Etroplus canarensis adaptable or not?

[sidguppy]

question for the experienced keepers of the asians here:

are captive bred Etroplus canarensis fussy and fragile when it comes to waterparameters or no?

the issue here is that our water in Netherlands and northern Belgium is medium-hard (about 8-11 GH) and bit on the alcaline side (pH 7.5-8)


now I can find waterparameters on canarensis that state a pH of 6.8-7.5, so I think or guess that the use of some peat would fix the tapwater here just fine.

but the hardiness? how fussy are captive breds from this species?
they're available here now and haven't been at all or at least very rare in the years before.

it's a real beauty and the fact that it doesn't get as large as the brackish suratensis or the Paretroplus from Madagascar makes it a very nice fish that wouldn't need an enormous tank.....

can anyone shed some light on this?

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I keep mine in a blend of about 85-90% RO water and 10-15% tap water, based on a recommendation by the person who sold me my group. Mine are still too young to spawn and I didn't take a chance by testing how adaptable this species is. I find them to be excessive eaters but slow growers. I keep them in a tank with no plants (they'd eat them in a heart beat) but quite a bit of drift wood.

[beta]

They are not fussy about the water conditions. Mine bred in fairly hard water.
If you want to know about the biotope, you can refer to this article: http://indianaquariumhobbyist.com/commu ... tit&lid=32

[blackghost]

Mine were in pH7.5,KH 15, GH18 before I got them (at 1") and were doing fine.
They are now in pH7.4, KH 4, GH 11, were feeding on the first day, and are doing well.

[sidguppy]

update: I got 8 and they're doing very nice
they eat anything I feed and nibble on the plants, wich I don't mind cause that's what the plants are meant for; play hide and food.

they're in a tank with a group of baby Paretroplus nourissati and do great job of distracting the nouri's; enough to keep those from going nukular on each other

when I picked them up a lot of the canarensis had no ventral fins?
I choosed 8 wich had developed ventrals. most normal and a few with small ones

any idea wich caused this?
inbreds?
something wrong with water and/or food when they were still fishlarvae?

[viejo66]

As canarensis has only been bred a time or two in captivity, inbreeding is not going to be the cause of your pelvic fin problem. Most likely it is an environmental issue or perhaps it may even be a normal condition for the species.

[blackghost]

Could possibly be ammonia damage?
I got some posted recently and there was some slight ammonia burning to some fins (they were in alkaline water).
One that nearly didnt make it had no ventrals.

[sidguppy]

I have no idea, myself. i think it's something that happened at the breeder when they were tiny

all 8 are doing great btw; they munch on the foliage (plenty of that), they interact great with my small nourissati's and they're incredibly tame......

they remind me of 8 fat little "bees" with their banded pattern.

I'm being a bit conservative with the feeding, since it's aherbivore, sort of, so they're not getting the whole spectrum.
mostly OSI spirulina flake, some cyclops, some mysis, regular flake etc

I skip the mosquitolarvae, mollusk meat and artemia. my experiences with grazers and herbivores is that those are risky

my larger Mada's however eat anything, but I never kept a more piggish bunch of cichlids like those.
I think a large Paretroplus or ptychochromis definitely qualifies as a scaled trashcan

so fgar the plants in the tank with the canarensis grow a lot faster that the fish can eat them and unfortunately they skip on the filamentous algae. the L144's -in there for windowcleaning- are also a lazy bunch, probably all that spirulina-based food.
bastards