Lisa
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Adams
To: 'r_m_l at yahoogroups.com'
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 5:03 PM
Subject: RE: [RML] Re: Rainbow Size Frustration -- Melanotaenia praecox
Gary...just curious how big your boesmani were at 9 years (or anyone else
out there...how big did your older boesmani get?) I have three males pushing
9 right now and they're all about 3", maybe 3.25" and I've always felt they
were smaller than "normal," without really knowing what that is. They spent
about half their life in a 220gal but now they're in a 75gal, where they've
been for about 4 years so I don't think they've been cramped. I have seen
some others much larger but they didn't have half the color this group does.
Now, having written this, I'm sure I've jinxed them to certain death before
2006.
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From: Gary Lange [rainbowfish4u2 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 4:49 PM
To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [RML] Re: Rainbow Size Frustration -- Melanotaenia praecox
too many questions :-) Ionic - doesn't just mean salt. You had a pretty
good answer from the fellow that you quoted to the list from the forum. It
means Ca, Mg, salt, as in Na Cl iron, sulfate carbonates and the whole list.
All of those add up. When we tested (GH and KH only) many of the streams in
IJ appeared to be made up of distilled water. Forgot my ion gauge, but I"m
guessing that there weren't many dissolved solids either. IF you tried
keeping your tank like that, the pH would drop, your fish would be stressed
and then you would have diseases. Buy a Tetra test kit. If your water isn't
higher than 400-450 ppm GH leave it alone, just change it like you've been
doing. Adding salt to the water isn't very helpful and it may kill the
plants. Bows like to have plants in their tank so that wouldn't be good.
Rainbowfish WILL take a lot of salt though and really not show any ill effects
for it. I don't remember what I did with my praecox x australis cross pics.
I don't think they've got the striped version of praecox in Oz either so don't
sweat it. Also the list doesn't seemed to have reported as many of the
crosses in Oz as we see in the US. Don't know if that's because they're
asleep at the wheel :-) or they just don't let the crosses from the far east
into the country! Luke, trust your instincts, feel the force, rainbows are
easy :-) You should however, make sure you have a lid on them, especially if
you want them to live a long time. BTW I had a boesemani go for something
like 9 years and I had a herbie go about the same length of time. I think
Julie said her bossy boes went something like 10+ years. Mine was breeding up
to the week I went away on vacation too so they are still productive even at
an older age. I also wouldn't worry about 4 praecox in a 10 gallon tank.
Otherwise it would be a pretty sparse tank. You can do a lot to a
rainbowfish, it will tolerate a lot of conditions without dropping dead. Note
the basic to acidic water messages though. They are spot on. BTW my favorite
method for adding a new fish from unknown water parameters (ie the petshop or
an auction where people from all over sell fish). 1) put the fish in
quarantine tank, not your main tank. 2) Start with the fish in a bucket/bowl
(with lid to prevent jumping). Use airline tubing tied off to a slow drip. I
like to double the initial water volume in about an hour. Then net the fish
out and put in the tank. Toss out any water in the bucket and top off
aquarium with fresh water. Don't use any of the water that the fish was
carried home in as if there were any paracites, you're just adding them to
your tank.
cheers,
gary lange
rtright <eileen at spamcop.net> wrote:
http://mail.yahoo.com
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