puncture wound in G. Altifrons head?

[evojoey]

Only reason I ask about his hardness was because it wreaked havoc on my geos, and the spot where he has a hole in the head seemed very soft and very defined. I softened my water and the spot seemed to go away.

 

[jworth]

I've never worried too much about my hardness or pH. I know the pH is about 7.6 or so. It never stopped discus and other SA cichlids from spawning like crazy, so I never worried much with it. I'm finding with notatus severums and Uaru that it's something to look into, though. I've seen them develop HITH while their tankmates are fine. This leads me to believe that it's strictly related to water parameters like pH and hardness... if it were stray current, hexamita, diet, or poor water quality (high nitrates + dissolved organics) then I should see it in my other severums, festivums, Geos, etc.

I need to pack up and move to GA where Peter's tap water is like fish heaven.

I was fairly certain other people were successful in keeping them in water similar to mine and I know what you mean, if my water was bad the other fish would show stress and my red ceibals wouldnt have huge spawns every 2 weeks.

Only reason I ask about his hardness was because it wreaked havoc on my geos, and the spot where he has a hole in the head seemed very soft and very defined. I softened my water and the spot seemed to go away.

The thing is that its only one geo out of 9

 

[jgentry]

I'm not questioning your water quality or tank maintenance. But red ceibals are very much the convicts of the south and will breed in most any water and water quality.

This could have happened just because you fed to much food one night, or you fed more one week. Or it could be just that one fish was weeker then the others. PH and hardness has a huge effect on HITH with amazon based cichlids and there are tons of examples to show this. You can probably keep most SA cichlids in your water without much trouble but you will have to keep your tanks spotless and water perfect or you will have these issues. I would not expect a lot of successful spawns though. Your best bet is to try to buy only tank bred fish and the more generations away from the wild the better. Even if you do keep it perfectly clean you can still have these issues from time to time on a fish or to. It's no different then taking an african cichlid and putting them in a PH of 6.5 Some can live and do fine but some are going to have issues.

 

[jworth]

I'm not questioning your water quality or tank maintenance. But red ceibals are very much the convicts of the south and will breed in most any water and water quality.

This could have happened just because you fed to much food one night, or you fed more one week. Or it could be just that one fish was weeker then the others. PH and hardness has a huge effect on HITH with amazon based cichlids and there are tons of examples to show this. You can probably keep most SA cichlids in your water without much trouble but you will have to keep your tanks spotless and water perfect or you will have these issues. I would not expect a lot of successful spawns though. Your best bet is to try to buy only tank bred fish and the more generations away from the wild the better. Even if you do keep it perfectly clean you can still have these issues from time to time on a fish or to. It's no different then taking an african cichlid and putting them in a PH of 6.5 Some can live and do fine but some are going to have issues.

Point taken. I did have the thought to sell my wild fish in exchange for tank bred fish. That was one of my first thoughts. Most of my fish are f1. I had been feeding maybe even too often and that may be part of it as well. Even though I keep the water quality good, maybe it is stressing thier bodies to be fed a fair amount 2-3 times a day. I started that when they were younger and now at 5" or so it occured to me that I should slow down. Funny you should bring up feeding too much. That will actually help me keep nitrates even closer to 0. Thank you for bringing that up. Im going to see what I can do to try to soften the water up a bit more with some extra driftwood etc and treat for parasites in case Hexamita may be an issue. If I cant get any of them to breed, I will probably make my 125 SA. Thanks for the input.

 

[jgentry]

Point taken. I did have the thought to sell my wild fish in exchange for tank bred fish. That was one of my first thoughts. Most of my fish are f1. I had been feeding maybe even too often and that may be part of it as well. Even though I keep the water quality good, maybe it is stressing thier bodies to be fed a fair amount 2-3 times a day. I started that when they were younger and now at 5" or so it occured to me that I should slow down. Funny you should bring up feeding too much. That will actually help me keep nitrates even closer to 0. Thank you for bringing that up. Im going to see what I can do to try to soften the water up a bit more with some extra driftwood etc and treat for parasites in case Hexamita may be an issue. If I cant get any of them to breed, I will probably make my 125 SA. Thanks for the input.

I think the feeding may be the issue then. I would slack off to once a day an maybe even not feed one day every week. Unless they are young fry you do not need to feed that much. Plus, like you said it will greatly help your water quality. I think you can keep those fish in your water with success it just takes a little more work. I have had some of the same issues. I had one fish develope HITH and the only thing I did different that week was feed frozen food 4 times that week instead of one. It can be very frustrating especially when you are working hard to do everything right.

Good luck