I thought I would add a note here as to another unplanned part of this experiment. I discovered this evening that Red shiner will NOT tolerate ammonia levels as well as spotfin or bluntnose.
I happened to be watching a few of the reds because I kept hearing a surface spatter of some sort. I first thought the Reds were engaging in their normal spawning circles when it dawned on me they were showing a convulsive type behavior. shortly after this, 4-5 were belly-up. I quickly moved these to another tank and before I returned (30' away) a few more were exhibiting similar behavior. Some even appeared dead-within minutes. I moved all of these into tank number 3. I done a quick ammonia check and it was higher than expected with the measures I have in place so I drained 25-30%, started ammo rock pump #2 and treated tap water and refilled. In the 25-30 minutes it took to change out water all Reds in tank 3 were upright and acting normal again. No abnormal behavior noted from any of the spotfin or bluntnose. I think another 5-10 minutes and the reds would have been dead had I not heard the activity and went to observe.
Cody Note - Great information - glad you posted it. This information will be valuable to someone. Maybe NH4 tolerance could be added to the title and delete 'for alternative' or just add NH4 tolerance?
Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/19/20 02:15 PM.
