Wild Heckel care

[eddtango]

I'm about to buy 5 wild Heckel Discus. What's the basic care tips for this fish? Is it advisable to mix them with Angelfish?

[RyanH]

If you haven't kept heckels before, I would advise you to not mix them with other species.

Keep things very simple for yourself to start: barebottom tank, lots of clean water with stable params, and sponge filtration.

Learn to keep them happy and healthy before you introduce a bunch of other variables.

I have been keeping heckels for about 2 years now. They are great fish and hardy as horses. However, they also have very specific needs. I've found that mine seem to do best with slightly softer water and didn't really appreciate my tap as much. So now I use an RO mix and keep their TDS around 120. I feed them a variety of foods and keep their tank clean.

hth:)

-Ryan

[geekgeek]

I have 2 heckels along with my 2 wild blues for a while now. I find the heckels are a more shy compare to the bully blues. They are hardy. I use 6.5 tap water and they seem to do okay. Just age the water 24 hours before adding it.

Eats only bloodworms (won't take anything else).

Did I mention they are hardy. I give them 20G per fish and I do 25% weekly water change. I also have gravels and plants in the tank. The plants takes care of the nitrate. Either my nitrate test expired (which I doubt) or the plants is doing a real good job take care of things.

They are easy to keep as long as you give it more gallons per fish.

[pcsb23]

I'd follow Ryan's advice if I were you and keep things nice and simple. Good luck with them too, one day I'll get some Heckels.

[Moon]

I got mine about 3 weeks ago. Got 7 small guys about 3in SL. They are in a 75g bb tank by themselves. Three sponge filters, temp 85 and wc every other day. The water is my hard well water. I feed them 5 times a day. They eat like little pigs almost every thing I feed them. For now they will stay in well water and they don't seem to mind. Eventually I will change the water parameters to soft and low ph.
HTH
Joe

[Polar_Bear]

If you haven't kept heckels before, I would advise you to not mix them with other species.

Keep things very simple for yourself to start: barebottom tank, lots of clean water with stable params, and sponge filtration.

Learn to keep them happy and healthy before you introduce a bunch of other variables.

I have been keeping heckels for about 2 years now. They are great fish and hardy as horses. However, they also have very specific needs. I've found that mine seem to do best with slightly softer water and didn't really appreciate my tap as much. So now I use an RO mix and keep their TDS around 120. I feed them a variety of foods and keep their tank clean.

hth:)

-Ryan

I do almost exactly this too. Soon though I will be lowering the TDS to about 1/2 of what Ryan keeps his at, and will keep the pH in the low 6 range, if not lower. I have 8 juveniles and so far they are a delight. They eat well and are not at all shy around me.

[eddtango]

I plan to put them in a 90 gallon BB tank with Bolbitis and Java fern on driftwood, the plants and driftwood will provide them some security. Acc. to the lady in my LFS,the discus can be mixed with Angels. I don't really know if she knows how to care for Heckels, although the fish has been with them for 2 months now.

[Apistomaster]

Mixing angel with discus is a difficult subject. For the record I have been successful keeping Peruvian Scalare(wild) with my Heckels.
I have since then removed the angelfish because I wanted to provide more room for my discus.

Common advise is do not keep them together. I think it is feasable to keep them together but I would, myself, limit it to only wild angels and no domestic angels. Furthermore, I would not try to keep altums with Heckels.

Altums and Heckels are best kept with only their own kind and they NEVER occur together in nature. Altums are only from the Orinoco drainage and Heckels are from Amazonia. They both represent the most difficult species to keep within their respective genera and deserve their own separate aquaria.

Mix wild angels and discus with care and be prepared to remove the angels if they show aggression or competition with Heckels.

Much of the point is that Heckels should be only kept with their own kind other than the smaller species of Tetras, Corys and Plecos. The whole idea is based on the fact that Heckels do not compete well with large fish with similar requirements.
Larry W.