh. Harder water has a higher tds than soft water. So, ro water normally sits around 0-25 ish tds, and tap water can vary up and down the country. I have very hard water with a high ph, and my tds from the tap is about 450ppm. This is way to high for sensitive fish. The tds in the tank now is around 150-200 and the rams are fine with that.

You measure tds with a meter, this is mine



tds by Ian Holdich, on Flickr

You can pick em up for about £15 off eBay and they are well worth it.

 

[greenmumma141]

awesome, thank you very much.

 

[DrRob]

Right now I'm blaming the tetras or most probably the cories (mostly because I've seen them eating the stuff, they seem to like it).

 

[Lolly123]

Your tanks have a professional quality to them, like something you'd see in a magazine persuading people to go planted. Very beautiful indeed.

 

[Gidge]

First time I have ever seen Electric Blue Rams and I'm in love. Your tank is stunning, so jealous!