nacra99
10-01-2004, 06:05 PM
Hi guys,
I recently surfed upon an article by Chan Ming of Chan Ming Discus (see below). Here he outlines a proedure for physically reducing or even preventing bar and pepper formation. I'm a little (just a little) skeptical.. what do you guys think?
Cheers
Marc
Article:
We keep discus mainly for their beauty. That is why from an aesthetic point of view, the vertical black bar exhibited on the discus body is not a preferable feature. We will appreciate the colors the magnificent discus give us and are hopeful that one of these days, colors of these fishes will evolve into those of the colorful marine fishes. Therefore the vertical black bar that covers most of the body is displeasing. It will greatly discount our pleasure appreciating their beauty. Although some people will argue that it is unnatural to get rid of the bar artificially; well, my answer is to ask them to keep wild discus. "Tank raised" discus by definition, imply some improvement work done on the discus by the breeder and since it is tank-raised, we, as professional breeders, must have some input or "value-added" into our products to make them more attractive to the general public so more people will get their hands on this King of Aquarium Fishes.
Getting rid of the vertical black bar includes getting rid of the two most prominent bars - namely the first bar (eye bar) and the last bar (tail bar). This technique is already in existence when I first got involved with the discus more than 10 years ago. Whoever invented this technique is difficult to trace now but I am very sure that this technique is invented in Hong Kong. Before we get into the discussion of this topic, let us first try to understand why the discus in their natural habitat will have the bar feature?
As one of the beings living in the Amazon River for centuries, the discus developed their body shape like a saucer. This, however, is not the best natural design for escape when danger appears. The discus does not develop a good fighting form either. Therefore to prevent themselves from being devoured by other fierce animals, they developed a good camouflage technique. Every time, when danger surface, their nine vertical bars will become more obvious thus enabling them to hide amongst the driftwood or bushes. After many generations, this physical attribute of the discus became a genetical trait that could be passed on to future offsprings. Therefore with the exception of a few mutated variety, there is no discus that does not display the nine vertical black bars.
In the commercial side of the hobby, this exercise of getting rid of all the bars is to enhance the product to make them more saleable. Under normal circumstances when the discus reaches two inches, the vertical bars are the most obvious. If we could somehow get rid of them, the resulting effect will be better. But do not worry as this exercise will have no side effects whatsoever on the growth of the discus. It would not alter its genetical status either. We are just getting rid of the bar in advance, since when they are fully grown, the discus will eventually get rid of their bar in artificial environment that is under good condition.?
The exercise is to utilise intense artificial light to disrupt the display of the bar during the normal growth stage. Under long hours of exposure to lighted artificial environment, the discus would feel safe even though it is placed in a naked tank. The discus does not need to promote the display of the bars. However, one minor drawback would be that sometimes, this may cause some unnaturalness due to the reduction of activity of the discus. But for most breeders, this is quite acceptable.
One of the real shortcoming when using intense artificial light is the reduction of the base color, striation or spots, especially the blue and red pigment. But for the Pigeon Blood variety, long exposure to intense light can in fact reduce the freckles by as much as 70%. It is quite an attractive proposition to do. This method can also be applied on most of the other varieties in order to get rid of the undesirable bars, except for the Blue Diamond since they do not have any black pigment on their bodies. If you use this method for the Blue Diamond, their blue color will become lighter and undesirable. Then, it will be meaningless. Remember, there is no such need to use intense light for Blue Diamond!
You could start this exercise once the frys have hatched or when the frys are detached from the mother's body. You could use a normal domestic neon light or flourescent light (unfortunately light bulbs will not do the trick). The light must be placed right above the water with a distance of not more than 10 inches. Then the light must remain for 24 hours until the frys are 30 days old or about 1.5 inches.?Some breeders will continue until the fish is about 90 days old but according to my experience, 30 days is enough. More than that, the discus will appear inactive. By limiting the time to 30 days, we could avoid this inactiveness but still achieve our objective and not affecting the growth cycle. Within this one month period, the fry will still be quite normally active despite the fact that we provide them with 24 hours non-stop lighting. Between the hours from midnight to 7a.m., there is virtually no activities in the hatchery, the frys will reduce their activities to the minimum even when there is light.?They will still rest during this period because they do not see people and they know that there is no food. So, they will use the time to relax and rest. We do not have to worry about their shortened rest hours.
