Thank you Mark! But I am NO EXPERT.
What would be beneficial though, if we can get another moment of Mr. Bleher's time, is if we can get a call as to whether his last post is in reference to discus keeping in general, or discus keeping with plants (and fauna) that are true to the environment they are found in.
This may sound like I'm splitting hairs, but I'd like to think that I'm not... My fish are are happily copulating in an environment that could not be further than their natural habitat. But it seems to make them happy. And it is pleasing to my eye.
Mr. Bleher is aware, from a lifetime of professional observation an documentation, that our planted discus tanks are FAR from what discus encounter in their natural environment. So the question remains outstanding:
Are the guidelines previously provided by Mr. Bleher appropriate to discuss keeping in general?
Or do they only apply to those practitioners who are compelled to replicate, as closely as possible, those conditions from which our beatiful fish arise?