Chocolate gourami world in a box...

[Christmasfish]

What can I do to raise acidity and lower ph naturally? Wood? I thought I saw wood mentioned on this subject somewhere...or is it ancient memory resurfacing?

The gourami are to live in a 10 gallon with some ghost shrimp and snails later. It will nicely planted without being a terrarium. All I hear in feedback is that they wilt like seahorses!

My PH settles at 7.5 in most tanks. It starts at near 7. It is only mildly acidic. The bettas adore it.
When my grandpa brought his from overseas he also brought a log, some sticks and a handfull plants from where his particular fish were caught. And they were hearty. Maybe a dif sub specie. I CANT DO THAT........! 8O
So I have to go for a alternative measure. I don't know how he filtered that tank (he had a lot of fancy in-wall setups) or if he did, but logs seem messy. But I want them content. All we need is one window spot for them to flounce through when feeling friendly. But what kind of wood? Not all wood is created equal......Would a bed of peat for the plants under a layer of gravel maybe work to that effect?

 

[Allivymar]

Driftwood, peat, CO2 will serve the purpose. Theres some info on it here: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-chem.html

Not sure why you want to change it tho.

 

[Christmasfish]

Thanks. I've been told that chocolate gourami need pretty soft and acidic water to be healthy. And that todays are even less hardy than earlier ones kept.I don't want to play Dr. Jekyll and fool around with chemicals. I just want to naturally bring it a wee bit closer to their best conditions.
My water is neutral and mildly acidic with a small amount of minerals. Close...but maybe no cigar. And I do want to plant it since they are such wee things, and peat makes a good plant bed. don't mind about water color or clarity a long as the parameters stay stable and the fishy keep doing their fishy ballet.

 

[Christmasfish]

Disaster averted. They were pale when I got home (got a seatbelt ticket like he could see through my tinted window the flash of my retracted buckle...liar. My seatbelt tractor is broken..the buckle hangs on to floor.) But they colored up nicley with a cloander rain of very warm water with the 30% change. They are back to the fish ballet. And getting used to the offered food here. They are cute. I like anabantids!

 

[Allivymar]

Urgh. Sorry bout the ticket (and the liar!).

I'm unfamiliar with the chocolate gouramis, although I know of chocolate cichlids (chocolate...yum!). Got any links for me that you like?

 

[Christmasfish]

gourami

I am reading my grandpas 40 year old dusty tome, some notes and my lfs is the one that said, "gotta warn ya"

I know they come from really black water and from a coastal area(not brakish but high dissolved minerals) and the like an acidic ph closer to 6 than 7. And that they are striking, like little brown angelfish. And they are gourami. ^_^

The Labyrinth society may have something. My daughter's betta supplier suggested it today. There are a few skimpy we sell it here blurbs online. but the are not helpful. They also like water at around 84. Hence my panic the other day. The heater with my son's tank kit failed. I went our to buy a heater firt thing and it was almost 60 when I got home. They were huddled on the plant under the light area. Nearly up out of the water. Poor wee things. And no pattern or color visible at all. Thought fer sure they were goners. I'll look through my history and find the pictures at least..heh

 

[Christmasfish]

http://www.fishtanksandponds.com/cruelty_through_ignorance.htm
picture

http://faq.thekrib.com/fish-popular.html
a dont even think about it....

:?
And that is all I found this week....
And tonight I cruise here: http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/
it is UK and not here and is betta oriented. all anabantid societies are too.
This was the best I could find..
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=11235&genusname=Sphaerichthys&speciesname=osphromenoides.html

guess it is the 40 year old notes after all... :?

 

[Allivymar]

What cute lil buggers! Oh wow, and their mouth brooders? Now thats unusual in gouramis...if they breed I want pics!

LOL most of the links are...erm...not very helpful? The labryrinth society LOL its about mazes! If I have time later I'll also do some searching for ya; just wondered if you had stuff yet cause I'm interested.

Theres a teeny bit of info here, but no pic: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/anabantoids.htm

 

[Christmasfish]

search

After hours of searching, I found nothing new! I even let my internet friendly kid search. Nada ting!


I realy am going to be stuck with my grandfathers breeding methods that he jotted down in the figin early 70s! He did have a bunch from his original 6. So I hope it all works. It means going really dutch on the tank and planting the heck out of it. and many massive water changes *sigh* they are sooo cute.
His notes are that t e female broods for a couple weeks then they spit the larger fry into a bubble nest the male keeps handy. There is one site that mentioned that, a scientific study. They had different fry schedule and less luck. Gramps had it going on for S.american cichlids and every anabantid he could get his hands on. Then the marine menagerie and the goldies (bleh).

Even if they don't breed, they are a darling cute group.

 

[Allivymar]

You prob have read all these, but I'll post em anyway LOL

http://ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=11235&genusname=Sphaerichthys&speciesname=osphromenoides

http://cil.france.free.fr/osphromenoides.htm#anchor1

http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Labyrinthfish/Sphaerichthys/Sphaerichthys_osphromenoides.htm

http://www.wetpetz.com/chocgourami.html

Obviously I vouch for none of em (cept fishbase) as I am totally unfamiliar with the species. Hope they help!

 

[Christmasfish]

Yeah I cruised quite a few french and german sites. I read french better, but they were all club member level advice (better than none). Some were pretty good, but don't go into the detail my grandpas note do (daily readings, habit observations, size measurements)
The german sites have a lot of studies and scientific data, but some words are specialized and stump me. I only know it very smattering of german.
So far so good. For optimum growth they need a more blackwater setting for sure. I wish I had paid more attention as a kid!