have a little tea with your fish

[TyroneGenade]

Hi all,

Some of you fossils of the forum may remember this thread: http://www.killies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1701 that heralded the glories of tea in breeding Fp. sjoestedti.

Since this initial experiment I have not duplicated it in any shape or form in such an organised manner butI have continued to toss tea bags into my fishtanks and this some of the results:

1. Tea does seem to reduce the number of belly-sliders as well as help with belly-slider recovery. There were no controls in these experiments. :-( Hardly science.

2. Tea bags do seem to help alliviate heat stress. Where previous my Aphyosemions have suffered in the summer, this year they are doing much better inspite of several heat-waves. All I am doing differently is adding a fresh tea bag every now and then.

3. My australe did come down with heat stress early in the summer and started clamping fins... Big trouble. Adding a tea bag seemed to solve the problem. Fish removed from the diseased tank and treated with potassium dichromate did not recover (the other fish in the treatment tank are fine). Fish continued to clamp fins in the tank until the tea bag was added. Fish whose fins were clamping were continually removed until I had to spend some nights out late before coming home. Inspite of the presence of sick fish no further fish got ill.

4. I have been adding the tea bags to my spawning tanks and getting much better results. I got an average of 30 fry from 2 spawnings were 1 3 month old female australe was put with 1 male 3 month old australe for 1 day.

Food for thought for all you in hot South East Asia.

[green plant]

Tyrone,
Can other tea be used instead of Rooibos teabags. eg Chiness Tea or green tea. I would want to try on my Aus. They look active but refuse to eat.

Koh Heng.

[TyroneGenade]

Of the over 2000 articles relating the properties of Green tea I have not yet come across one stating anythign negative. I think it is a safe bet you can use the green tea. Green tea has high concentration of the anti-oxidants called epi-catechins. The properties of these closely mirror the reported effects of Rooibos tea.

I hope this helps.

[mozaqua]

Tyrone,
Do you think adding tea like Rooibos, or green tea would help with other swim bladder problems as well? I just hatched some A. australe last month and I had one with a swollen swim bladder, looked like he swallowed a balloon, he also had trouble swimming normally. I keep them inside but it gets a little warm during the day here in Thailand.

[TyroneGenade]

hi,
i don't think tea will help with the swim bladder problems but tea does seem to help the fish cope with warmer water than they like.
experiment and tell us what you fine.