Rasbora Espei- Soft Water Only?

[dwarfgourami]

My lfs have a beautiful school of these (at least I think they are espei and not hengeli), but I have got to the age where I am no longer prepared to experiment with putting fish in the wrong conditions and hoping to pull it through. I am put off by various web sites saying these need soft acid water. Is this so? Has anyone had experience of keeping them in neutral-hard/neutral-alkaline conditions?

 

[Mad Duff]

My lfs have a beautiful school of these (at least I think they are espei and not hengeli), but I have got to the age where I am no longer prepared to experiment with putting fish in the wrong conditions and hoping to pull it through. I am put off by various web sites saying these need soft acid water. Is this so? Has anyone had experience of keeping them in neutral-hard/neutral-alkaline conditions?

I have kept them at ph7 for a short while but they cerainly do better at anything around 6 to 6.5

 

[dwarfgourami]

I won't do it then. Thanks. It's better to know beforehand; I hate it when fish are not thriving.