I am pleased to report that after a week with the coral in both tanks, the gh in each is up to 5 and the kh is up to 3...ph has slowly crept up to 7.2 (same as out of the tap). What I have noticed most is how active the males and the pygmy corys have become...schooling around together constantly at midwater. They seem like happy little campers. I was at one of the lfs picking the staff member's brains about our water and they said that "everyone around here has to buffer or add coral because our water is so terribly soft". They also recommend a product line call aquavitro by seachem...they said it is plant friendly and does not possess excessive additives, only potash for the potassium carbonate in their kh formula and I believe calcium and a few other minerals in their gh formula. Has anyone used these products? Success? Failure? I am going to see how things go with the coral for now (why mess with a good natural solution that appears to be working) but in case it doesn't work out in the long run, are these products viable options versus buffers and regulators (or going brackish)?

Thanks again for all the feedback! (Now, if I could just find a lfs that sold najas grass I would be a happy camper).

Hi Oldman...checked my tanks today after adding the coral pieces given to me by the lfs on Sunday. My ph in both endler tanks has gone up by .2 (I figured that with the low gh and kh in both tanks it was wise to add it to each tank).

My gh was 3 in both tanks when I tested today (an increase of 2 since Sunday morning). The kh was a 2 in one tank and a 3 in the other (perhaps due to water volume...but either way, still an increase there as well). So, I think I am acheiving a slow creep in numbers. I did another water change today just to make sure that ther numbers don't go flying off the charts.

I have not seen any changes in behavior of my endlers or pygmy cories as of yet...perhaps because as you say, it goes slower with the coral than with baking soda or chemicals and they can adapt better (so behavioral changes might be slower to see as well?).

I really am grateful for all of the knowledge and experience you are all sharing with me. I am hoping to incorporate the wisdom into my fishkeeping to make my son and I better fishkeepers.

Thanks again!

Fishpunk...I have been water testing obsessed for the last few days...checking params and trying to see if I can figure out why the drops in ph. I have tested the water from the tap (0 ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte, ph 7.2, gh 1, kh 1). I also tested the tap but with water from the hot water heater...same params.

I have removed all my old driftwood just in case, I have done my regular water changes, I have pruned plants...and in the tanks the ph still drops like a bag of rocks. I spent a good deal of time at two of my lfs today and got very different advice on ph. One employee told me ph gh and kh are meaningless and that all fish will adjust to any parameters so testing and worrying is a waste and no products are needed to change it. Ummm...okay...? The other lfs had a different bit of advice...they still gave a thumbs down to water chemicals (good, because I want to avoid them anyway) but did agree with you that coral is a better solution because it will only raise the ph to no more than 7.5 but will definitely boost the hardness naturally. Their crushed coral was very expensive and they only had a 20lb bag. So, as an alternative he showed me coral rocks that I could hammer to pieces and put in the tank or filter. Then he disappeared. To my surprise, he came back 5 minutes later with a bag of live coral...told me it would serve the same purpose and would be better in the long run since it had good bacteria on it and my wacky fluctuating levels probably killed most of mine (my ammonia went up to .25ppm, 0 nitrItes and <2ppm nitrAtes ph 6.4 gh 1 kh 2 today so I did a 30% water change). He gave me a quarter pound of the live coral for my tanks and didn't charge me.

I have placed some in each tank...tested the water before and then 3 hours later...no noticable changes yet. How slow is the process of increasing gh kh and ph when you use coral? I would like to avoid any crazy spikes if possible.

Oldman...interesting about "backtracking" with wilds...I am glad you brought this up so that I don't make any mistakes and undo any genetic setting that has already been created. I don't mind having a tank of hybrids for my son that he can enjoy because in the big picture, he is the reason we embarked on this adventure. Someone is giving us a full 29g set up in a few weeks though (sticking extra media into my other good tank now to get some nice bacteria growing for the new tank). I am thinking that I would like to keep that tank with wild strain ELB and cory pygmaeus. We have a school of corys in my son's tank and I love them! The other thought was to make it a fancy guppy tank...I have seen many pictures lately and they seem to have incredible diversity in the colors and varieties out there. But, it will be several weeks still so I have time to research properly and get advice from you more experienced folks. The 29g will bring us up to 6 tanks...and then another friend has a 40g that might come my way if it doesn't sell at their tag sale. My cat is feeling neglected...lol...and is very upset that all the tanks have covers.

