question

[KeonTheKing]

when you import a wild discus can u put it in a domestic discus tank because my tank is around 7.5 PH alk at 120 0 nitrate 0 nitrite 0 ammonia. and my water is full of tannins. ( driftwood). so can i keep heckels in this water? or would i have to use water without minerals in it?

[mountain_priest]

7.5 ph is a little too high for heckels, they like it soft, around 4-5 ph. im sure other seasoned members in here can tell you more in dept about water parameters for heckels if that's what you want to keep, and no i dont recommend combining them with domestics:)

[Darrell Ward]

I would not mix heckels with domestics. Heckels have different behavior. I keep my heckels at a pH of 6, but that's what my source water is. I can keep it stable there. Personally, I wouldn't keep them in a pH of 7 or higher. I'm not sure what it would do to them, but I'm guessing they would be stressed in a neutral to alkaline environment.

[bonghapster]

I keep my heckels in regular tap water with peat in the filter, ph:6.4. I keep them with my domestics. They are more calm with the domestics. That's just my experience, not an expert.

I believe Brewmaster keeps them in tap water. below is his post from 07.

http://www.forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=58281

Hap

[Apistomaster]

Heckels will adapt to water much harder and at a higher pH than their natural conditions and you can keep them in this way for years. Only by maintaining high water quality allowed me to get away with this as long as I did but my tap water was softer and had a pH of 7.4 so even that slight improvement helped.
However, staying alive is different from thriving and if you take Heckels used to "wrong" water chemistry and gradually acclimate them back to more natural chemistry their colors will become more brilliant and generally show that they are much more at ease. I know because I have tried and I have kept Heckels for up to 3 years in water with a pH of 7.8 and 450 ppm TDS.(I had more calcareous material in the substrate I collected than I expected.) Eventually I think the cumulative stress catches up with them. When the fish had become acclimated to water with a pH of barely 4.0 and 15 ppm TDS they showed their true potential. It was like a night and day difference. Their colors became more radiant than I had ever seen in that group before.
It does make keeping them in the more correct conditions more inconvenient but it is in the best interest of the fishes long term well being.
For most who do not plan to breed them a compromise is acceptable but still, I would try to keep the pH close to 5.0 and a TDS of >25 ppm. It is not ideal but it is much better than what I put my last group of 10 Heckels through. My account does demonstrate how resilient Heckels can be but I strongly recommend avoiding doing what I did.

[illumnae]

I can personally testify to what Larry posted above. My Heckels were previously kept in water with a pH of about 7.6 and average TDS of 110-130. I have been slowly shifting them over to tannin steeped RO/DI water, and the water is now ~5.6pH with 60-80 TDS. Even with the water not at their optimum (I'm very slowly shifting them down), the Heckels are noticeably more active and colourful!

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi India,

I just wanted to ad:
My advice is DO NEVER MIX wild discus with tank bred discus. You are talking here about two complete different world of fishes. Although they might still have the same gene, they will never have a similar bacteria culture, never been grown up in a simular environment, never have had a commercial food.
And these are just a few of the important facts.

Best regards from Discus(fish) lover

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

[Discus Origins]

Heiko,

There is a large discussion on how to retain the blue coloration of the beautiful cabaza azul Heckels from Rio Nhamunda. It appears that with all heckels their blue coloration fades in captivity. Any input on this?