Synodontis Eupterus upper pH range?

[FeatherFinMama]

PS To jodilynn... using racoll's guidance in the earlier post, I just looked up some links on the Meta river that would seem to be good news for you. It is a seasonal river and gets quite low in places in the dry season... also a very long river (500mi) with lots of adjoining rivers and empties into a large 36k mi basin. All this would make it seem like a habitat that lends itself to more adaptable fish. (right racoll?) I would of course look further before coming to conclusions, but it looks promising, no? Badman's might be right...

EDIT: Racoll and I were posting at the same time! So didn't see his just-previous post when I wrote this. But he makes good points as usual!

[jodilynn]

Hi All!

First off, thank you Eric for your kind, encouraging post, it did help me feel better (love the part about "having too much money and not knowing what to do with it" lol...and no that's not the case, I don't have enough money to do this; my poor husband! ), and FFM thank you for all the research you have done, and Racoll to always being so knowledgeable and so willing to help. EVERYONE HERE ROCKS!!!!!!!!

Well, I did some poking around, I had a feeling that my Corys were NOT Olgas, and after a considerable amount of time here on PC, I found my cats are actually

Corydoras stenocephalus

, the C017, Huangana Cory.

Unfortunately, I cannot find the smallest one anywhere, the tank is very deep and heavily planted, I am hoping it's just laying low, but I have a feeling I lost her . The larger two are doing well, fins up, eating like horses, the third is doing alright. I am just so upset about the forth one. She was the littlest and her markings were a bit different, so she was unique amongst the four. We had named her "Gracie" .

Racoll, the tank does have gravel, but as I mentioned it is heavily planted, with a large center plant that extends over the surface of the water, and there are 3 large caves and a piece of driftwood in the tank. It has an LED strip for a light, but it's a cube and it's actually quite dim towards the bottom. I can't seem to locate a backing tall enough for the darn tank!

I definitely feel the oak leaves in the tank have helped (but my son is like, mom, that is so gross looking, oh well!), and I did add the "city water" when I did the weekly water change but I think the Ph is still high (it's looking like high 7s right now). More city water in the bucket next week (I use my old Tidy Cats plastic buckets for my water changes, *free* and repurposed!). This may just be a tank I have to pay more attention to regarding the water. My angels will be moved in there soon, my Green Dragon Ancistrus and my

Synodontis nigriventris

will be moved in as well. I would like to add some

Brochis splendens

or one of the other Brochis species. I'd really like to get some Hockey Stick tetras as my kids play hockey lol. My son talked me into a SA Bumblebee Cat,

Microglanis iheringi

who is temporarily in an empty tank being watched for cooties! Super cool little catfish! I have to say the kid at Petsmart was really good, very knowledgeable about the species (for once, for example I went to Petco and wanted to buy a platy, and the kid waiting on me was like "uh...what's a Platy"...REALLY!?!?). I was really unsure about getting the fish, but the guy was spot on about it's behavior, needs, everything! And the best news of all, my beloved Midnight Cats are looking better and eating again. So it looks like over the course of the next several weeks the tank will have more occupants, I will keep up with the good food and water changes, monitor the water, and keep my fingers crossed!

ANYWAY! I am feeling a bit hopeful and inspired again. The sun always comes out after the rain I guess.

[FeatherFinMama]

Hey jodilynn... sorry to hear Gracie is missing and hope she shows up!

It might be worth mentioning that (from what I have read over the years anyway) Cory catfish need a shoal/school of 6 minimum to be secure and happy.... but there are many species and maybe yours are different. If not that might play into factors that lay outside the water parameters too. But great to hear you are making progress, and best of luck!

[racoll]

it is heavily planted, with a large center plant that extends over the surface of the water, and there are 3 large caves and a piece of driftwood in the tank. It has an LED strip for a light, but it's a cube and it's actually quite dim towards the bottom.

That's good.

Corydoras

are not fond of bright lights.

, but as I mentioned i I can't seem to locate a backing tall enough for the darn tank!

Just improvise. Anything black/dark that you can fix to the back of the tank is fine. This is one of the biggest single improvements you can make to a tank.

the tank does have gravel

Corydoras

will never thrive in a tank with gravel, unfortunately (although not all gravel is the same of course). Soft sand will allow them to exhibit their natural foraging behaviour.

[jodilynn]

Hey jodilynn... sorry to hear Gracie is missing and hope she shows up!