Although this exercise is quite common amongst Hong Kong discus farms, I hope that through this opportunity I could share this little technique with breeders abroad, so that we can all work together towards the common goal of making better and more beautiful discus
I recently surfed upon an article by Chan Ming of Chan Ming Discus (see below). Here he outlines a proedure for physically reducing or even preventing bar and pepper formation. I'm a little (just a little) skeptical.. what do you guys think?
Cheers
Marc
Article:
We keep discus mainly for their beauty. That is why from an aesthetic point of view, the vertical black bar exhibited on the discus body is not a preferable feature. We will appreciate the colors the magnificent discus give us and are hopeful that one of these days, colors of these fishes will evolve into those of the colorful marine fishes. Therefore the vertical black bar that covers most of the body is displeasing. It will greatly discount our pleasure appreciating their beauty. Although some people will argue that it is unnatural to get rid of the bar artificially; well, my answer is to ask them to keep wild discus. "Tank raised" discus by definition, imply some improvement work done on the discus by the breeder and since it is tank-raised, we, as professional breeders, must have some input or "value-added" into our products to make them more attractive to the general public so more people will get their hands on this King of Aquarium Fishes.
Getting rid of the vertical black bar includes getting rid of the two most prominent bars - namely the first bar (eye bar) and the last bar (tail bar). This technique is already in existence when I first got involved with the discus more than 10 years ago. Whoever invented this technique is difficult to trace now but I am very sure that this technique is invented in Hong Kong. Before we get into the discussion of this topic, let us first try to understand why the discus in their natural habitat will have the bar feature?
As one of the beings living in the Amazon River for centuries, the discus developed their body shape like a saucer. This, however, is not the best natural design for escape when danger appears. The discus does not develop a good fighting form either. Therefore to prevent themselves from being devoured by other fierce animals, they developed a good camouflage technique. Every time, when danger surface, their nine vertical bars will become more obvious thus enabling them to hide amongst the driftwood or bushes. After many generations, this physical attribute of the discus became a genetical trait that could be passed on to future offsprings. Therefore with the exception of a few mutated variety, there is no discus that does not display the nine vertical black bars.
In the commercial side of the hobby, this exercise of getting rid of all the bars is to enhance the product to make them more saleable. Under normal circumstances when the discus reaches two inches, the vertical bars are the most obvious. If we could somehow get rid of them, the resulting effect will be better. But do not worry as this exercise will have no side effects whatsoever on the growth of the discus. It would not alter its genetical status either. We are just getting rid of the bar in advance, since when they are fully grown, the discus will eventually get rid of their bar in artificial environment that is under good condition.?
The exercise is to utilise intense artificial light to disrupt the display of the bar during the normal growth stage. Under long hours of exposure to lighted artificial environment, the discus would feel safe even though it is placed in a naked tank. The discus does not need to promote the display of the bars. However, one minor drawback would be that sometimes, this may cause some unnaturalness due to the reduction of activity of the discus. But for most breeders, this is quite acceptable.
One of the real shortcoming when using intense artificial light is the reduction of the base color, striation or spots, especially the blue and red pigment. But for the Pigeon Blood variety, long exposure to intense light can in fact reduce the freckles by as much as 70%. It is quite an attractive proposition to do. This method can also be applied on most of the other varieties in order to get rid of the undesirable bars, except for the Blue Diamond since they do not have any black pigment on their bodies. If you use this method for the Blue Diamond, their blue color will become lighter and undesirable. Then, it will be meaningless. Remember, there is no such need to use intense light for Blue Diamond!
You could start this exercise once the frys have hatched or when the frys are detached from the mother's body. You could use a normal domestic neon light or flourescent light (unfortunately light bulbs will not do the trick). The light must be placed right above the water with a distance of not more than 10 inches. Then the light must remain for 24 hours until the frys are 30 days old or about 1.5 inches.?Some breeders will continue until the fish is about 90 days old but according to my experience, 30 days is enough. More than that, the discus will appear inactive. By limiting the time to 30 days, we could avoid this inactiveness but still achieve our objective and not affecting the growth cycle. Within this one month period, the fry will still be quite normally active despite the fact that we provide them with 24 hours non-stop lighting. Between the hours from midnight to 7a.m., there is virtually no activities in the hatchery, the frys will reduce their activities to the minimum even when there is light.?They will still rest during this period because they do not see people and they know that there is no food. So, they will use the time to relax and rest. We do not have to worry about their shortened rest hours.
Although this exercise is quite common amongst Hong Kong discus farms, I hope that through this opportunity I could share this little technique with breeders abroad, so that we can all work together towards the common goal of making better and more beautiful discus