How many different types of Heckels?

[vss]

It's one of the question that confused me the most all the time. How many different types of Heckels are there and how to catagorize them? :confused: The appearance of heckels seems pretty diverse to me regarding the striation coverage, the hue of base color and blue color...maybe it's due to different types of heckel or maybe just different age or water condition? I've also heard heckels being sold with some different names like blue face heckel, blue moon heckel, cobalt heckel, etc...Is there a way or standard to tell one from another? thanks! :D

-Xiaofei :)

[Apistomaster]

This is a meaningless question to me and here the reason why.
Yes, we see a lot of variations that diverge from what most consider to be the archetypical Heckel but in any given population there are only a small per centage which diverge much from the "standard" Heckel. The same is true for the other two species of Discus, S, aequfasciata and S. haraldi. Red S. haraldi from Nhamunda and one from Alenquer are not very different and the exporter will choose any name they know hobbyists key in on regardless of where the fish were captured. Fishermen bringing in particularly distinctive fish are like fishermen of all kinds; they do not typically tell the truth about where their best fishing areas are. As a life long fly fisherman I am very familiar with this phenomenon.

The exporters sort through all the incoming fish from diverse capture locations them sort them by similarities. The more unusual or most distinctive yet similar fish are grouped together regardless of where the fish were captured.
It only seems like there are many types because of this sorting and the most unusually colored specimens are sold at higher prices although they were probably only paying the fisherman a set price for how many of a given species were brought in to them.
These "one percenters" get a lot of attention by hobbyists but they are not representative of a any given species on the whole.

[Discus Origins]

I would say that there are definitely different types of Heckels based on color variations. It is true that the exporters will group the most brightly colored or 'alpha' individuals and sell as a more special name for higher prices. We all know about blue faced heckels, but there are many collecting locations that find fish with solid blue cheek plates.

As a hobbyist who has monitored the wild fish market for the past 15 years and not someone who has actually been to the amazon, I wouldn't be able to answer this question with certainty. And anyone who claims to besides Bleher or Dale Jordan (people we know have been) would just be talking out of their hind end.

The only one that has been verified to be different as a group by Heiko Bleher is from Nhamunda where most individuals from the region has an unusually amount of blue in the body coloration. Herein lies the problem, from this region the names royal heckel, blue cobalt, and blue moon are described!

Personally I have kept 5 'strains' of heckels - rio Negro, unini, jatapu, jaua, nhamunda. The most colorful ones as a group were the Nhamundas. Don't know if this helped a lot, but hopefully you got some info out of this.

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi,

thank for the comments and you explained it very well and very correct, some of the populations (I found also some extremes in Rio Negro tributaries and - and thank for reading my book...well done).

At the end of the day this is with almost every fish species like it, there are different population of one species, as you saw the S. haraldi - the Blue and Brown so called, how many populations there are in the wild... and than all the alpha animals... galore.

Best regards and thanks again,

always
Heiko Bleher

[erikc]

It's true that it does seem confusing, basically there is only one heckel, however you will have an infinity of colour morphs. The easiest classification of this is by river or lago and the name they are given by the vendor rarely corresponds to the exact location wher they are fished.

Okay, a few rivers have been cited, but they are more Heckel rivers in the Amazon.There is also the Rio Abacaxis, Rio MariMari which have some amazingly beautifull blue specimens as well (I promise I will update some pictures of my Heckels), there is also the Rio Pauini.

Whatever they are called they are all trully beautifull fish and most captivating to watch, they truly are unique.

Pictures anyone ?

[richiem111]

Erikc, I've seen the pictures of your MariMari Heckels that you posted under the "Heckels never seem to amaze me..." thread and they are stunning fish! Please post some more pictures of your other discus.

Best Regards.

[Moon]

I would think the colour variations are due to habitat, food and environmental factors.
AFAIK there is only one Heckel discus.
A good example of colour variations is the Tropheus Moori from Lake Tanganika. There are a multitude of colour morphs because of habitat cahnge. But they are all the same type.

[Tito]

"As a life long fly fisherman I am very familiar with this phenomenon."

LOL

Are you planning to run for President? You're so PC. lol

Anybody knows me I would have just called it!

[Apistomaster]

"As a life long fly fisherman I am very familiar with this phenomenon."

LOL

Are you planning to run for President? You're so PC. lol

Anybody knows me I would have just called it!

I always seem to get into trouble here if I am too blunt so I have to watch what and how I say things. That is why was not so direct.
You might become more careful too if you had been in my shoes.
But it is true that all fishermen lie about where they catch the most and best fish.
However there is a corollary said to have originated in West Yellowstone, Montana,
the heart of the "Golden Triangle" of USA trout fly fishing that goes like this,
"Him who catches big fish does not take back alley home."