Red Head Tapajos Geo help

[cmsbthebest]

Hey everyone,

So this week I am going to try and order 5 Red Head Tapajos Geos! I have a couple questions first though

My water is moderately hard-hard with a pH of 8.1-8.2, I don't know the exact Gh and Kh but I have a test kit coming in the next day or so to give me an exact number. I've read these guys actually adapt pretty well to hard water (especially tank raised ones), but I still want to work on possibly making my water softer and lowering the pH. I will be adding peat moss to the filter on the 10 gallon quarantine tank for them to try and soften the water to make their transition easier.

Should I go about trying to adjust the 55 gallon they will eventually being going into after quarantine to softer water,

or should I try and slowly adjust the 10 gallon quarantine to harder water by removing the peat moss over time?

Or should I just straight up use my hard water in the 10 quarantine without adding any peat moss?

I've got a nice school of Cardinals in my planted 75, so I know fish who are used to softer water can adapt to mine.

Thanks!

 

[dalto]

First, make sure wherever you are getting them from actually raised them in soft water. They are often raised in hard water.

Second, before you play with peat moss or anything else to your water you need to test your kh. If your kh is very high, which it may be given your ph, no amount of peat moss is going to anything. Even if it did, it would raise back up during every water change.

Frankly, I think the importance of ph is completely overrated. Unless you are breeding ph sensitive fish it just doesn't make all that much difference.

If the place you are getting the fish from is keeping them in very soft water I might consider mixing your tap water with some RO or other low TDS water in your qt tank initially and then let normal water changes bring it back up over time.

Most 'Red Head Tapajos' have been tank raised for generations and are not going to be problematic. You just want to avoid a drastic change in TDS causing osmotic shock.

 

[tlindsey]

Hey everyone,

So this week I am going to try and order 5 Red Head Tapajos Geos! I have a couple questions first though

My water is moderately hard-hard with a pH of 8.1-8.2, I don't know the exact Gh and Kh but I have a test kit coming in the next day or so to give me an exact number. I've read these guys actually adapt pretty well to hard water (especially tank raised ones), but I still want to work on possibly making my water softer and lowering the pH. I will be adding peat moss to the filter on the 10 gallon quarantine tank for them to try and soften the water to make their transition easier.

Should I go about trying to adjust the 55 gallon they will eventually being going into after quarantine to softer water,

or should I try and slowly adjust the 10 gallon quarantine to harder water by removing the peat moss over time?

Or should I just straight up use my hard water in the 10 quarantine without adding any peat moss?

I've got a nice school of Cardinals in my planted 75, so I know fish who are used to softer water can adapt to mine.

Thanks!

I personally would just use the hard water and allow them to adjust.

 

[cmsbthebest]

First, make sure wherever you are getting them from actually raised them in soft water. They are often raised in hard water.

Second, before you play with peat moss or anything else to your water you need to test your kh. If your kh is very high, which it may be given your ph, no amount of peat moss is going to anything. Even if it did, it would raise back up during every water change.

Frankly, I think the importance of ph is completely overrated. Unless you are breeding ph sensitive fish it just doesn't make all that much difference.

If the place you are getting the fish from is keeping them in very soft water I might consider mixing your tap water with some RO or other low TDS water in your qt tank initially and then let normal water changes bring it back up over time.

Most 'Red Head Tapajos' have been tank raised for generations and are not going to be problematic. You just want to avoid a drastic change in TDS causing osmotic shock.

Thanks, I'm aware that peat moss won't do anything if my kh is high, I guess I'm just hopeful that the test will show that it won't be lol. The peat moss is gonna show up before the testing kit, so I'm gonna run it for a day on the quarantine and see if it does change anything. If it doesn't I'll just scrap it and run the tank with my normal water that all my other fish seem to be doing fine in.

They would be coming from the wetspot, and when I talked to them over the phone, I was told that they run a pH around 7 and that their water is fairly soft. But they also said they have no record of anyone having issues with adjusting these fish after shipping.

I guess I am just a bit paranoid because the last time I ordered fish, I bought 25 Cardinal tetra that all died, and I wanna be very careful with these guys.

 

[cmsbthebest]

I personally would just use the hard water and allow them to adjust.

Even if I know they are coming from soft water?

 

[tlindsey]

Even if I know they are coming from soft water?

If they are coming from the WetSpot and they insured you they would be ok adjusting I personally believe them because of their reputation and positive feedback from members who have done business with them. The other day someone had the same concern about their water being hard and most advised to not fiddle with the PH because it could do more harm than good.

 

[cmsbthebest]

If they are coming from the WetSpot and they insured you they would be ok adjusting I personally believe them because of their reputation and positive feedback from members who have done business with them. The other day someone had the same concern about their water being hard and most advised to not fiddle with the PH because it could do more harm than good.

