From: oleg@Veritas.COM (Oleg Kiselev)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Water Quality and City Water
Date: 19 Aug 92 01:33:20 GMT
Reply-To: oleg@veritas.com (Oleg Kiselev)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Palo Alto Killifish Loft
X-Disclaimer: I speak for myself only unless explicitly indicated otherwise

fvr@broom.bae.bellcore.com (Frank Ricciardi) writes:
>>>Most freshwater fish do not tolerate hard water. ...
>>>Also water that is hard is almost always alkaline. 
>>The generalization about hard water and fish is bullpucky.
>	First off, I said MOST, secondly, what the hell is bullpucky? 

Allow me to rephrase what Matt K. posted:

	Extrapolating the ratio of species that live outside of the tropical
	rain forest vs. the species that live in them, it can be said that
	most fresh water species live in the rain forests.  Since the rain
	forest waters are predominantly soft and more or less acidic, it can
	be said that most freshwater fish live in soft, acidic water.

	On the other hand, only a small number of the fish from the tropical
	rain forest are completely intolerant of the moderately hard water
	and an even smaller number of them are hard water intolerant after
	a few generations of captive breeding in the medium-hard, somewhat
	alkaline water typical of the municipal water systems.  

	What's more, due to the "natural selection" imposed by the municipal 
	water supplies a large number of species offered by the petshops are
	naturally tolerant of hard, alkaline water.

	There for, "[t]he generalization about hard water and fish" is
	misleading.

>I even went as far as to clarify the generalization by mentioning Angels and 
>Discus. 

Your "clarification" was misleading.  Angels and discus have been
selectively bred in captivity for dozens of generations.  They are
quite adapted to moderately hard, mildly alkaline water typical of the
municipal water supplies.  They will have a harder time breeding in
hard, alkaline water hardens the egg membraine making it less permeable
to sperm, reducing the fertility of the fish, but that does not mean
that the fish themselves will not live long, healthy lives in such
water.

>	There were more slanderous remarks in your posting which I chose not
>to address....

There is a difference between "slander" and a "differing opinion".  Matt's
opinion is based on years of experience breeding various species of fresh
water fish.  

One important point he brought up is that you should not fight your water.
It's relatively easy, though inconvenient, to harden soft water.  It's
expensive and not worth it to soften hard water unless you are breeding a 
particularly difficult fish that will simply not spawn in hard water, or
your water is really bad and is full of things that you don't want in your 
tank (silicates, phosphates, etc.).  It is often much easier and cheaper to
select the fish that will do well in your water than to condition the water
to the fishes' taste.

There certainly are plenty of beautiful fish that will breed just fine in 
hard water, as well as a large number of fish that will live well in hard
water.
-- 
"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and 
child." -- Dan Quayle
 
Oleg Kiselev                                             oleg@veritas.com