HECKEL COLORATIONS

[William Palumbo]

In keeping Heckels, I have always noticed the way that they can change colors...and do so very rapidly. When I watch my Heckels, I will observe the central bar get very light...lighter than the rest of the fish, and take on a almost yellow hue...other times it is a shade of purple. The background color changes as well...from a light color, to a very scarlet or maroon coloration. And it can and usually does change rapidly. Reminds me of the Cuttlefish! I have noticed color changes in other Discus, but not to the extent of the Heckels. And not as rapidly. I see the changes most while they are eating or interacting with each other...is a bit hard to describe, but hopefully others have witnessed this as well. And I don't mean the changing of colors when they are sick or stressed. I find this a very intresting trait to the Heckels...one of the reasons they facinate me so much....Bill

[Apistomaster]

Hi Bill,
The same thing is part of why I like the Heckel so much. They are expressive fish. I think Heckels are the most sociable amongst their own kind of all the wild discus.
I have a hypothesis that their relatively consistent pattern of the prominent 5th bar and the other two and characteristic striated bodies are adaptations that are related to their group cohesiveness. May I stress hypothesis? The small group of 10 that I keep are far more peaceful amongst themselves than are my Blue Discus or any Greens I have had.
Some think it has more to do with camouflage. Both ideas probably have some truth.
I am always amazed at how gently my Heckels signal threats to one another or defend the territorial claims a couple may make.
In any case, I'm glad Heckels are Heckels and have their ways.

[William Palumbo]

Hi Larry,

I agrre with what you say. Glad I am not the only one who sees or feels that way. I think Heckels are VERY social towards each other, and that most of the color changes I witness is a form of communication to one another...which I do not see amongst other Discus...wild or otherwise. I wonder in the Amazon, with such stained water how much they would really light up and shine! Would be a sight to see just how they color up when spawning...or what forms of movement or color they would produce to attract or round up their fry!...Bill

[pan]

I had domestic discus and finally the heckel earned me.They are amazing and interesting creatures like they have personality only if you have heckel you can understand me.They have motion that domestic don't have so much and the coloration 's that friend William Palumbo described excellent are magnificent, they change coloration so rapidly and can be so bright their coloration that you cannot believe it , they are so sociable fishes and when you have a big group of them you can see a completely different attitude as you may have in a small group.What can i say the heckel is my weakness among all other discus

[Moon]

I too have noticed this during feeding and particurlarly after feeding. They appear to jostle each other after mealtime and during this time the colour change is noticeable. I've also noted during times of uncertainity and stress they all line up with their backs to the wall (back wall of tank) and stare at you. Apparently this is normal behaviour for wild caught discus. Heiko showed this in his presentation recently in Toronto.

[ShinShin]

I have observed this as well, and we discussed it years ago on Discus Page Holland. It was the general concensus that while the bars are definately a form of camo in the dark, root littered waters, expression and communication were being transmitted, like a visual language. This was not limited to the Heckels, however. Domestic discus and other wild species display as well by color change, especially the bars. How many times have you witnessed almost silver bars on a Red Turquois or Cobalt domestic? Or, a wild blue/brown or green discus? I've had Alenquers turn from bright brick red to a muddy dirt brown and back in seconds during a confrontation or feeding hassel.

Mat

[Moon]

If that is a natural way of communication how do bar-less domestics communicate?

[William Palumbo]

That's a good question Moon. You would think Discus that do not have bars, or are of the PB based fish wish do not turn dark, have a harder time of communicating and may be bullied more in a tank because it cannot show stress bars...tho body language, one would think comes into play. I too have had wild Blue, Green and Brown Discus that change their stress bars from light to dark...purple to black...but not their background coloration as to the extent of the Heckel. Tho their blue stripes may become very intense, their background color do not really change...just gets a few shades darker. As Larry said about his Alenquers changing hues of red, I have a tank of San Merahs that change their hue of red when fighting or feeding....but I can't say I have seen that on my blue-based fish...other than the intensifying of the stress bars...or the darkening when sick or spawning. I feel that is a sign that the Heckels are happy when they change colors like that. I keep mine in RO water filtered thru peat...a sandy white bottom with natural driftwood...the water is VERY stained, but they really shine in it. Which I feel is the way Heckles look and feel their best. The main problem is LFS get Heckels and throw them in any empty tank with no concern for their requirements...and because of that all the hobbyist ever sees is a bland, washed out Discus with very heavy striping, hiding in the back or corner of the tank. I can see why hobbyist would shy away from these fish...I would too seeing them like that and not knowing any better. Like most of my Killies...when kept in a darker tank, with indirect lighting and peat stained whater they look like little jewels..people are amazed that such little fish shine that much...those fish in a typical LFS set up look like bait...Bill

[illumnae]

Environment definitely plays a part in the colouration of heckels I feel, not just communication. For me, the back of my tank is stuck with black paper...however the rest of the tank is as nature...with fine fine sand, stained water and floating driftwood hanging down to emulate roots. I find that when the heckels rest near the back, they all turn black, sometimes to the extent that when I'm looking from far, they camoflage into the black background. When they're out and about swimming however, they show all the colours of the wind! It's exactly as described by many...with the main bar appearing and disappearing, the other bars appearing and disappearing...the main body showing many different hues and shades...it's amazing really. I've kept various breeds of domestics and I haven't seen as much colour diversity in them as in these heckels.

At my LFS however, the heckels are kept in tanks that are painted white on 4 sides. These heckels are never black like mine when resting. They are always fair coloured. However, I think they aren't as happy as the ones in my tank, so i don't see as much colour changes as in my own tank. I must say, however, that when the tank is painted white, the heckels are much more attractive. They are very clearly yellow/white or yellow/blue and attract alot of interest. Beautiful fish despite being in th LFS!

