Keeping Heckels

[Den]

I just bought 6 Heckels but I'm not very sure how to keep them. Can someone out there help me on this? The most important thing is the water? Can I keep them in pH7?

[wildthing]

Den, without wanting to over-simplify, apart from their appearance they are no different in their basic requirements than any other Discus as far a keeping them goes. Clean water & a good varied diet, moderately soft water with pH anywhere from 5.5 - 7 ( 6.5ish is desirable)

DW

[Carol_Roberts]

Better to keep them in pH 7 for right now that trying to lower pH with acid . . . .. causing pH swings.

When it's time to breed you may need to invest in an RO to soften the water. Do you know the GH (hardness) of your water?

[discus_nw]

I have no Heckles now, but I have kept them over the years. I have found that they look and act their best in very soft, acid water. Mine were kept at a pH of 4.5 and looked their best there. The red in their eyes was it's reddest as was the red in their bodies. The blue striations were also their bluest. They would do courtship dances once the level dropped below 5.0 pH, but never did spawn. The male was the most active, so I tried to mate him with an F1 Wattley Wild Royal Blue x Red Striated Turquois female that I had. I really thought they would spawn by the activity, but never did to my knowledge. D@mn !t ;D ;D