Hard And Soft...........die?

[JAY323]

if a fish needs soft water but i keep em in a Hard water tank will the fish die or can it last?

 

[Gankutsuou]

A: If it NEEDS something, it NEEDS it, so I'd guess so.
B: be more specific on the fish please
c: never good to go against Ideal conditions.

 

[JAY323]

im not sure if my water is hard of soft


So if i put n angel in my tank will it do ok

ph 7.2
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 20

 

[Gankutsuou]

nitrite 20 <---- I am no expert... but that doesn't sound good....

 

[WILDER]

Think he's got them mixed up, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, sounds more like it.

 

[Bignose]

im not sure if my water is hard of soft

well, you need to obtain a GH and/or KH test, or take your water to your LFS and have them test for you. Be sure to ask for a number, I never like just guessing what 'very hard' or 'only soft' means to someone else.

That said, some fish can make the change, some cannot. A change in hardness is among the more stressful changes you can make on a fish. In a very quick netshell, a fish can adjust its intenral pH to respond to an external pH rather quickly, if and only if the mineral content of the outside water is favorable to do so. If there is a change in hardness, i.e. minearals, this kind of throws all the fish's systems out of whack, since almost all of them key off salt and mineral exchange at the gills. A large change can be done, it just takes time.

To really know, please learn the GH and/or KH values of your water, your LFS's water, and what fish you want to try to perfrom this on. Then the forum can give you a lot more detailed answers and/or experiences.

 

[JAY323]

sorry i get nitrates and nitrites mixed up.well im saying like an angel fish for exaple wat does it need hard of soft ? and wat if i got the opposite can it last in the other HARD/SOFt water?

 

[Ter]

low PH.. Soft Water.. they will NOT be happy in hard water.. not like the hardcore discus.. but just a step up... PH about 6.4-7.2 ABOUT ... .. don't buy a fish if you arn't willing 2 give it what it needs.. not saying that you wont.. but i've seen it often here
Ter

 

[JAY323]

what is genreal PH all freshwater tropical fish can handle 7.0?

I kno thats y im asking cuz i aint got no Gh Kp test thing..ill get 1 by christmas ^

 

[Pheonix]

7 is basically in the middle, not acid or alkaline, some fish prefer more alkaline water some prefer more acidic water, depends what you want to keep in the long run, u can buffer your water either way to get the desired effect, just make sure all the inhabitants of the tank like that type of water

 

[Silverlady]

My water is 7.2 pH . My Angels are happy .If they are bought locally to you ask the Lfs if their pH is the same as yours, if so any fish from there should be OK

 

[Tolak]

low PH.. Soft Water.. they will NOT be happy in hard water.. not like the hardcore discus.. but just a step up... PH about 6.4-7.2 ABOUT ... .. don't buy a fish if you arn't willing 2 give it what it needs.. not saying that you wont.. but i've seen it often here
Ter

Someone needs to tell my angels that are breeding in hard water with a pH of 7.7 that they should not be happy. I always thought fish that were breeding were happy fish.

Angels can acclimate to a wide range of hardness & pH, the important thing is acclimating them properly. Follow what Bignose said, then post the numbers of the results. Those numbers are a key thing. Also try to buy them from a non-corporate owned shop, and ask if they were locally bred. If they were raised in the same water you are putting in your tank the acclimation process is minimal, no matter what the test results are.

 

[Lynden]

I agree. I have heard of (and done so myself) many different fish being acclimatized to a "deadly" level.



-Lynden

 

[dwarfgourami]

I think we'd have to say it depends on the fish. Angels are reasonably adaptable, particularly if locally bred- but when I tried keeping mollies in soft acid water it was a series of disasters- not that they dropped dead straightaway, but they caught every disease that was going, their health was just undermined. Even when they survived, fishkeeping wasn't much fun under those circumstances. In fact, this was part of what put me off keeping fish for 30 years afterwards.

 

[CFC]

People need to stop worrying about the pH and GH of their water and concentrate on keeping what they have clean and stable, the vast majority of commonly available community fish will be fine in domestic tapwater provided it isnt in the extreems of hardness or softness. pH and GH only become an issue if you are keeping sensative or wild caught species which may be effected by being kept in water that is not right for them.