Is it my imagination or do tank raise fishes have a harder time adjusting to acidic water then wc fishes to more neutral water.

[anewbie]

So i'm making some assumption that the issue that tank raise fishes have with very acidic water (below 5.5) is the difference in bacteria but my observation seem to be that buying tank raise fishes frequently lead to infant death (first 2 weeks) but wc fishes do fine but conversely putting wc fishes in tap water (here tap water is tds 130 ph ~6.9 to 7.1) seem to have little issue.

So I guess i'm asking if this is my imagination or a known issue with tank raise fishes and low ph aquariums and why one direction is easier to adapt then the other direction.

 

[Mike Wise]

I think it is your imagination. With 50 years keeping apistos, I've found that fish, no matter if wild or domestic, adapt to water values as long as the fish have been shipped properly (no ammonia damage to gills) and acclimated gradually to values not overly extreme.

 

[anewbie]

I think it is your imagination. With 50 years keeping apistos, I've found that fish, no matter if wild or domestic, adapt to water values as long as the fish have been shipped properly (no ammonia damage to gills) and acclimated gradually to values not overly extreme.

I should mention that I'm seeing the issue more with tetra then with cichild but i did have a group of domestic ram immediately develop bacteria infection when put in discus tank - of course wc rams did not have this problem. While the source was the same it could have been a bad batch of fish from wetspot or something latent in the aquarium which does not impact the other inhabitants. I did cure the issue by hand feeding the rams (they are very friendly) some kaplnax laced food.