Cant wait to see pics of them! Congrats and I am jealous. I would have loved to do them but cannot do the low ph they need. Dan at HAW is an awesome guy to deal with, good choice!
yeah.....what she said! Sheesh, it's 4:30 here so only 1:30 there.......tic toc, tic toc, tic toc .....opcorn:tap, tap, tap
I hope ed forgives me for using the above without asking first but I doubt he will object to its being used to help keep altums obtained from HAW at this time to have the best chance at survival.The importer may be using slightly alkaline tapwater for his quarantine period. It seems he is giving the fish around 10-12 days before reshipping (this is good). These guys are experienced with Altum and have decided to follow their own proven methods despite the recommendations made by the exporter and myself.
So, down to the point:
1. Tank should be at pH 6.5, 86F, TDS <100 (softer = better), hopefully cycled. Should contain a thin layer of quartz-silica white sand (similar to Orinoco-Rio Negro Basin Sand). 0.25 - 0.50 inch layer is enough. For the first week or so have your UV running 24/7 as we want no contamination if any of the fish brings in any unwanted bug.
After a week, you can run your UV 12/7 and add catappa leaf (2-3 large laves per gallon). You can also run your UV for a shorter period. If your water is on the dark side (due to catappa), take into account a good amount of phenols, acids and surfactants are being added to your water column all beneficial to the health of your fish, in other words, try to balance use of UV so that you will get more benefit from these natural astringents. If you run your UV at 24/7, and even at 12/7, the useful life of the catappa extracts will be shorter.
2. Have frozen, freeze dried and live food at hand. Hopefully some mosquito larvae and blackworms. A good high quality pellet food.
3. Allow them to settle in for a week or so, best if you start to see some growth which will be fast.
4. At 2-4 weeks after arrival, deworm/deparasite by feeding them a medicated food preparation. I use a combination of metro, praziquantel and pyrantel/febendazole (or you can use API General Cure). I soak and knead about 2-3 heaping tablespoons of the freeze dried bloodworms in a half cup of RO water to which I have previously mixed in the 1 packet of General Cure (250mg metro and 75mg Prazi). I add a bit of Seachem Garlic Guard and Seachem Focus (the later is a gentle antibacterial and binder, so it helps adherence of meds to the FDBW). I freeze the product and then thaw pieces of it as I feed the fish.
5. I feed only this prep for 4 days and hold the T at about 90F during that period. I lower the T to 86F and provide regular diet the other 3 days of the week. Then I repeat the cycle. It is helpful to fast the fish for up to a full day before resuming the medicated feed and while fasting, to pump T back up to 90F. This will get the real hungry when the med feed is given. I will do this for up t0 21 days. You fish will stay clean for almost as log as you don't bring anything new into the tank. You can repeat this for a 1 week period per year or two years... or at least, that's what I do.
6. Never let the nitrates get out of hand. We are so worried about NH3 and NH4 that we forget this mean little lurker that will take your altum down fast if allowed to do so. While cycling, use Purigen to help keep nitrates down and after cycled, never be negligent on water changes.
7. If your filter is not properly cycled, do 20% water changes daily. After cycled you may want to do 50% twice a week. If you use a Purigen reactor or a HOB with a nice amount of purigen, you can do 50% once a week, none less.
Your test kids are your best friend.