CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

okay I've decided to just skip getting another 55 gallon 4 my O and get one of those nice 300 gallon plastic farm troughs for a tank instead of wasting money on getting glass for only 55 gallons of space.  So now I've got 2 know what a good tankmate would be for an O in this setup that would do well in my water, which the PH is in the high 8's.  I was think of severum but i looked them up and they like acidic water so they're out.  I'll have sufficient filtration and stuff, does anybody have any Ideas?  I would like something that I could get a pair of bcuz I have not yet had any cichlids of mine spawn and kinda want to experience it.

Is it a see-through plastic container? It would be pretty hard to enjoy and really appreciate Oscar's if it is not see-through. You could only see them from the top, correct? Am I even thinking of this right? haha.

If you add bogwood to a tank or treat it with peat, this will lower the pH.  Is it your tapwater which is pH 8 ?  Mine is but the water is so soft that it is not a true reading and it starts to fall as soon as I add the dechlorinator.  My tap water is as I say around 8, but my tanks all sit around 6.8 to 7.2 (apart from Malawis), with varying levels of bogwood in them.  My O resides in a 180g with a Blue Acara, 2 Firemouths, 2 plecs and a variety of Rainbows.  If your tank can be around neutral, I can't see why severum couldn't go with an O with that much room to manoevre.

softened as in with softener salt?  If so, thats what my water is treated with.  Hmmm, it might be like yours, once when I brought in my water when i was still cycling it was like 7.2 when it had been 8.8 about 2 weeks before when i had first filled it.  Does this sound familiar?  I have never added dechlorinator to my water, never needed it, never have my fish acted strangely to the introduction of fresh, untreated tap water.

Where do you live ?  I've not come across tapwater that has not been treated with either chlorine or chloramine (it is used to kill off bacteria in the water mains), we have to treat water with a dechlorinator (I use Aqua plus ) to prevent killing off the bacteria that provide our biological filtration (ammonia to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate).

As for softness, I'm talking about the amount of dissolved salts in the water (amongst a few other things), this can be tested by using a kH & gH test kit (most will also include a lengthier description than I have here), my tapwater is typically kH 1-2, gH 5-6.  At this level of softness it can be very difficult to maintain a constant pH so I run my external filters on my american cichlid tanks with coral chips in 1 of the baskets, this raises the kH &gH by 1 to 2 points and has provided me with a stable pH.

fort wayne, and it's our own well water, so unless someone like sneaks in in the dead of night and treats our water, it's not treated.  once i let some water set in the bucket for a while and after about a week of not being disturbed there was like an orange film on the bottom pf the bucket.  but again, i use this water fresh from the tap all the time and have had no problem, at least, no visible problems.

Ha Ha 

Yep, I can see now why you wouldn't use a dechlorinator.

Just a correction to altaaffe's post. Treated water, as mentioned, has chemicals added, to kill off bacterias etc harmfull to humans. The chemicals used, are unfortunately fatal to fish. So for the 90% of fish keepers who get there drinking water from a treated source, you must use a dechlorinator to the water, or run the risk of the fish being poisoned from chlorine. Also for the record I am on well water, not a treated municipal supply, its not as un common as it might seem.

Must admit, I was always of the opinion that the chlorine &chloramine added to supplied water was harmful mainly to bacteria used in the biological process.  Which then affects the fish by virtue of the fact that ammonia and nitrite levels can then rise. 

Also, Samantha, orange deposits ?  Do you reckon on some form of ferrous deposit ?

Probably both -- I would think -- untreated water harms the fish and the bacteria. Although the fish would be directly effected first, as opposed to being effected by the increase of ammonia and then nitrite a couple of days later. But the bottom line is, treat the water.

I have 4 Green Severums in the same water as my O's. my PH is 8+, and you can't get a better KH than mine, I am also using a water softener.  Oscars will get along with just about anything they can't eat, as long as they have enough room. I actually have an extremely rare pair of O's because they were living with fish that they could have made a meal out of.  They had been together for about 2 years,  my boys have given them feeder goldfish in the past which they did eat, but now they won't.

okay, update.  It took me a while but I got a dechlorinator.  It's called Aquasafe, by Tetra.  I tried to measure it out for ten gallons, like by drops.  I got about 70 drops for a teaspoon, which is enough to treat 10 gallons.  I divided it by ten so shouldn't 7 drops be enough for a gallon?  Should I use like 5 drops since I'm not sure?

I thought we already surmised that you didn't need a dechlorinator (well water) ?

Anyway, I don't know about the one you've got, but read all the instructions fully.  The one I use cannot be overdosed (although I should imagine a neat mix wouldn't go down too well with the fish !!), and it is in fact recommended as an additive to calm fish when adding them to a tank.

In general though, for those dechlorinating water, the dosage of a lot of these products is double if chloramine is present (chloramine is used in place of chlorine where the water is being pumped for greater distances)