Identify This Discus

[jaymyess]

Hey guys, first time poster here but a long time Discus enthusiast. :P

I bought a sickly discus which I thought was a Red Turquoise. At first he was thin, pale and his colours almost washed out. Now that he has recovered his supposed red colour turned into a very dark brown with his turquoise striations brilliantly standing out. Now I am having doubts as to what he is. My tank setup is dark though: burnt driftwood, grey river sand, red brick background so I expected darkening and peppering on my Discus.

Here is a photo of one of my discus - my apology for the lousy picture quality.
IMG_0292.jpg

So what strain is he?

Cheers.

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Jay and welcome to Simply Discus,
Hard to tell for sure from your pic. I think you were on the right track with some type of turq, but could be a cross or throwback that's showing the brown genetic background of the parents. You might check out what some sell as Alenquer Crosses to see if it's similar.

[LizStreithorst]

Does this fish show bars? It looks like it might have been a nice fish had it not fallen on hard times. Try to get a better pic.

[Filip]

Hi Jay and welcome to the forum .
It looks like Alenquer or a Brown discus to me too .
Probably some cross from red turq and a rose red or some brown based discus if I may take a wild guess .

[jaymyess]

Thank you guys for the greetings.

RogueDiscus, it's an outdoor aquarium with lots of sunlight so reflectivity is a pain. Add to that this UFO discus is the most shy of the bunch (ironic he's the top in the pecking order). I'll try to get a better photo of him if I can.

LizStreithorst, the bars are barely noticeable - it only shows up on certain lighting conditions. Otherwise it's completely washed out from the dark body.

Filip, I have been thinking about it as well. Or he could really be an Alenquer strain.

[Second Hand Pat]

This guy is not a PB so no concern about peppering unless you have PBs in the tank also?
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

If I were to guess I'd call it a San Merah Alanquer cross.

[jaymyess]

Hey Pat, I have a PB with peppering or freckles as I'd like to call it. I still like him though.

Hey Liz, I just googled it and the cross is interesting. It seems most of us agree it has an Alenquer strain. I have read somewhere that the fish's true colours will appear once fully mature. He's not there yet - although I do not expect him to grow 8" in diameter. He's currently around 4".

Below is an equally crappy video and you can see along the UFO discus, a PB and a Lemon-Marlboro(?) cross. I have two more - a Diamond Blue and a Panda.

[Filip]

I can't see that "equally crappy video " of yours Jaymyess .

[jaymyess]

HI Filip, my apology for the late response - had a hectic week. Here is another link (YouTube).