are my water parameters ok & question about feeder guppies

Those numbers look good to me.

You CAN feed guppies to cichlids, I don't recommend it but some people do it on occasion.

 

The water parameters look good here. PH is perfect for each group.

The temp seems a bit low for the Angels..... I keep my Angels/Discus at 85-88 degrees. I am not saying to go that high, but is there any reason you are not running 80-82?

 

I don't agree with live feedings unless it's absolutely necessary. That's just me though.

 

I had my first Oscar and fed him all live foods..... needless to say he got HITH (Hole in the Head) and died. I was told NEVER feed a fish live food because the food you give them may introduce disease into the tank as the cheap fish are not really raised in good environments.

No, dont raise it..... not unless you have a problem. Raising temp works better for a lot of illness than meds. If that is what you have always kept and it works I wouldnt raise it. (kind of like I will not lower mine for that reason)

The 1 illness that cant stand heat is Ick! Raise the temp up to 88 and Ick-B-Gone!

 

Very true.

 

Your pH is fine. Keep in mind that a stable pH is A LOT better than a pH that is constantly changing because you have to add buffer to your water. I never worry about kH and gH with African's.

 

I'm a bit confused why he would even tell you to test your gH. I know people do test for it in freshwater but it's not something I'd be concerned about if it was not perfect. gH is basically the measurement of Magnesium and Calcium ions in the water. This is something I test for in saltwater, but not freshwater.

I wouldn't worry about it with your Angel's but again, that's just because those two things aren't something I generally worry about in freshwater unless it's vital. I'll let the Angel keepers comment on that though.

 

Let me point out that I've confused myself that and now I'm questioning what I wrote. LoL

 

My brain isn't working well tonight. LoL I'm pretty sure pH and kH go together. As your pH rises so does your kH, making your water "harder".

 

KH is a calculation between CO2 and PH.... you can use your KH and PH to get your CO2 level and of course you can go backwards...;.. They are all related. KH would not affect fish, low KH makes it hard to grow plants. If your KH gets low you can buffer you KH up using Baking Soda.

I dont really worry much about KH and GH myself. I do check it occasionally just to see if my tap water is the same, otherwise I dont. I did check it a lot when I first started messing with Discus.

Angels like Discus do seem to thrive in softer water (in my experience as my water IS soft) My GH is nothing and KH is almost unreadable too. I do not use Baking Soda in my tank to raise KH.... I just try to find plants that like soft, warm, acidic water to live with my Angels and Discus.

Little old saying I heard when I was younger.... "If it aint broken, dont fix it" I like that! Basically if what you have works.... dont complain or worry.

 

Adding baking soda will also raise your pH.

 

You know, I have never done it.... but I did read up on it online and the chemical that creates KH sold if fish stores IS baking soda. Of course it has to be plain baking soda and not scented or anything.... but another fish keeper told me to do that as my KH is low.

Of course as I said, I have never done that as it seemed fishy to me causing me to look up what baking soda was and what was sold in pet stores to raise KH. Again they were both the same thing.