The Amazon River is full of rooting vegetation which is a direct cause of the acid nature of the water.
Before you choose your Discus you must have the water parameters correct or matching closely to the place of where you are to buy your discus Fish.
Unless you are lucky enough to live in a place where the natural tap water is Acid and Soft, you will need the use of a Reverse Osmosis filter and a HMA filter.
The RO filter will remove 99.9% of everything in the water, making the Ph around 6.2 depending on where you live. The HMA filter will remove the heavy metals and the Chlorine, which are extremely harmful to discus. The HMA will not alter the Ph which is ideal, because we can use that to blend with the RO water to make the correct Ph.
Now if you are breeding you will need the Ph to be between 6.2 and 6.5. If you are just keeping discus say in a show tank you will need the Ph between 6.7 and 7.0. With the hardness between 3 and 5GH.
I like to use 'Indian Almond Leaves' in all my discus tanks as I find it gives a natural additive to the water similar to liquids you can buy which claim to add chemicals to the water that will give you that Amazon river consistency. The top breeders in the far east use these leaves. I always favour the natural approach every time!
Temperature should be 29 degrees centigrade.
Do your water changes regularly, the often the better, and you will not go far wrong!
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