Identify this type of discus please?

[bnii]

I am new here, and bought a discus this weekend. I got rid of my pleco, and parrot fish and kept the others to see how it would work out. My water temp is 82 degrees. My PH is 7.0, but hardness is almost 300. I added some salt to bring it down, but is there any recomendations anyone could give? I have a 55 gallon with 2 Severums, 2 Cory cats, 1 beta(just fish sitting), and 4 angels. I have 2 discus total, but the other one was too shy to come out for a picture. Can anyone help me identify this little cutie? Any recomendations would be greatly appreciated.

[bnii]

Could not post a picture, it was too big. Here we go.

[Merrilyn]

That looks like a young Blue Diamond you have there.

Discus prefer warm temperatures, so your 82 degrees is a bit too cold for them. Can you gradually increase it to 87 degrees. Not sure how your severum will cope with that high temperature, but it's really essential for the health of your discus.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

You'll find lots of information on setting up a discus tank in the Discus 101 forum.

[bnii]

Thats what I thought it was judging by pics I have seen from posts on this forum. And thank you for the quick reply. Any ideas how to soften the water a bit? What hardness to discus prefer?

[Merrilyn]

Discus really prefer very soft, slightly acidic water, although the hardness won't be a critical factor unless you want to breed your fish.

Test the water coming out of your tap for hardness, and then the water in your tank. Sometimes the gravel or rocks or ornaments in the tank will make the water really hard.

If your tap water is still very hard, you can try softening it by filtering it through peat moss, but really the only sure way is by adding some RO water to your tank.

Depends which part of the world you live in. Folks in Australia have it pretty good, with the water naturally being soft and a pH of around 7. Could well be a different story in your part of the world.

[*Chris*]

severum will be fine
severums are one of the toughest lrg south americans but id be more worried about him knocking the discus around later when he grows
EXAI

[k9outfit]

I added some salt to bring it down
I don't believe adding salt brings the pH down any; I add salt to my Africans' water to harden it. They love it, but have my doubts about how the Discus would feel about it long term? Also, if Severums are SA Cichlids, wouldn't they also prefer soft water? I know my Ramirezis do better in very soft & acidic. Lastly, I've seen enough threads that would make me just a touch apprehensive about keeping Angels with Discus :shock: ....

Just my $0.01/2... :D