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Today I changed approximately 13 litres of water in my 81 L aquarium and approximately 11 litres in the 42 L fish tank.
Here are measured values of water chemistry:
Small aquarium
pH : 7.1
dKH: 2
dGH: 5
NO2: 0-0.3 mg/l
Big aquarium
pH : 7.4
dKH: 2
dGH: 17
NO2: 1.6-3.3 mg/l
The next measurement will be done next Saturday, however I am going to change water at least once during this period.
Today I found a new cocoon made by one of my Apple snails 
. I count on that there will be approximately 100 new snails in my aquarium soon. Later they will be moved to the larger tank in order to eliminate the influence of Ramshorns.
My apple snails bred twice during the last 72 hours . I found 2 cocoons and the older one started producing small snails already. These snails are very cheap and 1 specimen costs about 4 US cents. However, they are cool addition to every aquarium because they can help you eliminating Ramshorns which are evil; no doubt about it.
I kept these nice-looking snails in the past, but my Paradise fish sent them to heaven unfortunately 
. Today I have no Paradise fish, everything is prepared for domination of Apple snails . So there will be no business with these creatures, but there will be a lot of fun with them!
About 2 weeks ago I bought a few water chemistry tests just for fun. I was very surprised by the values they measured. I expected something normal because my fish look quite happy. Bristlenose catfish even breed from time to time, Panda cories do so, and I successfully bred Blue gouramis and Siamese fighting fish in the past.
So what was the result of my first water testing? The pH level was normal; about 6.7. OK, then the second test was for NO2 which ended normally as well. Even the water could be of better quality, the NO2 concentration was normal. The biggest surprise was the level of dKH; less than 1. The dGH level was high; about 26.
What’s my goal right now? I want to lower the dGH level to about 15 and to increase the dKH level to 4 at least. The pH level should be 7 when mythe work is done . After a couple of water changes I achieved the dGH at the value of 21, and the dKH at the value of 2.
We’ll see how it goes after another week or two.
A long time ago I decided to breed Panda Cories. So I bought 5 specimens and tried it. Well, I must say that I was a newbie to this species that time and it was a lot of luck that I saw eggs in a relatively short time. Unfortunately, no small Cory hatched because the eggs were eaten by Guppies. So I waited and waited. After about a year I found two small Cories swimming in the tank. It happened after I fed them bloodworms.
OK, my goal is to breed them on a regular basis. Since it is not any problem to “produce” eggs, I am aiming at born primarily. Since there are Apple snails and Ramshorns in that aquarium, they cause my worries. Yesterday I found another 6 eggs, but they were eaten imemdately. I wasn’t able to save them because my hands contained some scour so I didn’t want to contaminate the aquarium.
Yesterday the dGH level was 5, pH was a little higher than 6.5 and the temperature is controlled by the heater at 25°C. The dKH level is low, 2 only.
This blog is going to be a diary of my two aquariums. I keep these species:
As well as some Apple snails, Amano shirmp and Ramshorn snails.