black substrate/background

[hohm44]

Looking for opinions here. Would black background and black gravel actually stress discus, or would they just not show their color as well?

[Eddie]

They'll just be darker. My tank had a white bottom and a sky blue backround. Every time the fish hovered over the sponge filter (black and 7inches in diameter), they'd turn totally black. I think the black substrate will have a greater affect on them turning dark.

HTH
Eddie

[tonythediscus]

that is true and it make them have more peppering(depending on what kind of strain you have) i have just peeled off my black tint for my 100gal and was going to put a planted background but when i looked at it clear it really showed the fishes color better then the planted and black tint so i'am keeping it clear

[Don Trinko]

Same here; I moved some fish from a tank with white gravel and a light blue background to a tank with normal gravel and a dark blue background. They are definatly darker now and show their bars more offten. Don T.

[thebigone]

I agree with Eddie on this one and IMO if you are keeping discus you want to enjoy the color of them been that there are many different color/strains. I have a darker back ground and setting up my new tank to have a lighter one so I can enjoy the colors of my fish better. Hope this helps.

[Darrell Ward]

Looking for opinions here. Would black background and black gravel actually stress discus, or would they just not show their color as well?

Black looks good, but makes discus look like s--t, well, you know, dark.:D Remember, "Light makes discus look right". :D

[Patr1ck]

No extra stress, just darker colors, trying to blend in.

P

[brewmaster15]

Its not going to stress them at all... but depending on the strain they will take on a different appearence than in a lighter color tank..

I think a group of albinos or snow whites would look great in a tank with black background and substrate... Its on my to do list in 2009;):)

However..PB based strains will show pepper if they have it to show, many of the newer PBs have so little pepper its probably negliable... Blues will darken.


hth,
al


-al

[mmorris]

s--t,

Yup, that's what my friends say when they see my tank for the first time. :)

The turqs do darken up, and bd as well. These blue ones are blue sapphires and they do not darken up. Albinos look great with a black background.

[mmorris]

An albino:

[Darrell Ward]

Seriously, I had turqs with a black background. The fish were very dark. Some goldens in the same tank didn't darken at all. Guess it depends on the strain. I just use light colors these days, in case I need to move fish around, to help prevent these shifts in color.

[Eddie]

The turqs do darken up, and bd as well. These blue ones are blue sapphires and they do not darken up. Albinos look great with a black background.

Wow, gorgeous discus! The background is black but what about the bottom? It looks like the bottom is light....:o

Eddie

[mmorris]

Wow, gorgeous discus! The background is black but what about the bottom? It looks like the bottom is light....:o

Eddie

Thanks Eddie, I sprayed the outside bottom with sandstone paint. It needs to be re-done, though. I should have added that my blue turq didn't darken up in this tank and it shows up vividly. There may be few hard and fast rules about which discus will look great with a black background and which will darken up.

[rerdragon1977]

if you look to the next section planted biotopes it apears that in 80% of the pictures of all the backgrounds are black with dark substrate and those fish look good. it is possible that overhead light is also a contributor rather than background colour?

[Patr1ck]

if you look to the next section planted biotopes it apears that in 80% of the pictures of all the backgrounds are black with dark substrate and those fish look good. it is possible that overhead light is also a contributor rather than background colour?

I agree with having bright lights and them influencing the discus to be more vivid.

P

[rerdragon1977]

a planted tank with highter lighting +2 WPG and not have signifigant effect of a black background compared to normal lighting of less than .5 on a tank. Overall tank darkeness contributes to the change and not the colour of one of the tank walls.

[GrillMaster]

Sweet tank ya have there Martha!! :thumbsup:

I am wondering if your the exception rather than the rule as far as your turks are concerned. I had a dark Blue background on my tank when I had turks and they were always pretty dark no stress bars or anything just really dark blue. The bottom was painted black though with just soft lighting (30W I believe). I bought a new tank and repainted it light blue top sides and bottom same lighting. The transformation was night an day! They lightened right up. Lighter than the back ground and really looked alot better IMO...

How much light ya runnin over that tank BTW?

[mmorris]

Sweet tank ya have there Martha!! :thumbsup:

I am wondering if your the exception rather than the rule as far as your turks are concerned. I had a dark Blue background on my tank when I had turks and they were always pretty dark no stress bars or anything just really dark blue. The bottom was painted black though with just soft lighting (30W I believe). I bought a new tank and repainted it light blue top sides and bottom same lighting. The transformation was night an day! They lightened right up. Lighter than the back ground and really looked alot better IMO...

How much light ya runnin over that tank BTW?

Thanks, Mark. My four checkerboard turqs all darkened up. As I mentioned, my blue turq didn't, and I have one red turq that darkened up a little but not much. Another pair of turqs darkened up a whole lot but they're used to having their own tank and they weren't happy about being in the 125. I've since moved them back. A black background is great with the right strains. I'm curious to see whether my Red Covers darken when they've big enough for the `big kids tank'. I've got two 96 watt lights on this 125 gal. tank.

[zanirtak]

We have a 75g with a black background - in your experience which strains pop nicely against the black background?

Thanks!

[mmorris]

Blue Sapphires - not blue diamonds, and any of the albinos. I've got Albino Goldens and Albino Turqs and they both look great (well, as good as their genes will allow! :D). I have a blue turq that shows up nicely but I don't know if that is true for all blue turqs. The pics are a turq and the checkerboard turqs. Not a very good pic of the checherboards, I'm afraid. I'm interested in knowing how golden-based discus do with a black background. Anybody?