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View Full Version : A few question I should have asked before.



snowflake311
08-20-2010, 12:38 PM
So I bought a wild when I got it there had been a BIG leak and the fish only had enough water on him to stay wet. So this fish was never right and did not recover from that. SO I am wondering should I try again?

Its a wild Green from Rio Nanay. I would keep it in with my 5 domestics in a 80 gal tank with a ph of 7.4. Would this be ok I know it is not ideal I have some Peat moss to add tannins and bring the ph down a little. If I got 2 would that be better then one wild with domestics or do they even care?

Apistomaster
08-20-2010, 01:52 PM
If it was able to recover from the leakage accident and is eating well then for just keeping it there isn't much of an argument against keeping it with your domestic group. Adding another wild Green will not make it any happier.
If you want to keep Green Discus then you should be prepared to buy 6 of them and be able to supply them with soft acid water. Using some peat in your tap water will not materially help a solitary Green living with some domestics. They can adapt to harder water with a higher than optimum pH as low as 7.4 and actually do pretty well.
I just wouldn't collect more and not provide them with their own tank and proper water chemistry.

snowflake311
08-20-2010, 02:42 PM
That's what I thought thanks. The wild I had did not make it so I should not try again?

Apistomaster
08-21-2010, 02:45 AM
Too bad the one Green did not make it.
As long as you can afford a group of new wild Green Discus, this time do it right.
Be prepared to provide them with soft acid water and do not keep them with other species of wild Discus or any domestics. Many people do not realize until they provide wild Green Discus with proper water chemistry in their own tank how much nicer they will look and how much better off they will be. Your fish will show off their best colors and your chances of even getting a mated pair will greatly improve.
There seems to me a widely held perception that all Discus are the same and that simply isn't true. Each species has evolved to thrive in different environments.
If you want a wild Discus that is more of a generalist, then I suggest you keep S. haraldi rather than Greens or Heckels. S. haraldi are the one wild Discus which naturally occurs in some areas where the pH is close to neutral(7.0) and has the highest tolerance to the highest TDS/EC of all the 3 wild species of Symphysodon which makes them the easiest species to keep well in captivity. It is no accident that most domestic Discus have been derived from the selective breeding of S. haraldi. I have been able to breed wild S. haraldi in tap water with a pH as high as 7.5 and a TDS as high as 500 ppm and in one instance I obtained 147 fry which I eventually sold. No Green Discus let alone a Heckel can adapt to and breed in water that extreme. I recommend soft water with a pH a little less than 7.0 for S. haraldi for best results but suitable conditions are more convenient to provide.
S, haraldi is the most adpatable of all wild Discus species.