I just moved this month, from a place that had very soft water to place that has very hard water. My water straight from tap is now 7.8 PH and 13 degrees general hardness. Even though my Africans and CA's love it, I thought it very disappointing that I wouldn't be able to breed SA cichlids any longer....or can I?
I don't really understand the relationship between SA's and Hard water, or the problem this presents with regards to their breeding. I have been told by a few people that they have successfully spawned some Geophagus species in Hard water, which gives me some hope. Does anyone know why SA's don't, or are belived not to spawn in Hard Water? Is it that they will not spawn because they can not thrive in those conditions, or is it that you can get them to spawn, but the eggs will just not hatch in hard water? Aside from installing a RO/DI unit to soften the water, are there ways of getting around this?
I don't really understand the relationship between SA's and Hard water, or the problem this presents with regards to their breeding. I have been told by a few people that they have successfully spawned some Geophagus species in Hard water, which gives me some hope. Does anyone know why SA's don't, or are belived not to spawn in Hard Water? Is it that they will not spawn because they can not thrive in those conditions, or is it that you can get them to spawn, but the eggs will just not hatch in hard water? Aside from installing a RO/DI unit to soften the water, are there ways of getting around this?