Idk if I would call it assuring that they would be fine adjusting, they just said they have no records of anyone else having issues with them.

I went through the whole should I or should I not thing already with my planted 75, and decided not to mess with the pH. I have just been worried because of what happened the last time I ordered fish.

I guess if I properly acclimate them, they should be alright since I imagine they are hardier than Cardinal Tetra, plus they won't be coming from the other side of the country like the Cardinals were.

Thanks

 

[neutrino]

Just some info and experience, not telling you what to do:
If there's a big enough difference I prefer to acclimate. I do this in a separate bucket, not in the bag they came in. Raising ph in the bag they came in isn't a great idea when it's been more than a couple of hours-- ammonia comes in two forms, one (ammonium) is less toxic, the lower the pH (and temperature) the less of the total is in the more toxic form-- in other words, raising pH makes ammonia more toxic. You can get more technical about it, but that's the basics.

If the difference from the water they came from and my water isn't that big and the fish are @ two inches or bigger, aren't a super sensitive species, etc. I simply float the bags to equalize temperature then net or scoop the fish into the tank-- that's most fish, with fry or very sensitive species I take more time and acclimate them.

As for red heads and pH/hardness, they're fairly tolerant ime-- within reason, any fish has limits. I normally keep them in the mid 7s and moderate hardness (both hardness types @ 12-14). Once had pH in a tank go haywire (high) for a few weeks, not sure what happened, my other tanks were all normal... in any case, my point is I had guianacara in the same tank, lost a couple of them (which is what made me investigate and discover the high ph) but the red heads didn't bat an eye at the same pH that was overstressing the guianacara.

What red heads are sensitive to ime is low 02, based on experience with them during the derecho a few years ago.

 

[RD.]

I agree with neutrino, IME this species does well in harder water, with higher pH values. (8.0+) I would not attempt to adjust your tank water.

If the difference from the water they came from and my water isn't that big and/or the fish have enough size, aren't a super sensitive species, etc. I simply float the bags to equalize temperature then net or scoop the fish into the tank-- most fish, with fry or very sensitive species I take more time and acclimate them.

Agreed, although I generally don't even float the bags. I get them out of the toxic soup shipping bag as fast as possible, and straight into my tank. The only thing I do extra is add a bit of salt to my tank water to offset any osmotic stress created from the ordeal of being netted, transported, netted (again) and placed into a new environment. http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/salttrans.htm

 

[cmsbthebest]

If they are coming from the WetSpot and they insured you they would be ok adjusting I personally believe them because of their reputation and positive feedback from members who have done business with them. The other day someone had the same concern about their water being hard and most advised to not fiddle with the PH because it could do more harm than good.

Just some info and experience, not telling you what to do:
If there's a big enough difference I prefer to acclimate. I do this in a separate bucket, not in the bag they came in. Raising ph in the bag they came in isn't a great idea when it's been more than a couple of hours-- ammonia comes in two forms, one (ammonium) is less toxic, the lower the pH (and temperature) the less of the total is in the more toxic form-- in other words, raising pH makes ammonia more toxic. You can get more technical about it, but that's the basics.

If the difference from the water they came from and my water isn't that big and the fish are @ two inches or bigger, aren't a super sensitive species, etc. I simply float the bags to equalize temperature then net or scoop the fish into the tank-- that's most fish, with fry or very sensitive species I take more time and acclimate them.

As for red heads and pH/hardness, they're fairly tolerant ime-- within reason, any fish has limits. I normally keep them in the mid 7s and moderate hardness (both hardness types @ 12-14). Once had pH in a tank go haywire (high) for a few weeks, not sure what happened, my other tanks were all normal... in any case, my point is I had guianacara in the same tank, lost a couple of them (which is what made me investigate and discover the high ph) but the red heads didn't bat an eye at the same pH that was overstressing the guianacara.

What red heads are sensitive to ime is low 02, based on experience with them during the derecho a few years ago.

I agree with neutrino, IME this species does well in harder water, with higher pH values. (8.0+) I would not attempt to adjust your tank water.



Agreed, although I generally don't even float the bags. I get them out of the toxic soup shipping bag as fast as possible, and straight into my tank. The only thing I do extra is add a bit of salt to my tank water to offset any osmotic stress created from the ordeal of being netted, transported, netted (again) and placed into a new environment. http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/salttrans.htm

Thanks for all your advice guys, Do you guys think it would be a bad idea to actually put the Geo's in my planted 75 gallon community instead of a 10 gallon quarantine tank?

The 75 is obviously established and running well, and much more stable, whereas the 10 gallon quarantine needs to have the filter reseeded and is more vulnerable to different issues.

I'd just put them in the 55, but it is currently going through Ich treatment right now.