Well you are vastly misinformed major. Discus DO NOT need soft acidic water, they do fine in hard alkaline water, juvis actually grow better in it because there are more trace minerals to aid in their bone growth. The ONLY time water hardness even becomes an issue is when your trying to breed discus. The eggs just will not become fertilized with harder water. There are many many many plecs that make perfect tank mates for discus. Common plecs aren't algea eating plecs, they are carnivorous, do a bit of research before you say things like that. Bristlenose plecs, gee an algea eater, make super tank mates for discus. If ya don't like plecs, got with farlowella. BTW all plecs come from areas in the wild where the water is soft and acidic, so that point that it being a touchy area, is completely wrong. Most plecs need soft water just like discus to spawn with high fertilization rates.
Major, I don't care who bred what, all I care about is getting accurate info to people, and thats not what your doing.
Monk, if you want good info, and people that know what they are talking about as far as discus go, go check out
http://www.discusasahobby.com and
http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum
Those people (including myself) know their discus, in their own tanks they do what they would suggest to you. They are practical, and understand the fish better than anyone else I know of. If you think the forums are a bit impersonal, get hold of me and I will give you Cary Strong's phone number (
http://www.greatlakesdiscus.com) and Hans' number (
http://www.discushans.com) Or another guy Ryan (Orlando Discus). Take my word, too many people on this forum think they know discus when they don't have a clue.