FISHIOLOGY

Just for your curiosity sake, what kind of PH tester I'm using for my fish. I've 6 tester in the house 3 electronic tester, 2 liquid tester and 1 paper. Why the amount of tester? well first I like collecting tester and second there are occasions when I feel the tester isn't supposed to be reading the result it should and I've no way of telling. When you've this amount of tester than my hunched is irrelevant. Marulioides is highly dependable on PH so a good tester is definitely required. In the long run an electronic tester is cheaper and much more convenient especially the reading at 0.00. And I usually play at the borderline of 3.5 - 4Ph which is rather dangerous. So a reliable tester is required. Hand held tester is cheap but needs constant calibration unless you keep them dipped in neutral solution. Liquid tester brand that I've always trust is Sera and Tropical. But do be careful of expired tester in the market. China made litmus paper is hopele

2 weeks out from PH4 and maintain at PH6. 5 with low output tanning. The result White Scales or flowers are beginning to form. Take note that this fish was not tanned on neutral color and the part on the black band is not successful. Only the white area is successful. 1st of may right after came out from ph4

Another way you can bloom the flower of your marulioides is with the tanning technique. First lets understand a little bit about the flower. The flower is actually a dead pixel, marulioides are very unique fish, they possessed the ability to change color at will like a chameleon. But when the flower is formed that scale is spoiled and no longer changes color, it cannot get darker or lighter. As mentioned many times marulioides caught in river or big water always shows minimal flower, maru caught in dead water like peat swamp shows maximum flowers. Maru would need the color changing ability to survive, they can change color to hunt and to escape from predators. Meanwhile maru living in black dead water swamp do not need the color changing ability as much or maybe the low PH somehow destroy the color changing ability and the result will be plentiful of flowers or plenty of spoiled scale. I've done experiment on maru living in fast cycled tank and they lose the flowers or in ano

Using tanning method seem to work. Alternate tanning every 10-14 days with high and low output lamp. 7 hours a day. PH7.6, TDS below 200ppm Aquazonic T5 Hi Output 39W 12,000K Kingston T5 Low Output 21W 10,000K

One of the reason I'm so fascinated with Channa Marulioides and has been my favorite fish for the passed 30 years is because every individual fish is different and the outcome of the fish is different. All the hard work you put in grooming the fish will be rewarded handsomely the moment your marulioides flare its full glory. Keeping a marulioides alive and keeping a beautiful fish is a world apart. There is no right or wrong way to keep your marulioides. It just depends on which route you wishes to take. Usually I will take both. I keep marulioides in comm tank because I love watching my maruliodes interact in a comm tank. But fishes that I groom will be kept in single tank or mixed in with sparring fish or fishes. Understand the nature of marulioides. Maru are found mostly in pristine water condition, hardly will you find maru thriving in lakes near town area. Even if they do survive they hardly will breed. This is one of the reason we don't find marulio

So Ive decided to change my strategy instead of futher experiment on the color I'll better saved the flowers before its too late. Parameter is now at PH7, water movement is slowed down, astaxantin pumping for 4 days. Pellet feeding is stopped. The result is this.  Luckily many flowers can still be activated again. Futher color treatment would see all flower permanently lost. This is 4 days ago when I stopped color treatment.

Its been more than a month the fish was kept at ph4. The color had turned dark and I was experimenting if the band would altered hoping to get a broader band. The answer is I'm not really sure, seem a little broad to me. The fish is high;y stressed when kept in PH4, nervous, inactive and lost of appetite, completely the opposite as compared to Malaysian Marulioides. When switched back to PH6 the fish feeds aggressively, the colors are vibrant, the eyes turning vampire red and swims around boldly. In truth I was trying to find out if sp borneo are changed this way. Meaning same fish is possible to grow up to be Kalimantan maru under certain conditions and Red Borneo in another set of conditions. 2 reasons why I think so, No.1 Earl Pigar gave me this idea when we were discussing about turkana PBB. No.2 I've observed the regular red maru are caught along side Kalimantan maru. The fish when it was in the blackout PH4 seem to show a red hue. I'