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Frequently Asked Questions
Water QuestionsQ:What are L&M Tropicals Water Parameters for keeping and breeding of Dwarf Cichlids?
A: Most of our Apistogramma and Dwarf Cichlid species are kept and raised in a 60/40 R/O-Tapwater mix. The Ph is usually around neutral. TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) is around 45-60 ppm. We keep the Temperatures in between 76 and 80 Deg F for keeping and breeding, except for M.ramirezi . M.ramirezi are bred at higher Temperatures at around 84- 86 Deg.F.
We also use additional peat moss for black water species and to lower thePh for some harder to breed species.
Q:Do you do anything special to prepare your tapwater?
A:Our city water comes out of the tap at a Ph between 7.4 and 8.0. The TDS is usually around 154ppm. We utilize two different heated reservoirs in our hatchery. One is filled with pure R/O water, the other is filled with prefiltered tapwater. We filter our tapwater through a high efficiency 1 micron sediment filter and a 2 micron chlorine guzzler carbon block filter.Furthermore Powerheads in both reservoirs move the water constantly to drive out remaining gases in the water.
Q: In which water conditions do you raise your M.ramirezi (Rams) ?
A: Our M.ramirezi are hatched and raised in pure R/O water for the first two weeks of their live and then they get slowly acclimated to our treated tapwater (see above).
Shipping Questions
Q: How do you ship live fish?
A:Our shipping methods are proven to be some of the best in the business.We ship all live fish in sturdy plastic containers with pure O2 added.Plastic containers won't leak or get crushed like cheap plastic bags. Styrofoam peanuts and/or crumbled newspaper provide additional protection inside our shipping boxes. We never use tankwater for shipping of live fish.All our fish are shipped in fresh 50/50 R/O /aged tapwater mix.The fish won't be fed for a day prior to shipping to avoid unneccesary buildup of waste in the shipping water. We ship live fish year round and use special made insulated boxes for the cold winter month with added heatpacks . Please contact us if you have additional questions about our shipping procedures.
Q: What are your cold weather shipping policies?
A:We'll do our best to assure the live arrival of your fish during the cold months. We use styrofoam boxes and 40 hr heatpacks for shipping in cold weather. However, we can't guarantee live delivery if the temperatures are going to be extreme at your location. Please use your best judgement on deciding when to receive a live fish shipment. You should be present to receive a live fish shipment. Do not let the box sit outside all day. We ship with Next Day Air Services such as FEDEX and UPS.
Feeding Recommendations
Q:What do you recommend to feed to Dwarf Cichlids?
A:We recommend the following frozen/live foods for all Apistogramma/Dwarf Cichlid species:
Live or frozen: Brine Shrimp,Daphnia,Krill,White Mosquito larvae,Baby brine Shrimp,Mysis Shrimp. We don't recommend feeding small fish, like Dwarf Cichlids, Bloodworms.Bloodworms have a very hard outer shell that could be very difficult to digest for your fish.We also warn about live worms such as Blackworms and Tubifex. We don't feed these worms to our fish unless they come from a reliable source. They are known carriers of harmfull parasites and bacteria.
Dry Foods:L&M Tropicals Dwarf Cichlid Pellets and Artemia replacement food,Flake foods.We also feed our own frozen beefheart mix to our growout tanks for extra protein.
Acclimating your New Arrivals
Q: How Do I acclimate my new arrivals?
A: Please click on the link below.
Return and Guarantee Policy:
Q: What is your return policy ?
A: If something went wrong with your shipment and your Fish arrived dead, or are not to your satisfaction, please inform us immediately by e-mail. We'll only honor requests that were e-mailed to us within one day of the arrival date.
We ask you to send DOA's back to us. We'll either refund your money , excluding shipping costs, or replace the dead fish. Guarantee provides credit for the replacement of DOA or unsatisfactory fish. We do not guarantee replacement fish or credit applied to a subsequent shipment.
Our guarantee does not include the cost of shipping for replacements.
To send dead fish back:Dry the fish out by covering them with table salt for 3 days.
Seal them in a plastic bag.
Package them in the shipping box you received them in to get your $5.00 box charge back.
Send them back.