most strains now a days can typically live in harder water, I ran mine straight from the sink (ph of around 8-8.2) with some Prime added to it and they were fine, but you need RO water if u want them to pair up and breed
This lfs breeds his own discus. But I do understand why it isn't suggested to buy from normal local stores
So who would you order from? There are no discus only breeders local so I would have to order... and why wouldn't the discus be able to breed in normal water?
you dont need ro to pair or to breed
you typically do need RO water, a lot of tap water is too hard, if you dont believe me check out the threads at forum.simplydiscus.com, if you want quality discus, you will never go wrong with Hans, world known breeder...
http://discusfishstore.com/catalog/index.php