PH effect fish?

Ok, so I spoke to soooo many people regarding this issue.... Thought I would start something here and see if I find any other things.....

Story goes like this, My friend had a mixed cichlid tank. He was new to the hobby and didnt read much about them so had mixed african and new world cichlids in one tank..... I went over to his place and saw this, I about flipped out! although his fish were gettin along very well (overstocked so barely had room to get aggressive), I did notice his africans were very dull in color..... After explaining to him that this was not ok, I ended up convincing him to sell me his africans and keep his new world fish.

After bringing them home I slowly added my tank water to there bag.... They were at 6.7 PH.... so it took awhile for them to get used to my 8.2ph.... Well I woke up the next morning and those fish were soooo beautiful.... there colors had gotten so bright... just amazing.... I believed this was due to the PH... now several people disagree, what does everyone think in here??????????

The Ph and Hardness , of an african tank are so much closer to these fishes natural environment , that it would stand to reason, that their color would improve. and they should be healthier, behave naturally and probably live longer too.

Does this question really need be asked? I know Joe that you know this, I can tell by the colors in your fish that you know what your doing, but tell your friend he is a Dork....
Ph is extremely important especially with africans and Discus and saltwater
Please know your fishes water parameters and get it right..
With correct water parameters your cichlids will be happier and brighter and live longer..
just a thought...Yes your fish can live in wrong ph but you WILL shorten your fishes life Dramamticaly and they wont be happy about it one bit....

Thanks for agreeing with me guys..... I was on another forum, asked the same question, 80% disagreed with PH effecting the color of the fish.... They all said it was important to keep the fishes water closer to the natural habbitat, but the color change most likely came from the fish being uncomfortable with the bigger american cichlids.... anyway, thanks again for backing me up..... is there anybody in here that has any other opinion?

Ps. kingstature - sometimes its good to ask the stupid questions that others wont ask so they get the answer, even if we know the answer. lol

sandnuka wrote:
Ps. kingstature - sometimes its good to ask the stupid questions that others wont ask so they get the answer, even if we know the answer. lol

AMEN. There are a lot of new people to the hobby that wont know and more threads such as this that help explain how water chemistry effects fish is extremely helpful. A lot of fish die becuase the ph is not correct for them. Maybe a Reference thread can be created that outlines the different species and the ph level of their natural habitat.

"""Do we have to ask this question""" was sarcasim... I was having too much fun I suppose.
Perhaps I need to be a little more professional to be clear..
How Important is ph???? Well you will need a ph test kit..

PH levels are based on whether the water is acidic or alkaline or neutral. It's basic chemistry, that most of us learned this in school. Ok so Neutral is 7.0 pH value. Alkaline is 7.0+ and acidity is lower (6.9 and under) on the scale.

The hard thing to figure out for a new hobbyist , is that tropical fish in nature can be found in waters that naturally range from 5.0 pH (tetras)to pH 9 (cichlids).

Something else to think about would be: what is the pH of your water source? whether it's tap water or bottled water. That will become the optimum pH value for your tank.

Water that has a pH level between 6.5 and 8.0 is all quite acceptable. Most types of tropical fish can breed in this pH value. However For harder to keep breeds, like discus or african cichlids, you will have to adjust the pH level.

Don't think that your aquarium has to have an optimum pH level. The pH of your water does not need to be 7.0. More often than not, trying to get it and keep it at this pH level will only cause more problems.

Do not change pH levels suddenly, this will only cause more stress in your fish -- something that fish DO NOT LIKE! Another thing I know is that often the chemicals that adjusts the pH level will change that level only for a few hours or a few days, but that ph level always reverts back to what it was..

So, the best thing to do may be nothing. If your pH reads between 6.5 and 8.0, you may not want to adjust it. Always keep up on checking the pH value (ITS IMPORTANT). If it stays near its' original level, you're probably okay. If your pH value falls, your water quality sucks. If your pH level rises, you may have some dissolving solids in your water.

So Yes my conclusion is that PH is Important... and everyone should know a thing or two about it before starting a aquarium......

Sorry, I may have come across to you wrong in my AMEN!. I know you were being sarcastic, I was just saying that yeah, we may know the answer but others dont and knowing that some things are important to know, maybe we should be posting this info on this sight in the form of a question, just like this one was, so that new people whom may have a question can find it this way and read about it and then if they have more questions they can ask. Its a great way to teach and learn.

Here is a cool household Item I found that works great instead of buying chemicals at the pet store.... Baking Soda.... my water out of my tap is very acidic 6.2 or so..... I usually add a teaspoon of baking soda to every five gallon bucket that I change my water with..... seems to keep my water perfectly at 8.2

You may want to play with the amount to get it perfect with your water..... and as kingstature said it is not good to change PH too drastically.... moving up/down ph more than 1.0 a day can kill your fish..... take is slow!

To add to the above information
You can also lower the PH level with Baking soda. It has to be baked first.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
-Spread Arm&Hammer Baking Soda on a cookie sheet as evenly as possible
-Put cookie sheet w/Baking soda in oven for about an Hour
-Remove and let cool

That was awesome lili, learn something new everyday... honestly all the info I have and I had no idea about lowering with the same stuff that raises it... just AWESOME info!

PH is a big deal, as it is with every other water parameter. Heck, I currently only have 2 bettas (from Petco) and 2 snails (from Petsmart). We all know how those stores are...after having them in my tank they are all beautiful and active. That being, bettas aren't as picky as cichlids but fish will be fish

I got my first cichlid from a petco as a dark green brown unknown african, as soon as we put him in the tank within an hour he was a light purple yellow striped tangayikan cichlid. He died a couple days later, but he made me want to learn alot more about cichlids. Now I got 9 of em!

I would use crushed coral regarding increase of PH and the long term of it being stable.
As the PH lowers closer to 6. Or lower, the bacteria starts to die off.

protocl wrote:I would use crushed coral regarding increase of PH and the long term of it being stable.
As the PH lowers closer to 6. Or lower, the bacteria starts to die off.

I actually use baking soda, 1tsp per 5 gallon, and have crushed coral about 25% of my substrate... seems to keep everything at around 8.1 - 8.4 ... just perfect for my africans!

sandnuka wrote:

protocl wrote:I would use crushed coral regarding increase of PH and the long term of it being stable.
As the PH lowers closer to 6. Or lower, the bacteria starts to die off.

I actually use baking soda, 1tsp per 5 gallon, and have crushed coral about 25% of my substrate... seems to keep everything at around 8.1 - 8.4 ... just perfect for my africans!

oh. Wow, 8 above! Yea, CC must be used as sub.