water for wilds

[Ramon Anastacio]

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving! I am thinking about getting some wild-caught discus. I know that in their habitat they live in water that is usually soft and acidic. My tap water has a pH of 7.6 and a hardness of 160 ppm after aging and aeration and my current discus which are all tank bred and raised are doing well in it. Can I successfully care for wilds with the water that I have or do I have to lower the pH by a method like adding RO to my tap? Any input would be appreciated.

Ramon

[Ralph]

Hi Ramon,
Many people here have wilds and some in harder and more alkaline water than yours. What you have to careful of is the transition, fish in general don't like sudden changes in water parameters. Just make the transition as slow and gradual as you can (you can set up a drip system where the new tank water drips into a container of old water and fish). If you buy your wilds at a local fish store, they may already be acclimated.
Long term though, you might think about an RO system, especially if you plan on breeding them.

[Ramon Anastacio]

Thanks Ralph! ;)
Ramon

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Ramon
I think your water should be ok. however if you want to get the ph down a bit, I would just prefilter your water through peat moss.
As an example my water is ph 7.4 to 7.6 out of the tap, I fill a 55 gallon barrel, fill a mangnum filter with peat and the micron filter and run on the barrel, after four hours I have water that has a ph of 6.4 and stays stable in the aquarium, with very little darkening of the water.
Good Luck
Dennis

[fcdiscus]

Good tip Dennis! I like it! Frank :thumbsup:

[Lynn]

Dennis,
I am being a little dense here :crazy: :crazy:....can you explain how you use the peat and micron together? Peat in a baggie inside micron? Peat in loose with micron? Peat in separate canister? I have a hot magnum and would like to be able to try this.

TIA,
Lynn

[daninthesand]

yes, me too dennis! I also wonder what your water hardness is as well to help buffer the Ph change using peat.

Daniel

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Ok
I use a magnum 350 filter and the micron cartridge, I fill the canister with peat moss packing it around the micron filter but not packing it tight.
I am fortunate that I have soft water to start with at 135 microsiemens.
By running this peat filter on a 55 gallon barrel for four hours my ph goes from 7.6 to 6.4 and the hardness from 130 to 70 microsiemens, the micron filter keeps the peat particales from being spread in the barrel.
If you want to try peat the amount and time using it will very depending on what your water is to start with, you will need to exsperiment in your ageing container.
Yes I still do use an RO unit some times, but bringing the ph down with peat gives me water that is very stable using RO water to reduce ph gives me water the is very easy to have a ph crash if not monitored closely.
Dennis

[Ramon Anastacio]

Thanks for the suggestion Dennis. I learned something new and will follow your method when I need to lower my water's pH. If I do decide to get some wild discus I will probably use the water that I have. David Webber told me that he thought that wilds were tougher than domestics so I guess if I apply the same care I give to my current discus they should do ok.
Ramon

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Ramon
I tend to agree that wilds are hardier fish, and they should do just fine in your water, I was more exsplaining lowering perameters for breeding.
Dennis

[Lynn]

Thank you Dennis. ;D

[Willie]

Has anyone seen differences between different wild types? I've successfully kept browns and RSGs in my tap water (pH 7.0, but soft). My Heckels, however, seem to do much better at pH 5.0. They're move lively, they eat better and they grow faster.

Willie

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Willie
I don't have a lot of exsperience with wilds, browns back in the sixties early seventies, and heckels a few years ago.
And I would agree on the heckels mine did not do well untill the ph was below six and I couldn't get a successful spawn untill the ph was below 4.5
Dennis

[DREW]

For heckels keeping ph low below five is what I've heard but I'm curious on how stable the ph is at say 4.5. Doesn't the water have less buffers at a low ph? How do you keep it stable. I would like to keep Heckels some time but I have never kepted a ph less than 6.5.

thanks

[Ralph]

Hey Willie,
Heckels are, in general, from blackwater rivers which run a pH of around 5. Greens, browns, and blues are usually from clear or whitewater where the pH is closer to 7, though it varies over the seasons and by specific habitats. It is probably not as critical to survival of the fish in captivity as it is to promoting breeding.

[Willie]

I won't argue over the ecology, but I've kept Heckels for quite awhile. They're not happy at pH > 5.0. Which is a total pain in the b*tt, since you can't move these fish from tank to tank as needed. ::) ::) I did see some adult Blue Face Heckels at neutral pH recently, and I have to admit that they were a lot happier than what I had. :-\

Willie

[Denny]

willie,

are you keeping your wild babies in you tap water or are you buffering it with ro?


denny

[Willie]

I'm using tap, but of course, its pretty soft ~50 microsiemens. What's your hardness? I noticed yours were lighter colored than mine.

Willie

[Denny]

willie,

that may have more to do with the camera and lighting. ph=7.2 gh=2 kh=8.

i am thinking of firing up th ro unit to drop the tds a bit. that sits at about 450

they were a bit dark when i got home today after being gone for 3 days so i want to get back on the w/c schedule first and then i may try to bring things down a notch at a time if they start to have problems.


denny

[Ramon Anastacio]

Thanks for the help everyone. I am enjoying my wild discus and am hopelessly hooked.

A special thank you to David Webber of Wilddiscus.com who was kind enough to answer my questions by e-mail several months ago when I started to think about getting some wilds.

I thank Oliver Lucanus for my wild fish and the knowledge he has shared about them and the Amazon.

Ramon

[Francisco_Borrero]

That fish is just beautiful Ramon !!
Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Francisco.