Discus

[Punchbuggy]

Ok, my local tap water has a high Ph of 7.6. Discus i heard need about 6.5 Ph. Can i keep discus in the high ph water?

 

[angelmouse]

That is fine as you will find when the water is in tank it will lower a little, do a test for yor kh/gh as discus do prefer this on the lower side. See if you can find a breeder that also has higher ph, my breeder kept his in 7.2. Wild discus however do need a lower ph. Bogwood can help lower ph in tank a little. It is best to add discus to a mature tank, it also help you get use to how your tapwater behaves in your tank before you add the fish.
Angel

 

[kat11180]

the ph of my water which i have discus in is 7.5 and they are growing really nicely and showing nice colour.

 

[bugsy66]

Yes you can, I have high ph and my discus is just fine. I also use to breed angelfish with this high ph no problems. They can adjust just fine. If they come from very soft water you might have to do some very slow acclimitization with them though.

 

[kev_kb]

You really need to determine the hardness of your water, but as a general rule if you match the water conditions of your local breeder you won't go far wrong. Find a dealer with good quality fish and only buy fish at 4" and above, they will settle in better and your chances of stunting them with newbie mistakes are lesser than with smaller fish. Your tank will need to be fully cycled, and a bare bottom setup is much easier to maintain.

Maintaining water parameters is the most important thing with keeping discus. They can be kept in higher phs, but IMO you really need to kept them in soft water and hence a lower ph. In my experience discus kept in soft water are more resilient, colourful and have the best chances of living their 10 year ish life span.

Also they won't be able to breed in really hard water and IMO that tells you something about the conditions they should be kept in (as with all fish). There a few different schools of thought on Discus, but if you research into them you will eventually find the best methods.

 

[kat11180]

You really need to determine the hardness of your water, but as a general rule if you match the water conditions of your local breeder you won't go far wrong. Find a dealer with good quality fish and only buy fish at 4" and above, they will settle in better and your chances of stunting them with newbie mistakes are lesser than with smaller fish. Your tank will need to be fully cycled, and a bare bottom setup is much easier to maintain.

Maintaining water parameters is the most important thing with keeping discus. They can be kept in higher phs, but IMO you really need to kept them in soft water and hence a lower ph. In my experience discus kept in soft water are more resilient, colourful and have the best chances of living their 10 year ish life span.

Also they won't be able to breed in really hard water and IMO that tells you something about the conditions they should be kept in (as with all fish). There a few different schools of thought on Discus, but if you research into them you will eventually find the best methods.

id agree with all apart from the statemant on discus kept in soft water show more colour as mine are in hard water and high ph and show alot of colour and have had really great comments on them on this site . i do agree with it can affect the breeding of them tho but not everyone is bothered if they breed or not and if they do then bonus but i dont think ph would affect them if its the same as your local breeder then they sholud be happy to stay in sim water condtions. good luck with them if you do get them