[William Palumbo]

I find it amazing how when the Heckles do hide amongst the driftwood and branches, how much they "disappear" in the tank. I have at times had to get my flashlight out to see if they were all in there. Once settled into the driftwood and branches, they do become part of the environment...Bill

[plecocicho]

William and ilumnae please post pics of your heckels and aquariums!:D

[mckchu]

The intensity of the fifth bar also differ from heckel to heckel. Most of my heckels fifth bar are permanently there - regardless of shade... but I have 2 blue-face heckels that only shows the fifth bar at feeding time and/or when picking on someone else. When they are not showing the fifth bar - they can be passed as a royal-blue!

Is this specific to heckels from different regions or just individuals?

[illumnae]

William and ilumnae please post pics of your heckels and aquariums!:D

I think I'll get flamed by the purists if I post pics of my heckels in their final intended home :( It's a planted tank and not a biotope tank

[plecocicho]

Ilumnae, if your aquarium also have some refugee like wood and your discus are visibly healthy, no one will atack you. Better planted than bare bottom tank without cover.:p

[illumnae]

There's branchy bogwood with bolbitis tied in the centre!

I'll finish the extended QT of the altums and the heckels (that's another sore point, putting altums and heckels together!) in about a month, then in they go into the planted tank!

[Apistomaster]

Hi ilumnae,
I actually think if you choose to keep your Heckels and Altums together it may help them both act less shy.
Sure, they do not occur in the same place unless you belong to the school of thought that some Altums are found in the Cassquiere but Heckels aren't found there. It is a transition zone between the Alto Rio Negro and part of the Orinoco drainage. The water chemistry is similar.
I am not one whom adherence to a true biotope is that important. I try to keep fish from the same general area and water chemistry together but I don't take it to the logical extremes.
I keep fish for pleasure and even if I wanted a true biotope it is not very practical for most fish.
It's easier to duplicate microhabitats like those of Dwarf Cichlids where they share it with small Characins and Catfish. I know they have predators but I won't take it so far as to include some Pike Cichlids with them.
I have kept Dwarf Pike Cichilds, C. compressiceps and C. regani with Wild Angels and Discus successfully. C. regani get along better. I have actually kept Apistogramma spp with them without any problems. The Dwarf Pikes won't bother adult Apistogramma but they are fry eating specialists. So you can't hope to raise any baby Dwarf Cichlids with Dwarf pikes.
Dwarf Pikes don't bother anything they can't swallow whole except each other.

[illumnae]

Thanks Larry :) I'll put some pictures in once the altums and heckels move to their new home!

By the way, which area/river do heckels come from? My next project will be a 85gal heckel biotope that will conform to nature as much as possible (minus the predators!) so I'd like to know what would be good tankmates for a tank like that. It'll probably have to wait till next year's season though, my wallet's kind of empty as I'm getting married in a month. but it's always good to plan early!

[plecocicho]

They live in Rio Negro,river Nhamunda, rio Abaxias. There are the locations for the majority of sold wild heckels.

[Genirous]

Hi illumnae,
for a heckel biotope tank I don't think there are many fishes that could make good tankmates... Especially when talking about dublicating a ''biotope''.

Maybe a few pleco-species could do for the job, some from the genus ancistrus, hypancistrus or panaque. I have choosen rineloricaria melini as the most suitable for this purpose, but unfortunately I haven't found some wilds to buy here...

[illumnae]

For a Rio Negro biotope, I was thinking of the following as tankmates:

Corydoras duplicareus
L183 Ancistrus (Starlight bristlenose)
Blackwing hatchetfish/cardinal tetras as ditherfish
Dicrossus filamentosus

They may not be strictly from the exact same portion of the Rio Negro as heckels, but I guess it's as close as I can get? :)

[Genirous]

It is not only matter of same portion/region of Rio Negro,
but for the best condition for the tank-mates inside the aquarium and of course without problems living with heckels... It is not random why every fish has chosen to live in a different habitat. It is because every fish wants the best for itself, which isn't the same for all the fishes!

For small characins you could choose between nannostomus marilynae, nannostomus eques, nannostomus trifasciatus, nannostomus unifasciatus, cardinal tetras, rummy nose tetras. The point is that little fish don't really add something important to our tanks except from their beauty... Some of them are really restless and move around everywhere and I believe heckels want as more quiet tank-mates as they can be. Even more restless are the blackwing hatchetfish.
For catfishes something from starlight bristlenose, brilliant bristlenose, hypancistrus inspector, hypancistrus sp.L136, panaque sp.L306, gold stripe panaque and rineloricaria melini. Hypancistrus need fast water current to live well, same with panaque, something less with ancistrus and finally rineloricaria, which is a species that can live well with low water current.
As for dicrossus filamentosus, I had them with my heckels for a short time and what I have to say is that those little dwarf-chiclids attacked my discus and I took them out of the tank... Every cichlid or dwarf-cichlid will may get offensive, especially if they spawn... I would not recommend any of these to the same tank with heckels...

[Eddie]

Is there a significant color difference in the Heckels between the 3 areas where they come from? I'd like to see a picture of a heckel from each location. Anybody know of any links?

Thanks

Eddie

[AlexR]

Eddie, look at this page (not only Heckel)

http://amazon-exotic-import.de/Gallerie/Diskuswildf%E4nge/INDEX.htm


Alex

[Eddie]

Wow Alex, thanks alot. Thats alot of wilds to choose from. My favorite is the Mari Mari Heckel, and Mari Mari Blue Face. So nice

Eddie