New Keeper and New Super Reds

Hello yall, I was at my local fish club swap. Gazing around and picked up 3 super reds BN about 1-1.5 inches long for 20 bucks, not bad. Right...? My questions are sand for substarste? When are they becoming sexable. Also am I okay with a couple clay pots cut in half for spawning caves?

Hey mate and welcome to the forum.

Yeah, $20 for three is a bargain! you have done well.

Sand is find as long as it is inert sand, not beach or coral sand as that will push the pH too high.

Breeding caves are all all shapes and sizes. most seem to work. Its about having a small entrance the male can guard. there is a bit more of a write up in the book. Link in the signature

Sounds good, right now there in with my new group of corys. There all sitting at about 8.0 PH. Is that going to be okay? They will adjust like anyother fish won't they? Also I would like to share that I found all there of them inside my sponge filter lift tube fighting the current. Haha already got me worried about them

They love the current and the high oxygen environment of the sponge tube. Reminds them of home!

The pH is a little high. Given they are a very selectively bred strain of the common BN they are a little more touchy. I'd look to try and drop the pH a bit

Well I guess I gotta try and lower it. So you think they won't breed in a 8+ PH or its just not ideal due to them being selectivly breed. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to since my KH is like 25+. And its a real pain to drop it that far

They may try to breed, but with a KH that high there will be real issues. The eggs may be too hard and the male could boot them or the fry with struggle to get out. Once they are out you might have issues with fry spirals or other issues causing high mortality.

I have heard of people breeding them in pH of 8 on and inconsistent and low level, but never in a KH that high. Not to say it cant be done. Bristlenose are horny little buggers and love a good shag but I suspect it would be like us trying to shag in helium instead of air, it would be fun and feel good but not sure much would result from it.

Well since they are in a 20 long I could just buffer with baking soda to bring the Kh down. What should I shoot for. Maybe ill use peat in edition

what else is in the tank?

any idea why the KH is so high?

We are on well water. Just a lot of minerals and such. My water is ran through a softener and still has a KH of that. Maybe I should see what my well water Kh is. Right now the tank and six corys and 3 BN

mmmm, well water. Every time I drink it I cant help thinking how sweet it tastes.

It honestly depends. If your fish are looking happy and healthy and do not appear stressed then I would not bother with doing anything just yet. If you really want to breed them and they are not then later on you could invest in a more advanced filter system or something similar.

Okay now I realize this may be annoying but how would you describe happy Bushy Nose. Also I was talking to someone on another forum and he said he had bristle nose breed in his tank with a PH of 8.8