Minimum GH for Zebra

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Vanilla
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Minimum GH for Zebra

Post by Vanilla »

Hello to everybody from Ukraine,

Would be grateful for your comments on tyhe following question.
Going to set up a tank for zebras and considering the possibility of keeping crystal red shrimps with zebras. Ive been keeping these shimps in a small tank with gh 6 and t about 28 and they are doing quite well.
So, for CRS the most important thing is to keep the GH of the water at as laws as possible, well, 5 would seem the ideal to the best of my knowledge.
As far as know about the natural habitat of zebras their original water GH is much lower - about 2.
On the other hand very often I read the warnings that too low GH would result in a bad health and some under-development of the fish.
Therefore I have a question - what would be the minimum acceptable GH of the water for zebra tank?
Thank you very much for sharing your experience)
Vanilla
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Re: Minimum GH for Zebra

Post by Vanilla »

Ok, Ill ask the question in other words) Will GH 5 be acceptable for keeping Zebras?) :)
Jacqueline
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Location: Ede, Holland

Re: Minimum GH for Zebra

Post by Jacqueline »

Cristal Red shrimp don't do well in high temperatures. And zebra's do like a temperature of 30 degrees.
Vanilla
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Re: Minimum GH for Zebra

Post by Vanilla »

Thank you Jacqueline)

But in my experience CRS didnt complain much even about 30 C this crazy hot summer) As I can see the stability of conditions is their priority. Actually the usual indoor temperature of my tanks (without heating) is 28-29 C. So, I m not so worried about the temperature.
Well, they say 28 C for Zebras is not critical? They are said to get used well to the water parameters. Im anxious about GH at the moment.
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TwoTankAmin
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Re: Minimum GH for Zebra

Post by TwoTankAmin »

Zebras don't care much about GH except that changes in it are part of what eventually triggers spawning. The same applies to pH. This is from out articles section:
The Zebra will tolerate a rather wide range of water parameters, GH should be >5, PH 6 - 7,5 and temperature 26 - 30°C. The fish lives in a fast flowing river with high concentration of dissolved oxygen. A dissolved oxygen level of >8 is ideal, but not easy to achieve as they want such high temperature.
That said I am aware of folks keeping zebras in pH above 7.5 and an assortment of GHs. My numbers are 7.4 pH and GH at just about 5 on the button. More important than GH would be TDS which measures other solids in the water that GH tests cant (conductivity is another term commonly used in relation to TDS).

Where most fish have problems adjusting to swings in GH/TDS, seasonal spawners like SA plecos etc thrive in such changing conditions. In fact when I am pressed for time and have to skip some weekly water changes, I always omit hypancistrus tanks as I know they can take dirty water.
What makes the common person uncommon is common sense.
Vanilla
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Re: Minimum GH for Zebra

Post by Vanilla »

Many thanks for the answer! Ok, and what would be proper minimum TDS?
Im not very much anxious about dirty water) For CRS I'LL to keep the clearest water possible) just on the contrary) so that what worries me) no to make the water clearer and softer than really needed for zebras)
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