When I got back into this hobby 2 years ago, I said I would buy the best equipement within budget, study the species I wanted to keep and try to mimic their natural habitat. I feel pretty confident I've done that and the old saying, "if its not broke don't fix it" applies here. Japes brings up a good point about possible HITH/parasite issues down the road as I have read on this site recently about other hobbiest attempting to give away simliar specimens that had HITH that they "think" could be linked to higher PH and more dense mineral content. All in all, I will be continuing to use the R/O water as you all bring up some very valuable points. It's about the fish...and not about me trying to save time. That I will not forget. Thanks for helping out.
japes;4141257; said:
Those are all hardy fish. In a few years time his fish will possibly start developing HITH/parasite issues due to the hardness.
Why settle for using straight tap water, when you've got access to RO and can do your best to simulate wild or optimal hardness levels? My tapwater is pH 7.1 40mg/L kH/gH and I still mix in about 40% rainwater during changes.
You certainly aren't wasting your time.
Sarah88+1 yeah but even then, like japes said will probably develop HITH or something later down the road due to the stress of constantly having to adapt their bodies to the conditions so different than what they were evolved for. i definitely dont think its a waste of time to make your fishes' habitat as natural as possible, and OP your friend's fish may be surviving but i doubt they are thriving like they would if he would have softer water Today 6:59 PMAdhlcQuote:
Originally Posted by
japes 
Those are all hardy fish. In a few years time his fish will possibly start developing HITH/parasite issues due to the hardness.
I've actually been wondering about this a lot recently. I suppose the opposite could happen as well? Like putting a fish that requires harder water into a setup that is consistently soft in mineral content. I don't really understand it, but could see how it would be plausible.
To stay on topic, if you have access to R/O and don't mind mixing it with tap, or just using it exclusively, I would continue to do it. No matter how many generations removed from the wild, I still believe it's important to try and mimic those same conditions. The only way I could see your friend's fish actually thriving in water that was so vastly different from that of their natural habitat would be due to exposure. If they've been in that water, and it's stayed consistent for a long period of time, they've more or less been forced to adapt to it.
Today 6:08 PMsponger_2im pretty much up the freeway from u and i run straight tap water, with chloram-x though. i do have driftwood in for them but other than the chloram-x i have not seen any probs. ive had my alts for 3-4 yrs in that stuff. i now currently have altifrons,abalios, orangeheads and will be getting heckelii shortly.
