How do i soften my water

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Sof****er fish live and breed fine in hard water.

Everyone's experience may be different Richard. Small soft-water acid-water
tetras have seldom lived longer than 6 months for me. Our water is off the
scale for hardness and the PH can reach 7.8 - 8. The larger more robust
fish would adapt.

The eggs will not
be fertile though. If you're not breeding them it is of no concern.

This is true but I have yet to get bettas to even spawn in these waters,
whereas in NYs soft acid water it was a snap. Many males don't even make a
bubble nest to speak of. I never had tetras to spawn here in TN but they
did (in the tank's plants) in NY. But again - this is just MY experience.
Bettas do adapt and live fine in my water otherwise. If a person is not
interested in breeding then they should give it a go. I believe their
electrolyte balance goes off then forced to live in hard alkaline water and
that eventually causes their deaths.

I could be wrong of course, but that's what I've noticed in 30 years
of doing exactly this. Just another data point.

And it goes to show you how different things can be from one person's
aquarium to another's aquarium..... :-)
--
KL....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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