How do my new fish look?

[puntific]

Give me the straight poop! I can take it.

OK. I know the pictures are bad, but they were taken with a cheap camera into a unbuffed old acrylic tank.

The Checkerboards are about 3.25 and the Turks are about 3.75. Talk to me!

Thanks.

puntific

http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss221/puntific/FirstDiscus002.jpg
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss221/puntific/FirstDiscus003.jpg
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss221/puntific/FirstDiscus001.jpg

[TURQ64]

You are right about the photo's! The Pidgeons are quite peppered...While not anything high grade, it's no issue from a hobbyist standpoint..It's as much about your enjoyment as 'whassup' with the fish.......Gary

[jball1125]

Grow hem out for a couple months and then ask again. I have seen discus take on enormous transformations under great care. Right now they are not appealing to me. Peppered, thin, football shaped.

However, thats my opinion and if YOU like them thats all that matters!:D

[William Palumbo]

They look good to me...I like the Cobalt/Turk looking ones. Not a fan of PB's, but with a different(lighter) background, a lot of that peppering will go away...Bill

[Joker43]

I like em. I have a PB with a lott of pepper too. I call him Pig Pen cuz he looks dirty...lol. I love him/her as much as the rest.
If your fish make you happy thay are all AA+. IF YOU PLAN TO MAKE A COUPLE DOLLARS thats a different story. Fatten those kids up and enjoy..lol

Tito:jester:

[Disgirl]

Do you have a dark substrate? If so, and you go with a lighter color, like pool sand, you will be amazed how they will lighten up in color and some or all of the peppering will go away. I am speaking from my experience! Good luck with them and enjoy your new fish!
Barb

[puntific]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm growing them out in a BB tank. The bottom has some kind of paperbag kinda paper. The back is black (as you may have noticed...) (any Eddie Izzard fans out there?)

I was a bit discouraged by the bit of football shape going on here, as well as the peppering. They are new to me two days ago and I'm looking forward to growing them out, with an eye on breeding them. I hope they round out a bit. How are the proportions otherwise? Will people buy peppered Pigeons (who aren't newbies like me?) or should I pick the least peppered 5-6 of the group and try to get a pair out of that?

puntific

[Disgirl]

For now just concentrate on plenty of warm, clean water and high quality foods. Water changes and good foods can turn these fish into real beauties, then you can decide who to breed to who. Plenty of people buy peppered pigeons and some even fork out lots of money for them and even like the peppering.
Barb

[Darrell Ward]

Throw em out in the yard! Just kidding. They're not that bad. I've seen much worse. Those pigeons will never win any awards, but with good care, they can be decent fish. I don't think the pigeons are any good for breeding. I call fish like those "dirty noses". Peppered parents make peppered offspring.

[Eddie]

Not too bad, they can grow out nice with good food, excellent water and love. ;) I too, like the cobalts. My first move, get them on flake food and then deworm them with De-worming flakes from Angel Plus. After that, just give what I mentioned above.

[Jennie]

ditto to what bill said, lighten that tank up

[puntific]

Thanks folks.

Any tips on how to lighten my tank? The back of the tank (acrylic) is black, so I can't just take it out. I can't get the paper off the bottom right now either... Shine more light into it? Barb, you mentioned a lighter substrate. Do you mean just enough for reflective propeties, or an actual layer of 1/2 inch or so? I had bought into the BB tank style for this growout but always listening...

I'm feeding a BH mix right now that I got off the Food/Nutrition forum: BH, white fish, shrimp, wheat germ, oatmeal, spinich, peas, garlic, vitamins, spirulina, bananas. I Swear they are bigger in two days. Which flake food should I try before the Angel Plus?

Thanks again,

puntific

[Disgirl]

I use Ocean Nutrition, Prime Reef flakes like many others do. My fish love it. What color is the paper on the underneath of your tank? If it is dark then the fish will show peppering or just general darkening of their colors, trying to blend in to the color. BB is best for growing out but if it is a dark BB then you get darkening. Been there and done that when my tank had black paint on the outside bottom. Your black back tank wall isn't as important as the bottom color. If you need to put in white sand, just do a light layer, enough to cover up the dark bottom. Or you can just keep on as you are doing and later on when they are grown you can lighten up the bottom and they will magically get lighter then.:)
Barb

[puntific]

So I was thinking about how to lighten up the back of my tank. What if I bought a couple of pieces of white acrylic and used a magnet to hold it against the back of the tank and perhaps a weight to keep it against the bottom. Would I be creating a breeding ground for bacteria or would this do the job?

Thanks

puntific