Here is a question...since I do not have the new tanks yet and we are only in the planning and research stages. Is it better/easier to keep species tanks or to diversify with many species that get along well together? (Obviously I wouldn't put endlers and cichlids in the same tank).

Thanks again for all your help!

Oldman...I know the kh and gh of my other tanks being a 2 makes my water pretty soft but the ph in the other tanks is stable and very close to neutral. For some reason, this particular tank is just goofy. I didn't start doing large water changes until the parameters all crashed, before that it was only 15-20% weekly.

I have done countless hours of reading on diffent sites about ph and hardness since this problem started last week. The reason I started with several small shells is because I didn't want to spike the ph back up and shock my fish...and I was really trying to avoid "additives" or swapping out the substrate for crushed coral. I did try one other suggestion I read...baking soda. I understand that it, like all water additives, it a "temporary" fix. What I read said 1 tsp per 5g but again, wanting to go slow, I added 1 dissolved tsp to the whole tank instead. I tested the ph three time since then and it is holding steady.

On a happier note...I moves my first fry from the ladies tank to the boys tank today...three weeks old, a faint hint of color...but what made me really notice him was the "school boy on spring break" behavior...chasing the adult females, wiggly dances in front of anything that moved...lol. There may be a few more boys in the fry tank but I can't be sure yet. And given that it has been 22 days since this group of fry came along...I should have more very soon

Thanks Thriftyfisher. I did get lucky and catch the heater issue in time but I think my tank is tanked so to speak...my ph keeps dropping (and I do have five clam shells in the tank to try and counter it but it isn't working...but I did notice the fish seem to hover over the shells) and I can't maintain stability in the tank. My water parameters are shot now (doing daily 80% water changes just to keep the ammonia and ph at reasonable levels) and for some reason the gh and kh are also down to 1 in the tank (my params in the other tanks are fine and gh kh in those is 2). I think I need to move the females and fry into my other tanks and just break down the 10g, clean it and start from scratch...I don't know what else to do...unless I try removing the driftwood. I know driftwood can lower ph but this wood has been in tanks so long I wouldn't have expected it to have any effect.

Any other suggestions or ideas?

I have five pair and got two pair at one locatio and three pair at another locatio an hour away. The tigers came from one and then my chili and two others came from the different place. I think they are probably from different breeders/broods, especially since they were different types and the females were all different sizes. So, I guess based on that, I should be okay for a while. Maybe when it is time, I could convince you to sell me a pair.

Oh boy...almost had no fry or females to take pics of...

I got home this evening and went upstairs to feed them and didn't see any fish in the tank! I panicked...the cover was on and closed so I knew the cat didn't get them and they couldn't have jumped out. I started pulling up plants, driftwood and the divider. The thermometer in the tank said 85 degrees! The heater malfunctioned...ugh! I found several dead fry and all five females had wedged themselves into holes in the plant covered driftwood. I checked the other water parameters...ammonia still zero, nitrItes still zero, nitrAtes still around 5ppm...but eeeek, the ph was below 6. My poor son was crying "mom you have to save them!"

I did a 20% water change, waited half an hour then did another and then a third half an hour after that. I always keep a spare heater so I swapped that out. I did not put the divider back in just in case that was a contributing factor. The fry are almost two weeks old so they should fair well with the foxtail, riccia, java moss, java fern, anubias and anacharis to hide in. Within fifteen minutes of the final water change, they were all mooching for food, which I think is a good sign.

I do think they all aborted their current fry because this morning they all were chubby and gravid but tonight they were slim and pale...but we will see what tomorrow brings. My other tank is fine...perfect parameters...so if I have to move them temporarily, I do have that option.

But to answer about the females color...they are all that golden/butter color and had the hatch marks from being gravid. There is no hint of color in their fins or bodies that I have been able to detect. So...hopefully they are not "pure" p. reticulata.

After doing lots of reading of different websites, I am fairly certain my elb males are class k...and by association my females would be too right? I have one chili, two tiger and two that I can't really define but they are definitley a variety of elb.

Can't wait to see what the fry look like. It has been about 12 days and I keep checking for hints of color. I definitely see some tiger tails but they haven't colored up yet.

Thank you both for the great links!