Morning sun, a beautiful sight

[ZaPPPa]

At this very moment I am looking at my tank that is struck by early morning sunlight and my discus are sunbathing in it 8)... The color on the fish is absolutely amazing!! Especially the turqoise... Shining like it's a metallic surface.

BTW. I live in an appartment on the fifth floor and during the winter the sun is so low that it reaches the back wall. My tank is perpendicular to the window, but for about half an hour the sunlight hits the bottom-left side of the tank, about 25% of the whole tank. I never noticed it before because I am either at work or sleeping at this time.. :)

Do you guys think this could induce spawning some day, when they are old enough?

[paulmat]

ZaPPa
My fish,almost 90% of the time spawn in the evening, just when the lights go off,or right after they go off. Like clockwork. I think they have only laid once in the A.M.
in MOE
Paul :guitarist:

[Rod]

Know what you mean Zapppa about the morning sun and the beautiful colors when it hits the tank. I have a 2' cube tank right next to the computer with a pair of discus in it, and when i'm up early in the morning tapping away on the keyboard there is nothing better than to watch the colors of the discus glow with the morning sunlight bathing onto them. 8)

[ZaPPPa]

Yup, and they say discus don't like bright light... ::)

Maybe it would be an idea to make a list of common misperceptions about Discus, or is there already a post like that here that I have missed?

[Rod]

I think the problem people have with sunlight hitting the tank is more to do with the shadows that are cast onto it that can spook some discus, and i guess the sun creates shadows if you were to stand between the tank and the sun. The discus must see the shadow as a potential threat so retreat until they feel sucure again. In my case shadows can't happen and my discus are definately not concerned about the sunlight.

[DarkDiscus]

Rod,

Yes, indeed! It all depends on where the window is and if you move between it and the tank. That's what freaks the fish out. I used to have my breeding tanks lined along the wall of my bedroom - Nicaraguans, chocolate cichlids, Tanganyikan Shell Dwellers etc. so that depending on the time of year they would get 1 to 3 hours of sun in the afternoon. Since the light came in on an angle from the side, I never had to move between it and the tanks and the fish loved every minute of it and so did I!

When I set up some tanks on the opposite wall the light crossed through the middle of the room so I would have to cross through the light to move around the room. The fish were very stressed and I had to close the shade permanently to keep them from freaking out.

John

[ZaPPPa]

With my tank there's only one half hour of sun in the morning... I'll just sit and watch through it... and slowly become very hungry, because normally I start eating breakfast around that time in the weekend ;D.

When the sun doesn't hit the tank, I close the shades.