Breeding common browns in high PH WATER.

Hello all

After trying to breed my BN for quite a while in a 180lt tank i got a new 125lt tank filled it with tap water checked the PH and it was 8-8.1 which i know is high for bns but having brought another pair of brown bristlenoses and adding them to the tank they seemed okay and wood and clay pots added and 6 cory cats they all seemed to get on and after trying to breed my two other pairs of bn 1 pair brown the other pair albino, i had given up and was making enquiries at the local fishing shop about buying the correct PH in RO water as they also tested the 125lt water and said i would not be able to breed the bn in the water as it was to high in PH and i should be looking at 7-7.4PH to breed bn's in and they would sell me the RO water to breed them in.

Well i was thinking about changing the water and looking into the 125lt tank at my new pair which i have had for a couple of months i noticed that the male had got in the new small holed clay pot and was fanning like crazy...i thought he was just practicing as both the male and female were about 3-4inches long and to me still a little young to breed and the PH of water being high surely he was just playing well 8 days later i got the shock of my life he was out and so were some of his young they are now about 1.5 inches long and he has just let the second lot of fry out of the cave so i have two lots of babies and still in the same PH water 8-8.1 which i was told i couldn't breed them in they are all very happy and growing and i am wondering should i leave the water or buy the correct PH for them in RO water as i would still like to breed them and would like to buy some super reds one day.
Please can someone help me make up my mind as i love these fish and want the best for them.

rule number one of fish keeping...if it aint broke, dont fix it.

If they are breeding in the high pH water then dont bother. Normally I would suggest the pH of 7.2 would be the highest to breed them in but there are a handful of stories just like yours where they have bred in higher pH water.

If you are looking at dropping the pH of your tank the RO water from the aquarium shop will work but it will be a pain in the butt and you will hate it! get some peat or extra wood for the tank and bring it down that way, or get a ro filter yourself, thats what i did

There are a lot of African cichlid owners who keep and breed BN's in their tanks at a pH of 8+. They seem to adapt to breed at the higher pH although breeding may not be as regular as when kept at a lower pH.

Hi,I agree,just leave well alone.They are breeding and the young are growing and doing well so seems all o.k to me

It will be the same for super reds also so just carry on with what you are doing.

I also agree that adding more wood will help but don't bother going through all that nightmare of getting water from the shop.

hi, i am in USA,california and i use tap water. my PH is 8.2-8.3 and i have 4 pair of bristlenose. i have browns short fin. albino short fin and albino long fin. all of which spawn around 30-40 eggs every 3 weeks. so i dont think the PH of my water has effected them too much.

i dont have a LFS to go get RO water from so i left them alone. i did look into getting my own RO system just for my fish keeping but they started spawning before i could afford to get it. it took about 5-6 weeks for my first pair to start breeding.