75 gallon, a single and a pair?

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what kind of caribsea sand is it? and what kind of rocks/ have you chrcked if the rocks are inert?
A lot of the caribsea sand is meant for marine or African cichlid setups, and contains crushed coral which would buffer your ph. it would also probably increase your water hardness however. you are right that driftwood can soften water, but that is a surprising difference from the tap, and also seems like your water softener is doing nothing. These are pretty puzzling results, I would run the tests again to be sure
 
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Gourami Swami said:
what kind of caribsea sand is it? and what kind of rocks/ have you chrcked if the rocks are inert?
A lot of the caribsea sand is meant for marine or African cichlid setups, and contains crushed coral which would buffer your ph. it would also probably increase your water hardness however. you are right that driftwood can soften water, but that is a surprising difference from the tap, and also seems like your water softener is doing nothing. These are pretty puzzling results, I would run the tests again to be sure
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I’m using caribsea super naturals sunset gold freshwater...says its ph neutral. So it shouldn’t be that. The rocks I have are the same I’ve used in the past, I remember testing them a couple years ago and found them to be inert. I’ll attach a picture of them. In the end I guess all that matters is the water coming from the tap I use for water changes and the tank water, I was just curious to see what the non softened water tested at. I just tested the tank water again....and got the same exact results for the 3rd straight time approximately 12 hours apart since yesterday morning. image.jpg
 
tonight’s tank water reading as follows-

(I am cycling btw)
Ammonia 4ppm
High PH 8-8.2
GH-8 drops
KH-8 drops

Staying pretty steady with the Tank water. The fall in hardness from tap must be the driftwood...my water is fairly yellow/brownish from the tannins. I assume that’ll slow down as the driftwood soaks more, and the GH/KH will bounce back? The rise in PH has to be from something, you think it’s best if I pull a couple rocks out and test them? I can’t imagine what else would cause the PH to go up.
 
Hey guys, sorry to bring up this thread again a month later...my tank has been running for a couple weeks now with a handful of green swords. I've begun thinking about when i want to get my hands on the Sajica, and so I've been researching more and more to prepare. Im starting to wonder if i really want to have a breeding pair. I DON'T want to keep/raise fry, but i really do enjoy watching the breeding/parental activity of Cichlids. What I'm worried about is if i had dithers or catfish in there that would eat the eggs or fry etc, the pair would get stressed out and turn on each other. Does that seem to be the case when that happens? I'm wondering if i shouldn't just get a single male sajica and get 1 or 2 other single cichlids to fill out my 75 gallon tank. What would you guys do and if you suggest avoiding spawning what else would you recommend stocking with a single Sajica?
 
Jexnell Jexnell Gourami Swami Gourami Swami

You guys helped me a lot a few weeks ago in this thread. What are your thoughts on my previous post above? Is a pair (sajica in my case) more likely to turn on each other if/when the eggs/fry are eaten? Or does it all come down to how strong a bond is formed? I’m not interested in raising the fry but I do enjoy watching breeding behavior. If it means the female is going to get tortured though, I’ll change up my plans and just get a single Sajica with something else.
 
Dwl0222 said:
Jexnell Jexnell Gourami Swami Gourami Swami

You guys helped me a lot a few weeks ago in this thread. What are your thoughts on my previous post above? Is a pair (sajica in my case) more likely to turn on each other if/when the eggs/fry are eaten? Or does it all come down to how strong a bond is formed? I’m not interested in raising the fry but I do enjoy watching breeding behavior. If it means the female is going to get tortured though, I’ll change up my plans and just get a single Sajica with something else.
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In my experience, the male is actually more likely to turn on the female when there are less distractions (tankmates). I find that with cryptoheros, keeping others of the same species (more sajica)with the pair, in a properly sized tank, strengthens the pair's bond. I have never had a male turn on his female in a community setting or with other cichlids in the tank, I have had a few kill their females when they were the only 2 cichlids in the tank however. I think that the fry being eaten would probably not significantly increase chances of male turning on female, unless perhaps they were eaten very quickly, and the male wanted to give it another go, and the female wasn't ready.

Anyway, only one way to find out is to give it a go
 
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Gourami Swami said:
In my experience, the male is actually more likely to turn on the female when there are less distractions (tankmates). I find that with cryptoheros, keeping others of the same species (more sajica)with the pair, in a properly sized tank, strengthens the pair's bond. I have never had a male turn on his female in a community setting or with other cichlids in the tank, I have had a few kill their females when they were the only 2 cichlids in the tank however. I think that the fry being eaten would probably not significantly increase chances of male turning on female, unless perhaps they were eaten very quickly, and the male wanted to give it another go, and the female wasn't ready.

Anyway, only one way to find out is to give it a go
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Oh well that makes me feel better then. So with 1 male and say 3 females, plus a nice group of dithers, I should be in pretty decent shape. With the extra females I’ll have to make sure I have plenty of hiding spots for them. I just picked up 60+ pounds of stone today that I’ll put to use. Is there a specific dither that would be especially successful picking off the fry? I’ve considered swordtails, giant danios, tetras, rainbowfish etc etc. It doesn’t have to be biotope, I just want something that is hardy and has a good chance at working. I was also considering a group of Cory Cats but if I’m going to have 4 total Sajica I don’t want to push my luck since it’s only a 75 gallon...maybe I’ll just do a small pleco instead.
 
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For me it was the Roseline sharks. One or two would draw off the parents while the others chowed. My three ate 14 or so HRP spawns. Got almost obese from it. Maybe get 6 so they don't get as fat as mine did.
 
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Something super fast like the danios or roselines would probably eat more fry. Though I would just get whatever dithers you like more, all of them will eat some fry, as will the parents after a while.
Personally I like wild type central American livebearers. If I were getting dithers for a new CA steup, I would try out selectaquatics.com
I have not ordered from them so cant give a review, but they have very cool )rare) species of goodeids, etc
 
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Jexnell said:
For me it was the Roseline sharks. One or two would draw off the parents while the others chowed. My three ate 14 or so HRP spawns. Got almost obese from it. Maybe get 6 so they don't get as fat as mine did.
Click to expand...
That’s one I haven’t put any thought into, I’ll have to do some research. I see it says they need well oxygenated water...does that require anything special? I’ve never done live plants which I’m sure would benefit them, I would like to try at some point. They get fairly large, so 6-8 would be a good number in a 75 with a male and 3 female sajica? I do really like them, if they’ll fit with my water parameters I’ll have to consider them.
Gourami Swami said:
Something super fast like the danios or roselines would probably eat more fry. Though I would just get whatever dithers you like more, all of them will eat some fry, as will the parents after a while.
Personally I like wild type central American livebearers. If I were getting dithers for a new CA steup, I would try out selectaquatics.com
I have not ordered from them so cant give a review, but they have very cool )rare) species of goodeids, etc
Click to expand...
I do have 6 Xiphophorus helleri right now. I added them the first day that my cycle showed sign of being complete. Although I must say, they haven’t really stuck out to me so far. They’re cool fish, but i think I’d prefer something a little quicker/more non stop moving. So they may be re homed in the event I go in a different direction. I have seen that website but I’ll have to check out the goodeids. As far as a bottom feeder, you guys prefer a small pleco or Cory cats or should I just stay away altogether and not add anything unnecessary to the bio load?
 
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