hardiness?
- Thread starter amv123
- Start date
bigspizz;3081557; said:
You need to work on your definition of hardy.
But I'm going to assume that last little bit was with sarcasm. Crenicichla are fighters, to the last straw. They have a will to live, and are able to put up with a lot of stupid mistakes from inexperienced fish keepers. There have been times I've lost an entire tank, but somehow my Crenicichla manage to survive it. Honestly they are one of the hardiest fish I've ever kept. They aren't push overs, and are rather disease resistant.
They are definitely a beginners fish, as they are very forgiving. The only down side to them is some get rather large, and can be fairly aggressive. Really in all actuality, they are no more aggressive than most of your SA/CA cichlids most people keep. So its really based on what you are used to keeping. If you mostly keep Geos. and Satanoperca, you're in for a little surprise. But if you keep Paratheraps, Amphilophus, Parachromis, and the other big guys, they are right up your alley.
Crenicichla aren't horribly picky about their water parameters either. As long as the water is stable, and clean, they are good to go. Its only when you are attempting to breed them that you really need to start paying attention to hardness and pH. Then you'll want to drop it below 7.0 pH and get it as soft as possible.
Regarding the HIH and LLE, yesh, some pikes do get it easier than others. Especially the black water species, suchs as the atabapos. They come from pristine, rediculously clean waters that are seldom replicated in the aquarium, so naturally they are going to pit. With a good cleaning regimine and optimal conditions though this can be stopped or just completely avoided.
One thing I've noticed, and several other people will agree with this, is that keeping them in harder water with a higher pH seems to help with keeping them from pitting. Maybe its the excess minerals and nutrients in the water? Not quite sure, but it really does work. They can still get it if you neglect them, but its much more difficult.
Hope that helps clear things up a bit!
VIVA LA CRENICICHLA!
Peanut_Power;3081922; said:You need to work on your definition of hardy.
Crenicichla are fighters, to the last straw. They have a will to live, and are able to put up with a lot of stupid mistakes from inexperienced fish keepers. There have been times I've lost an entire tank, but somehow my Crenicichla manage to survive it. Honestly they are one of the hardiest fish I've ever kept. They aren't push overs, and are rather disease resistant.
They are definitely a beginners fish, as they are very forgiving. The only down side to them is some get rather large, and can be fairly aggressive. Really in all actuality, they are no more aggressive than most of your SA/CA cichlids most people keep. So its really based on what you are used to keeping. If you mostly keep Geos. and Satanoperca, you're in for a little surprise. But if you keep Paratheraps, Amphilophus, Parachromis, and the other big guys, they are right up your alley.
Crenicichla aren't horribly picky about their water parameters either. As long as the water is stable, and clean, they are good to go. Its only when you are attempting to breed them that you really need to start paying attention to hardness and pH. Then you'll want to drop it below 7.0 pH and get it as soft as possible.
Regarding the HIH and LLE, yesh, some pikes do get it easier than others. Especially the black water species, suchs as the atabapos. They come from pristine, rediculously clean waters that are seldom replicated in the aquarium, so naturally they are going to pit. With a good cleaning regimine and optimal conditions though this can be stopped or just completely avoided.
One thing I've noticed, and several other people will agree with this, is that keeping them in harder water with a higher pH seems to help with keeping them from pitting. Maybe its the excess minerals and nutrients in the water? Not quite sure, but it really does work. They can still get it if you neglect them, but its much more difficult.
Hope that helps clear things up a bit!
VIVA LA CRENICICHLA!
To me, asking if a fish is hardy, is like asking if you can keep a fish without changing much water. I think that is where hith starts. hith is the beginning of the end. So I stand by what I said. I think hardy, and tough are not the same. To me, pikes are tough, not hardy, but what do I know?
PP.... thats interesting about the harder higher pH water. my lacustris i have now was in harder higher pH water. thats just how my tap water is and i had bought something to get the pH down and got it down to the lower 6's and about a month later he started getting some pitting. maybe i should bring the pH back up alittle bit.
also even if they arent the hardiest. they are definitely worth the extra few water changes because pikes are the best. i cant get enough of them.
also even if they arent the hardiest. they are definitely worth the extra few water changes because pikes are the best. i cant get enough of them.
I think that the pH only needs to be down for breeding - the eggs just won't develop with high ph and minerals in the water, from my experiences anyhow. I need to add RO to have any hatching success with any of the Creni's that I have worked with.
Ray
Ray
BigPic;3088886; said:
Indeed, there really is no point with even bothering to mess with it unless you are planning on trying to breed them. Then its quite neccessary to drop it as low as possible, and get it super soft. RO water plus peat works wonders.
I've known people to get their pH below 6.0 to get their pikes to breed. Crazy stuff.