what pH would be too low for Wild Blues ?

[damian_ireland]

Folks,
pH in my tank at the moment is just over 5. While all the fish seem to be happy I am wondering what would be regarded as too low ?
I have Wild Blues, Altums and Geos

[TURQ64]

I've kept Heckel's in the low 5's, but my only adventure below 5 seemed too hard to keep a good 02 level, and the fish seemed 'soft' to me..I know they experience lower values in the wild, but mine were in aquariums...
edit: my greens are in 7.2 and seem just as peachy as the Heckel's...they adapt to most anything...

[Apistomaster]

I do not think S. haraldi need a pH below 6.0. They show the widest range of varying conditions than the other two species. I have only bred wild S. haraldi in tap water with a pH of 7.6 and the TDS was about 500 ppm.

I have kept Greens and Heckels in similar water but I find they are much more intensely colored when kept in very soft and acid water.
It is more work to keep fish in extremely soft and acid water conditions stable but if you want to breed Greens and Heckels their eggs often do not hatch if they do happen to breed in tap water. I have kept the Greens and Heckels in tap water for many years at a time out of pure laziness knowing they would be better off in soft acid water.
Just existing isn't the same as thriving. But S. haraldi are the easiest of the wild Discus to keep because they have a wider range of acceptable water conditions so they are the best choice if you do not want to get too deep into keeping up soft acid water conditions.

[ericatdallas]

I have only bred wild S. haraldi in tap water with a pH of 7.6 and the TDS was about 500 ppm.



Wait, you keep AND breed them in tap water with a TDS ~ 500ppm?

I've been considering buying wilds, so I'm just reconfirming to make sure I provide the proper water conditions. I don't have a RO filter but I'm not shooting to breed wilds yet.

[litlit]

If you want keep them in good color, you may keep soft and acid water.

[William Palumbo]

My wild Blue pair spawn at a ph of 5, or possibly lower. My ph test kit starts out at 5, so it may even be a bit lower...Bill

[damian_ireland]

thanks for the replies folks.

[Apistomaster]

Wait, you keep AND breed them in tap water with a TDS ~ 500ppm?

I've been considering buying wilds, so I'm just reconfirming to make sure I provide the proper water conditions. I don't have a RO filter but I'm not shooting to breed wilds yet.
I did but I lived on the other side of the state line just across the river from me. They use the river water. On my side now, we get water from wells and the TDS is currently running about 240 ppm but the city has 6 wells and until last year the water was 340 ppm. The pH has remained constant at 7.4. S. haraldi can be very adaptable compared to Greens and Heckels. S. haraldi isn't usually found in water as acidic as Greens and Heckels. There are a few areas where the ranges of S. haraldi and S. discus do overlap a little like Nhamunda area but these are exceptions.

[ericatdallas]

I did but I lived on the other side of the state line just across the river from me. They use the river water. On my side now, we get water from wells and the TDS is currently running about 240 ppm but the city has 6 wells and until last year the water was 340 ppm. The pH has remained constant at 7.4. S. haraldi can be very adaptable compared to Greens and Heckels. S. haraldi isn't usually found in water as acidic as Greens and Heckels. There are a few areas where the ranges of S. haraldi and S. discus do overlap a little like Nhamunda area but these are exceptions.

Well that definitely tilts my first set of wilds towards the haraldi. What about Alenquer Reds? Are they considered Axelrodi? Are they pretty good with hard water?

My tap is 7.0 Ph and 300ppm.

Thanks

[discuspaul]

For what it's worth, wild discus in the Amazon tributaries generally develop, thrive & spawn in very soft water conditions, with the pH ranging consistently, on average, from just below 5.0 to 6.0.

[NanDiscus]

Initially I kept my Xingús at around 100-120ppm, pH 7-ish. They seemed to be happy, did the usual 'fishy things' you would see from any discus whether it's domestic or wild.
Then in the big tank I never allowed for the TDS to rise above 50 and the ph remains below 7 the whole time. I now prefer to keep them closest to their natural water parameters (12-20ppm - or a little higher during the dry season) as described by Heiko and although I know that with maturity discus settle down a bit, under the present conditions my fish really look 'wild'. The colours are more vibrant and they spawn like crazy.
My RO produces water of 4-7ppm, so I need to mix a small amount of filtered tap water to it to bring the TDS up to around 12-16. I generally change 10-12% every other day and with this amount of fresh water added regularily the pH remains pretty steady, 6.4-6.6. After a few weeks without a w/c during the winter the TDS went up to 60 but the pH dropped to 3.9. They did not seem to not like it, only became a little slow and I think the word 'soft' that TURQ64 used is quite an accurate description of the impression they gave.

I would think for wild blues anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5 would be spot-on ideal, while as Apistomaster said, they will tolerate almost anything within good reason.

Nandi