My little experiment with tannins

[Gillie]

My wife is madly in love you could say, with Longfin Rams and for the longest time I just couldn't get them to survive for a significant amount of time. So I was thinking about how sensitive some Rams can be. Then I got to thinking about an article I had read a while back about tannins and and the illness preventing properties it has. So I started a 29 gal low light and used only a thin layer of gravel, oak leaves and driftwood that I boiled for about five minutes. I then set up a quarantine tank just for the Rams, and treated them with organic meds only and during the quarantine period I would add a little bit of water from the home tank every other day to acclimate the fish to their new enviroment. This so far has done very well for me, no deaths so far after about five months. My wife and her longfins seem to be very happy. I hope this didn't sound too much like I was rambling, it's just an observation that will hopefully help someone else that has trouble with these guys.

 

[Sicklid]

As I mentioned in my other post where you asked me about apistos I've considered, I was never able to keep my GBR's and gold rams alive for more than five months exactly... I attributed it to the high TDS count in the Florida water. I tried R/O water but my transition period was too rapid I think, after hearing about yours... How long did you do this for?

I always wanted to do a dark water-leaf litter tank, maybe I will do that in my 12 gallon since it has not cycled and has nothing in it yet...

 

[Jchillin]

I'm not sure if you've ever seen This nice German Blue Ram Profile here at AA . I have found that even though GBR's are "sensitive", if you have the offspring of bad stock, it doesn't matter what you do for them; they are simply hanging on by a thread.

The solution is to search high and low for some good stock, preferably from an accomplished breeder who has a few F1 types. Fish farms, even if not in the Far East, probably have tons of poor genetic material.

I recently received two wild strain GBR babies from a known breeder. They are doing fine in what I will admit is "less than pristine" conditions.

 

[Sicklid]

I had a really nice pair, but I lost them when hurricane Wilma knocked out my power for 11 days in October 2005. The male got HTIH, but the female did okay for a while. All of a sudden, she could not ingest food... It was really strange, she would go after it, but it was almost like she could not "suck it in" to her mouth. I was pretty upset, so much so I said I wouldn't try them again until I could put them in their own heavily planted, smallish system. Gillies setup sounds pretty nice.

 

[Gillie]

I was kinda trying to aim the topic at the more extreme line breeds like the longfin and balloon varieties that tend to taper of as far as hardiness goes. I have really never had any real problems with either the German or wild Rams.

Sicklid I acclimated the fish to the intended water over a few weeks.

 

[Sicklid]

Yeah, sorry to go off the topic, I know what you meant! I really would love to just be able to FIND some exotics, period... I have seen some Cockatoos, but that is about it locally... even they only show up once in a blue moon.

 

[Gillie]

It's no problem, my comment really wasn't directed toward anyone specific. I know what you mean, when I lived down there all I ever really came across were your run of the mill Africans at a pretty hefty price and sometimes a Ram or two. Although I never got to contact the guys at Southern Apistos I believe they are in St. Pete.