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Hard water, etc.

Posted By: Nomad <ccow@dclchem.com>
Date: Tuesday, 7 September 1999, at 10:34 a.m.

In Response To: Re: RO units and fish (Fishface_Jr)

Putting some crushed coral in your substrate or a filter bag is a great way to increase the hardness (and pH) of your water "naturally". Adding lots of shells, or aquascaping with limestone (from a landscaping place) also will help out a lot.

J. marlieri are one of the larger julidochromis, reportedly reaching 6", so should not be kept in a 20 G, IMO. If you do keep julies, make sure you've got lots of rocks in the tank... they're rock-huggers and tend to stick pretty close. Other fish that would work are some of the Tanganyikan shelldwellers (N. Multifasciatus is very neat, and claims the world's smallest cichlid prize at the moment... they breed inside large snail shells).

Kribensis are african cichlids, but they're actually west african, coming from some of the rivers rather than the rift lakes (east african). They prefer softer, more acidic water (though neutral is ok) than the Rift Lake Cichlids, though they are very adaptable. Be warned though, they can become quite aggressive when breeding, and the sex of the young seems to depend somewhat on pH of the water... a neutral pH is needed to get a decent sex selection.

Good luck!
 

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