Black water extract

Home made Black Water Extract
by Francesco Zezza
Foreword: once back from the Amazon forest I needed to deal (for the first time) with fishes coming from water with a chemistry ranging from moderate to highly acidic (although I deliberately avoided ...

Black Water Extract - Home-made or commercially prepared water conditioner to create the dark, very soft and acidic water typical of Amazon Basin rivers. The chemistry and dark color is due to decaying vegetation causing high humic acid levels.

The Water should be soft and the addition of peat filtration, or Tetras' "Black Water Extract" will benefit the fish. Temperature should be on the higher side with 77° f (25° C) being a happy medium.

I used RO water with 10 ml black water extract added to the RO water. The pH is around 6.2 and TDS 70 ppm. I feed them frozen bloodworms, frozen brine, whiteworms, microworms etc. The male is about 2.5" while the female is only about 1 in.

At this time I may add a black water extract and/or methyl-blue. A small rock is placed under one of the corners of the sponge filter. This will prevent any of the fry from getting crushed.

The only special treatment this tank received was the addition of black water extract to our Bronx tap water (which is neutral and soft).

Floating plants to diffuse the light are recommended. The Jelly Bean Tetra will jump so a lid is neccessary. Dark gravel and black water extract will usually result in a better colour. Should not be kept with larger or very active species.

P.S. If playing around with the star wars name generator use fish tank additives instead of supplements - I was Juldi Leedi, Lla Escort of Black Water Extract. It gets really weird if you start using fish scientific names too!!!
Juvenile (50mm) ...

See also: Water, Black water, Species, Fish, Fry