Got my pikes!

[inth3shadows]

Got them on friday night, and i still have not been able to get a good picture of them because they are always moving around my tank.

I got one that isn't so bad though.

I am going to apologize for the really dirty glass.
I also got one pic of their tank in the lfs.

This is the tank a little while after i got them home.

this is it after i boiled more oak leaves and put all of those in the tank.

last but not least, this is the oak leaf extract (after i boiled the leaves, i am keeping the water for water changes , esp when they mature)

as you can tell from the pics I got crenicichla regani about 1 1/2 to 2 in long and not showing maturity yet. Got 4 of them, and i expect to have to move some over time.

 

[crowconor]

nice thats cool but whats with the boiled water from oak leaves ive never seen that

 

[Griff1327]

nice pick up

 

[inth3shadows]

boiled oak leaf water you can basically use as blackwater extract. and boiled oak leaf water has a ph that is generally accepted to be about 4.5

 

[turtle_slayer]

Nice look the green plants make for a very nice contrast.
What is your waters Ph with and without the oak leaf extract?
Since Ph tests use water color to determine what the Ph is be careful the tint from the leaves doesn't affect your results.
I usually run mine around 6.8

 

[inth3shadows]

its about 7.4 ph before , and with somewhere between 6.6 and 7.0 . can't really be sure without a ph probe because like you said ph is based off color.

 

[killerfish]

Nice tank the pikes should be very happy in there

I wouldn't go much lower then 5 for a PH they have been found in water that was around 4 but they do best when its in the high 5s or low 6s