Discus SWFL Style

It seems the there a great many schools (right) of thought regarding discus raising. After more than twenty years of "tank" raised fish and the multiple varieties now available we should all agree on one thing:

Water quality is more important than water hardness parameters.

Even though the original strains of South American fish were from a "soft" acidic water environment, we can and should no longer limit our thinking to this. We are successfully raising and growing out this fish in extremely
hardwater and should not be limited to thinking that soft water is the only alternative when it comes to healthy discus any longer. The quality and stability of the water as well as temp and ph should be of upmost importance.

Let me know your experiance in this matter...

i dont know what your talking about. but i moved this to the discus section under Freshwater Aquaria.

i know what you are saying but i do not have expeience with discus. we do have some members on here who do however.

So how are you liking those plants? If I don't end up having time to bring you some tomorrow I will bring them in next Wednesday

...saw those fishy fish. how's about a native vegitation tank with gold asian arrowanna's. yellow we were detectiong on the amonia reading test kit yesterday was "tannin" in the water... LOL
picking up the Panda later today. stop over and say hello 40zer@comcast.net

The only arowana that's legal in FL is the silver and those can reach 4-6'
If by panda you mean panda cory they like to be in schools of at least 6

lets share some pics of that Gold Asian... WOW

Well to get back on topic. I just got my first discus the water he was shipped is was 7.5 my tap water is a soft 7.3. My little guy is doing very well. I agree and many other keepers will agree that to say discus must have ph 6 or only ro water is just not right. People are even keeping wild discus in water as hard as 7.5 with no problems.

What it comes down to is many people don't give fish enough credit. They are not as weak as we make them out to be.

Given proper care a discus is no harder to care for then any other cichlids. They just need cleaner water then some. But don't all fish deserve good clean water?

I agree with the OP. Discus can be kept in waters that would be considered "improper" for them. I myself keep my two fatties in a 75 gallon with an assortment of other fish that wouldn't normally be housed with them. Our water is normally around 7.4 and they are doing great. I have had them since about February when I got them at the size of a silver dollar. Now they are much larger, with my "ugly duckling" being massive compared to the other one. Flake, brine shrimp, pellet and bloodworms are mainly their diet.

snowflake311 wrote:

Well to get back on topic. I just got my first discus the water he was shipped is was 7.5 my tap water is a soft 7.3. My little guy is doing very well. I agree and many other keepers will agree that to say discus must have ph 6 or only ro water is just not right. People are even keeping wild discus in water as hard as 7.5 with no problems.

What it comes down to is many people don't give fish enough credit. They are not as weak as we make them out to be.

Given proper care a discus is no harder to care for then any other cichlids. They just need cleaner water then some. But don't all fish deserve good clean water?

I AGREE!!

Love those Discuss.