Thinking about cichlids in Ottawa, but what???

[Mike L]

It would be wise to purchase a complete test kit and water hardness kit so that tests can be run before and after water changes. It will give you a better idea of what is transpiring. I personally never do less then 50% or more but we all have our methods and reasons for the methods.
On a separate note. Don't be afraid to house tanganyikans in our water. Mine do fine in our city water. I do add a cichlid mix of Epsom salt, baking soda, and sea salt for trace minerals. I can make enough for a year for about 35 bucks. This does 5 tanks too

[Nene]

It would be wise to purchase a complete test kit and water hardness kit so that tests can be run before and after water changes. It will give you a better idea of what is transpiring. I personally never do less then 50% or more but we all have our methods and reasons for the methods.
On a separate note. Don't be afraid to house tanganyikans in our water. Mine do fine in our city water. I do add a cichlid mix of Epsom salt, baking soda, and sea salt for trace minerals. I can make enough for a year for about 35 bucks. This does 5 tanks too

Any good place where to get the Epsom salt and baking soda in bulk at a good price?
For now I'll be sticking with the west africans but I know I want to go back to keeping tangs in some time

I'll run more tests on the water pre and post EC and report back

[Nene]

PS thanks for the tips on water changes.
As I said I'm very new to soft water, epsecially low KH,  and I guess that those possible drops in ph you were mentioning might be what's going wrong here.
A ph dropping to 4 in 2-3 weeks is quite dramatic! Didn't think that just a bunch of small fish (my bioload is pretty low with just a few fish in a 40gal) and the nitrification process could bring it down so much in matter of a week (or a little more)

[Nene]

Eureka! After losing some fish and, being stubborn, buying a few new females for my loner male... This evening I just saw 8-10 fries swimming around the bottom of the tank guarded by daddy Teleogramma.
Yay! Feels good to be back breeding cichlids after I left my tanganyikans at home.

This is my first West African cichlid spawn and I'm happy I was able to figure out what didn't work the first time with them. Back in the business baby! Whoooo happy as a child

[Jody]

Wow, that is fantastic!
Keep an eye on the dates for your breeder points too.
When they get large enough to sell, I would be interested in some
Jody

[Nene]

A couple videos of the fries

Saturday when I first noticed them. Guarded by the male
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvE2crGlQ9E

And yesterday when they got out with the female looking for food (there seem to be ~15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9WrGB8Mzyw

They seem to become braver in exploring the tank in the evening when room lights are out. Despite I haven't feed them anything specific apart from what I give the adults, they seem to have their bellies quite full. Maybe I'll try to pull out a few of them to grow them out

[Nene]

Baby Teleogramma in the breeders net doing fine and growing. Also 3-4 still in with the parents in the main tank, also apparently doing fine!
Let's see if this continues when they decide to spawn again

[matttimms49]

that's awesome, glad the fry are doing well. Do you think they will be large enough to bring to the livestock auction?

[Jody]

Looking awesome Nene!
Teleogramma are great fish and it is always fantastic to have someone breeding them.

Jody