It might be worth mentioning that (from what I have read over the years anyway) Cory catfish need a shoal/school of 6 minimum to be secure and happy.... but there are many species and maybe yours are different. If not that might play into factors that lay outside the water parameters too. But great to hear you are making progress, and best of luck!

Sadly, I did start with all 5 the store had...that is why I am going to get a "herd" of Brochis in the tank, I know they are not the same species but I am hoping the Brochis will help relax the Corys (two of whom actually seem to be very active during the day, the third I never see till evening, still no Gracie though ).

[jodilynn]

Corydoras

will never thrive in a tank with gravel, unfortunately (although not all gravel is the same of course). Soft sand will allow them to exhibit their natural foraging behaviour.

Sadly, another thing I never, ever knew until I came here...in 30+ years of doin this I have never had a single person from any fish store I ever dealt with tell me this .

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've only been keeping Mochokidae catfish for just over 4.5 years, but from my limited experience, I've not had any losses that made me think my tap water's gH 13/14 pH 8 was the issue. [...]
1x ~18cm SL Synodontis cf. budgetti (Troy, a bit of a rogue with S. notatus, seems to be bizarrely triggered on water change days!)

Do you happen to know the TDS of your tanks?

Sounds like Troy is stimulated by the chemistry of the change water... sure the tap is still close to the tank? I know many people put a garden hose right in the tank to add water... I always draw water into a food grade change bucket and add Prime before adding the water to the tank. I don't know what your practices are but... maybe even moving rocks/wood around on change-day to vacuum (if you do) might rile him up?

I don't have a TDS meter sadly, but I watched closely this afternoon while performing a water change...

Troy started getting fiesty before a single drop of fresh water went in!

I've started a new regime in this tank over recent weeks (after seeing your reply about Troy), instead of emptying just over 50% weekly and then gradually refilling over a few days (initially having to add ~25% of total tank volume), I now do two weekly ~33% empties and gradual refills over 2/3 days. The new regime means I have to add less fresh water initially to keep the Eheim Powerline XL "happy" and get its output under the water surface, plus it should help reduce sudden water chemistry changes.

As much as Troy is creating havoc, the intensity and duration of giving my poor S. notatus grief does seem to be less.

[FeatherFinMama]

I've only been keeping Mochokidae catfish for just over 4.5 years, but from my limited experience, I've not had any losses that made me think my tap water's gH 13/14 pH 8 was the issue. [...]
1x ~18cm SL Synodontis cf. budgetti (Troy, a bit of a rogue with S. notatus, seems to be bizarrely triggered on water change days!)

Do you happen to know the TDS of your tanks?

Sounds like Troy is stimulated by the chemistry of the change water... sure the tap is still close to the tank? I know many people put a garden hose right in the tank to add water... I always draw water into a food grade change bucket and add Prime before adding the water to the tank. I don't know what your practices are but... maybe even moving rocks/wood around on change-day to vacuum (if you do) might rile him up?

I don't have a TDS meter sadly, but I watched closely this afternoon while performing a water change...

Troy started getting fiesty before a single drop of fresh water went in!

LOL! Well, I will probably get a lot of eye rolls for this but IMHO after keeping and observing fish in the aquarium over the years, I can't help but notice that fish are extremely aware. Especially those bonded with an owner who has a routine and takes an interest. It is my 2 cents that Troy knows you are about to do a water change by your habits, even before you actually start. And who knows... maybe he starts 'feeling his oats' knowing a water change is coming ... maybe it's just that it's very invigorating and he expresses that as "getting feisty."

I've started a new regime in this tank over recent weeks (after seeing your reply about Troy), instead of emptying just over 50% weekly and then gradually refilling over a few days (initially having to add ~25% of total tank volume), I now do two weekly ~33% empties and gradual refills over 2/3 days. The new regime means I have to add less fresh water initially to keep the Eheim Powerline XL "happy" and get its output under the water surface, plus it should help reduce sudden water chemistry changes.

As much as Troy is creating havoc, the intensity and duration of giving my poor S. notatus grief does seem to be less.

That sounds like a win then. Maybe lessening the stimulation is just the ticket to keep Troy calmer. Maybe he's just a little ADHD.

[FeatherFinMama]

Deleted to move to other thread... don't know why the "Delete Post" option doesn't work for me. Apologies!