r/o water and wilds

[johnm]

Just out of curiosity, how important is using r/o water to keep wilds if your intent is not for breeding purposes? Is softer water more important than ph or viceversa? Thanks in advance for any input.

[Discus Origins]

It is not necessary, but your wilds will show colors better and be more 'comfortable' in softer water.

[johnm]

thanks mark. I've often wondered how water that contains virtually no minerals be desirable to wilds. One would think that a higher tds or mineral content would be healthier.

[Discus Origins]

Well biologically even though the amazon river is very low in conductivity the essential minerals are available for fish to absorb. High TDS tapwater just contains 99% of what the fish doesn't need but as long as you keep water quality high the fish will be pretty happy.

[3dees]

discus 1 sm.jpggoup 1 sm.jpg

It is not necessary, but your wilds will show colors better and be more 'comfortable' in softer water.

while this might be true, there are exceptions. I'm pretty happy with my wilds. pure tap water. 7.6 ph and a little on the hard side.

[Discus Origins]

They look nice and you're right there are exceptions. But I give advice based on generalizations

[ExReefer]

as long as you keep water quality high the fish will be pretty happy.

Bingo! This is pretty much all that matters IMO. I've kept wild discus and I currently keep wild Altum Angelfish in my tap water. I will admit that my tap water TDS is relatively low - 130-150 ppm, but PH is around 7.6-7.8.

I've never kept Heckles, but based on how well my Altums responded to the (slow) transition over to tap water, I'm betting Heckles would be fine as well.

[Rummy]

I take it as some of us thrive in the cold weather and others prefer warm, tropical weather.
I hope I am not totally off on this.

Anik

[TURQ64]

I take it as some of us thrive in the cold weather and others prefer warm, tropical weather.
I hope I am not totally off on this.

Anik

No offense meant, but you are totally off on this..Anthromorphism doesn't fly with me..We are warm blooded mammals, and fish are cold blooded...

And my take..They'll live in most any condition as they are adaptable, but...It has seemed to me over my years keeping them that they seem to thrive better in really low, soft water...
(my Heckel's are generally in 3.9 or lower...very tannic..)

[Rummy]

Thanks for clarifying.

Anik

[Larry Bugg]

No offense meant, but you are totally off on this..Anthromorphism doesn't fly with me..We are warm blooded mammals, and fish are cold blooded...

And my take..They'll live in most any condition as they are adaptable, but...It has seemed to me over my years keeping them that they seem to thrive better in really low, soft water...
(my Heckel's are generally in 3.9 or lower...very tannic..)

I agree. There may be exceptions but as a generalization as both Mark and Gary have stated, I believe a wild fish of any kind will do best in water that is close to what it came from.

[YSS]

I agree. There may be exceptions but as a generalization as both Mark and Gary have stated, I believe a wild fish of any kind will do best in water that is close to what it came from.

Wouldn't the same aplly to domestic strains as well? After all, a discus is a discus.

[Sean Buehrle]

Well biologically even though the amazon river is very low in conductivity the essential minerals are available for fish to absorb. High TDS tapwater just contains 99% of what the fish doesn't need but as long as you keep water quality high the fish will be pretty happy.

Couldnt a fish get needed minerals from its food?

[Samsmobb]

I'd like to ask that too, I just got an RO system and fresh trace but couldn't a fish get it's needed minerals from it's food? I'm feeding live black worms so more minerals from flakes pellets FD or frozen etc or is it highly recommended to use fresh trace?

[Larry Bugg]

Wouldn't the same aplly to domestic strains as well? After all, a discus is a discus.

Probably to some extent but more so with a wilds since they are coming straight from the low PH/soft water. Domestics over the years have been breed and kept in varying PH/hardness and from what I have experienced are more tolerant to the differences.

I would use breeding to support this. I believe if you get discus to breed they must be pretty satisfied/adjusted to the water conditions they are kept in. We see evidence of domestics breeding regulary in all kind of water parameters. While there may be exceptions, we generally find wild discus being breed in low PH/soft water. Quite often when you are reading accounts of breeding wilds it is referenced that adjusting the water parameters played a huge role in getting them to breed.