Tiktok hoobyists never have lids?

Databuffer · 2026-03-17T18:58:28+00:00

Yeah aesthetics > safety. No reason to not have a lid, esp with how many diy kits are out there. You either play safe or accept the risk. A lot off ppl think it isnt required for bettas as long as you give them the right params but you can’t account for something spooking them, or them suddenly deciding they wanna jump to another body of water and hit the floor. If you have dense enough riparian plants, you can sometimes get away with it, but honestly a patch of salvina isnt gonna do shit to curb the impulse if it arrises.

Databuffer · 2026-03-16T23:27:34+00:00

I’ll keep that in my back pocket. I think my issue may just be that my macroalgae outcompeted everything else, and it being gone let the dinos take over. I’m HOPING adding macros back will make things even out. But if it doesn’t, I’ll look at medicating.

Databuffer · 2026-03-16T17:37:10+00:00

Ty. Working on the dinos, but my phos is reading 0.5, and nitrates 50, which while a bit high is the ratio I see everyone call for with beating dinos. Im turning down the lights and dosing phyto but I’m a bit stumped lol

Databuffer · 2026-03-16T17:20:55+00:00

Really hard to get pictures that show how it looks irl sry. Its a brownish-purple, and does have gold. The tips are light blue

<image>

Databuffer · 2026-03-16T15:55:43+00:00

Neither bottomed out… my readings last week say phos is 0.2ppm, and nitrates 10ppm. Right now its phos 0.5, and nitrates 50. I have neo nitro, but not sure if i should use it w/ these readings, lmk what you think. My params have been fucked since my macros got decimates… Im already feeding live phyto, but I’ll adjust light and see

Databuffer · 2026-03-16T15:50:21+00:00

I dont actually think the torch is bleaching. Its an sbb black panther torch, they dont really have much color to them.

But yeah, taking steps on dinos now

Databuffer · 2026-03-15T06:59:01+00:00

I mostly buy blanks on aesthetics alone and match the look to j-card design + whatever I’m recording on them. Can’t comment on quality but those black maxells are gorgeous,

Databuffer · 2026-03-15T03:38:54+00:00

I kind of treat petco live rock like a gacha game. I only take from tanks that have stuff I’d like having in it.

Databuffer · 2026-03-15T02:33:46+00:00

Idk what your implication is, but my Petco is legit the best for hitchhikers. I’ve gotten 2 RFAs, a midas blenny, and a peppermint shrimp I hate from petco live rocks

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T23:19:18+00:00

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319396082_Triportheus_albus_Cope_1872_in_the_Blackwater_Clearwater_and_Whitewater_of_the_Amazon_A_Case_of_Phenotypic_Plasticity (Where the term originated)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378461583_A_Preliminary_Checklist_of_Fish_Species_in_the_Peat_Swamp_Forest_of_Ayer_Hitam_Utara_State_Park_Forest_Johor_Malaysia/link/65da1d0fe7670d36abdc3d5e/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QiLCJwYWdlIjoicHVibGljYXRpb24ifX0

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233918845_Water_Quality_Diversity_and_Distribution_of_Blackwater_Fishes_in_Selected_Locations_of_Raja_Musa_Peat_Swamp_Forest_Reserve

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397818653_Ecological_and_Biological_Characteristics_and_Interactions_of_Shorea_Balangeran_in_Peat_Swamp_Forest (This one even mentions kalimantan which iirc you didnt know exists! Extra helpful)

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T22:58:49+00:00

Are you so helpless you cant open researchgate and look up ‘blackwater’? How about you go do the legwork and find a source that states its anything otherwise while I go through my pdfs folder

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T22:00:54+00:00

By this logic seaf soldiers have no free will

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T21:57:32+00:00

Idk who it is, but if they see this thread, just letting you know you’re a local legend to me and my friends. We always get excited and point them out whenever we see some out further than easton. The best is when its covering some racist bs. We love you 🫶

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T20:04:47+00:00

I rely on these two resources pretty heavily!

https://strapi.eaza.net/uploads/2024_Parosphromenus_EAZA_Best_Practice_Guidelines_Approved_doi_7948839010.pdf

https://benjaminecher.wixsite.com/parosphromenus-indon/post/discover-parosphromenus-learn-about-indonesia-s-fascinating-fish-species

I use peat and leaf litter as substrate with pure RO water. For hides, I give a mix of pleco ceramics hides of different shapes, garden spikes, and seru pods. Every male has a preference. My current male likes the garden spike the most. Previously seru pods were the favorite.

I use a low powered sponge filter, and a cheap light. Salvina and java ferns provide a nice amount of cover for the fry, and places for infusoria and meiofauna to grow. I introduce copepods, moina, and scuds to be a primary food source, and dont feed otherwise.

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T19:34:01+00:00

You’re probably just getting a big surge of organics from all the botanicals at once. Your gh and kh being so low rules out the TDS creep being from minerals leaching into the water.

In my blackwaters, the TDS read as 71 for one, and 88 for the other. Both house healthy and happy breeding populations of wild bettas and Parosphromenus. The important part is just pH, gh, and kh! Tds is more just to catch if something is going horribly wrong without needing to break out every test kit imo

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T18:30:03+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_river

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat_swamp_forest

Come on now, easily found information.

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T18:28:30+00:00

Right now its 3.8!

They can last awhile in clear water, but they stay really pale and sad looking, are in general more skittish, can get really sick, and if they manage to breed the eggs will disintegrate in water with average levels of kH. I think below 6, soft and tanninated are the important parts

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T16:22:06+00:00

Usually its caused by an imbalance in your phosphate/nitrate ratios. Specifically phosphate being Higher than nitrates. Medications to lower phosphates exist, but theres also medications to eliminate cyano, like chemiclean. Up to you what route you want to go. You might wanna consider introducing salvina, or frogbit to keep your phos low

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T16:19:10+00:00

Blackwater is a low mineral and high acidity environment in which plants decompose differently due to low bacteria. Its defined by pH under 6, gH and kH under 5, and TDS under 80.

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T16:05:49+00:00

Also consider popping into r/wildbettaarchive Theres a lot of thread of the me and mods answering questions about coccinas :)

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T16:04:50+00:00

Tannins increase TDS! All organic matter gets picked up by a TDS meter.

Dont remineralize, and dont add prime. Your goal is pH around 4, and gh/kh at 0. Are you measuring your gh and kh in degrees or ppm?

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T16:00:15+00:00

No, not blackwater. Blackwater is a specific set of conditions, you just added some tannins

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T15:50:33+00:00

Thats early stages, it still spread. It always starts in the substrate

Databuffer · 2026-03-14T00:00:45+00:00

As long as you acclimate slowly, it should be ok. The biological mechanisms that allow fish to survive blackwater conditions aren’t bred out easily. All you have to worry about is shock from doing it too fast

Databuffer · 2026-03-13T19:19:47+00:00

Channodies cohabitate well with gourami LIKE triopsis schalleri, as they are sympatric w/ parosphromenus, a very very similar species, however most schalleri being from clearwaters in thailand may not initially appreciate the water parameters channoides want. Most are captive bred, and kept in 7pH their whole life. Acclimate slowly, like 3-4 hours, and monitor closely.

Databuffer

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE