Can discus live in blackwater? does their natural habitat is blackwater?

[Barry Tetra]

I really like the look of blackwater aquarium and wanted to keep discus in that type of water, does they suitable for it?

@Byron @Colin_T @seangee

 

[Colin_T]

Discus naturally occur in blackwater that contains lots of tannins.

 

[Barry Tetra]

Discus naturally occur in blackwater that contains lots of tannins.

What are the substrate for blackwater aquarium?

 

[Colin_T]

Blackwater creeks and streams normally have sand on the bottom and that may or may not be covered in a layer of silt or mud, depending on how fast the water is flowing. But in an aquarium, you can use sand or gravel, it doesn't make any difference unless you plan on keeping bottom dwelling fishes. Then use sand for them.

Blackwater creeks and streams can have driftwood, rocks or boulders on the bottom and along the edges of the creek.

The only difference between blackwater creeks and normal creeks is the tea stained water.

 

[Byron]

I agree. Aquarists seem to forget that the real importance of "blackwater" with respect to the fish is not the colour of the water so much as it is the parameters. "Blackwater" species can and indeed do often occur in both true blackwater and clearwater habitats. And to be clear, this is not saying the same actual fish move from one to another, that so far as I know does not occur because it is geographically not an option; but the species can be found in a blackwater environment in one area and in a clearwater environment in another. The water parameters are the key.

Hardness must be very low, zero is ideal. And with this the pH will naturally be acidic due to the high organics present, sometimes very much so, in the 4's and 5's. I have been maintaining my soft water fish in such water for years. In one tank I used a lot of dried oak leaves (it was a spawning tank with Corydoras pygmaeus and had Farlowella vitatta fry growing out) and the water remained amber, but my other tanks with equivalent parameters are clear. This is not to say there are not beneficial properties to the tannins and blackwater, but in most cases the fish needing very soft and acidic water is the key.

 

[Barry Tetra]

I have tried sand substrate a bunch of time and doesn’t really worked out, one of my pleco died of “sand stuck into the gills?”

And the sand tank is really really cloudy and stuff

now the tank It looks like this, I use gravel for the time being.
Also does dark substrate making discus darker?

 

[itiwhetu]

I agree with colin_T the tannin's are very important. I have had tanks that the water has been brown in colour if you look at it closely. Most fish from the amazon love it that way. Drift wood is the easiest way of creating that. Brown or Black water tanks will always end up acidic as long as you have a neutral base medium.