Bichir Thread #53

[matthew]

Originally Posted by tokyogasmask

Vinegar, lemon juice etc, is not the best way to go about things.
A STABLE ph is more important than worrying to much about the numbers.
Fish can and do settle in both him end and low end, but using artificial adjusters is going to spell bad news for the fish.

agreed.
bro sunday, advise to get sudo sand or europet sand that is will not alter ph...
dropby c328...they may have other brand of cheaper sand that do not alter ph.

btwn, I would advise u not to opt for sand or any subsrate as u r still a beginner...
having substrate looks nice... but maintaining them is a a backbreaking chore... and once u become lazy in cleaning the substrate...hell break loose

Can this sand work for bringing out Bichir's colours??

Originally Posted by aldenpwoh

Can this sand work for bringing out Bichir's colours??

It won't no.

Just remember:

Red brings out contrast in all Bichirs.
Can often make the non-green Bichirs base tones stronger. (more golden)
Green based Bichirs will still have their green (though toned down a little) whilst also making contrast pop.

Black will make green Bichirs super green. Though you will often start to loose some contrast.
It will make non green bichirs base tone darker often blending tithe the black marking so they loose contrast.

White will pretty much wash out colors and contrast.

Neutral (like natural gravel) can sometime dull the colors and contrast and sometimes wash out both, not as much as white though.

Oic,thx for the details bro,currently my main tank is a black oyama and for the other tank where i pump juv bichirs im planning to switch wif red quartz

Originally Posted by aldenpwoh

Oic,thx for the details bro,currently my main tank is a black oyama and for the other tank where i pump juv bichirs im planning to switch wif red quartz

I tend to use 90% red crushed Garnet stone (what you see in almost every Japanese Bichir tank) and 10% black sand.

I find the Garnet effective in contrast pop, and surprisingly the top sprinkle of black sand works wonders on the greens too!

For example:

Originally Posted by tokyogasmask

I tend to use 90% red crushed Garnet stone (what you see in almost every Japanese Bichir tank) and 10% black sand.

I find the Garnet effective in contrast pop, and surprisingly the top sprinkle of black sand works wonders on the greens too!

For example:

Bro TGM, I remember you posted once that u regretted mixing ur black quartz with red quartz(or maybe garnet can't recall full details) was it because u mixed 50/50?

Actually, I'm quite keen to experiment mixing some black quartz with my red, but its impossible to reverse once done and red quartz is hard to obtain in sg, base on ur experience, is it worth the risk? Currently I only have a thin layer of red quartz so it gets push ard and I have a pockets of expose black base like what I have seen in jap bichir tanks, base on ur real life viewing of these tanks, do u think I will still get better results by mixing? Curious abt this since I suspect the small dots of black on red will make a bigger difference, whats ur opinion thks.

Originally Posted by nid

Bro TGM, I remember you posted once that u regretted mixing ur black quartz with red quartz(or maybe garnet can't recall full details) was it because u mixed 50/50?

Actually, I'm quite keen to experiment mixing some black quartz with my red, but its impossible to reverse once done and red quartz is hard to obtain in sg, base on ur experience, is it worth the risk? Currently I only have a thin layer of red quartz so it gets push ard and I have a pockets of expose black base like what I have seen in jap bichir tanks, base on ur real life viewing of these tanks, do u think I will still get better results by mixing? Curious abt this since I suspect the small dots of black on red will make a bigger difference, whats ur opinion thks.

A tank without any green Bichirs I wouldn't do it.
I did mixed with my Endlicheri tank, and it didn't make the contrast or colors seem any different, so it was a bit pointless, and i did regret that quite a bit as the Garnet was quite pricey!

But if you have a mix or Golds (Endli, Ansorgii, etc) and greens then I 100% recommend it. As the Golds keep their contrast, and the greens get great contrast and green!

[Ben]

by green, you mean laps and their variants right? what else is considered green? i am in the process of siphoning out my lapis sand, and wondering should i go black, or red. in this tank, i have 2x ansorgii, 1x endi, 1x pbb, 1x sp dabola, 1x sp koloton, 1x lap. seems like equal mix of green and golds?

Originally Posted by Ben

by green, you mean laps and their variants right? what else is considered green? i am in the process of siphoning out my lapis sand, and wondering should i go black, or red. in this tank, i have 2x ansorgii, 1x endi, 1x pbb, 1x sp dabola, 1x sp koloton, 1x lap. seems like equal mix of green and golds?

If that were my tank I would do the 90%/10% mix.
When I say greens I mainly mean Laps (and their sp.), PBB and any other large Bichirs that have green to them that are large enough to mix with bigger goldens.

Smaller greens like Mokes, Dels etc IMO work best in upper jaw only tanks with black substrate.

[Ben]

ok thanks, i was leaning towards red, but i already have a red tank, think this one i'll try a mix like you suggested. 90% red/10% black? or is it 90 black/10 red. better make sure because its going to break my back if i need to undo anything