# Hard Water Bred Discus



## Jake Levi (Mar 2, 2009)

I am looking for discus breeders who are breeding their discus in hard water. I know there are some out there but have lost their contact info.

I am on a well, and have high carbonate and high ph. I can adjust the ph down some with peat, but without adding RO I doubt I can lower the calcium a lot.

Jake


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## Jake Levi (Mar 2, 2009)

Well, no input,

how many here are maintaining their Discus in hard water and higher then 7 PH?


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

I'm sure well established, commonly bred strains that have been in the aquarium trade for decades, and have adapted to hard waters, will do fine. With that being said, I don't actually know anybody that keeps discus in water much over 7.0 pH, mostly because, given the price of discus, there are not many people who are willing to take the risk.

If lowering the pH and hardness is really difficult for you, I suggest starting with discus in 6.0-6.5 pH, and then slowly raising the pH to above 7.0, so that they can adjust to the new conditions.


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## Jake Levi (Mar 2, 2009)

Thanks, that is pretty much what I plan to do, starting with the peat filter in my top off water reservoir and then going from there. Its going to have to be a process. Too much money to risk.

But, am still hoping to find breeders who use tap water above ph of 6-5 to 7.


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## kendallikeeper (Jan 28, 2013)

discus cant breed in water conditions that alkaline. the eggs can not survive


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## Jake Levi (Mar 2, 2009)

That is what I have been concerned about.

I am in process of tempering my water with peat, and will be adding an RO unit to at least provide some buffering to the replacement water over time. I use about 70 gallons of replacement water a day, and will be using a RO unit of 50 gal/day. Hopefully over time this will adjust the water to where they can live well in it, and maybe then breed.

Thanks for the input.


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## viejo (Dec 31, 2012)

kendallikeeper said:


> discus cant breed in water conditions that alkaline. the eggs can not survive


Sorry, but that just isn't true. A goodly number of successful discus breeders have bred & raised buckets of discus in hard alkaline water including myself. For a time I was breeding them in Colorado river water which runs very hard & with a pH of around 8.0 out of the tap.


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## Jake Levi (Mar 2, 2009)

Good to read, thats what I had read but not finding any sources of them.

Would you pm me some Discus breeders who do the hard water breeding?


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