discus colour vs substrate

[willy]

can a substrate colour have any influence on the colours of the discus?
i have a 75g planted with discus at home, and a 55g planted with same size discus at my office...home tank=flourite, office tank=eco-complete(black). the fish at my office are considerably darker in comparison..plants are similar in both tanks, as well as the standard black background..water parameters are the same, however i've noticed that office tank has a very territorial/agressive discus, the home discus seem to get along better...both tanks have 5 discus..could the darker colour's cause be the substrate, or is it probably just stress?

[stir-fry]

are the lights any more or less intense between your setups??

I have a planted tank and when my discus are near the top (it's a really tall tank), they are almost see-through, and all of their colour disapates. However, when they are near the bottom, their colours stand out like crazy.

This probably doesn't help, but I figured i'd suggest it anyway.

[Wahter]

I've a friend who setup a new tank with EcoComplete and she noticed the same thing you did - dark discus coloration. She's trying to have a light colored background to bring out the coloring of the fish - we'll see how that works out. :)

[Debbie]

yes, darker substrate = darker fish.

[Keystonediscus]

Thanks Debbie well said. Color of subtrate and Backgrounds will effect Discus Colors. I recommend a white back ground with a white bottom or A Pale blue for the back and light tan color for the bottom. I like the white best as for Pigeon blood strains the Brighter tank helps remove alot of the pepper effect. Discus Have a natural ability to change colors to blend with suroundings in the Wild this is the main function for the 9 -14 bars you see on them its a defense mechanisim also helps them catch food. the black tank background and subtrate is definately the cause for the dark discus here.

[M0oN]

I've gone through a large amount of substrates with my discus, from black tahitian moon sand to white art rock sand to flourite...

My basic opinion on this is that the fish are going to mimic whatever is under them, as it's their natural instinct to assume that's where predators will come from.

Black sand gave absolutely horrible colors in my discus, I was horrified and removed the sand after only 3 hours. White sand is nice as well as red flourite.

It really depends on the discus you're keeping, but in general lighter is better from my experience.