Which Blue Discus Strain?

[Mongo77]

Hello, I'm looking for which blue strain has the almost neon pop to it? Almost like a cardinal or neon fish. I know a lot had to do with the lighting but I've seen pics in the past of some great blue discus. Not sure if I was looking at a blue turquoise or some other strain? Any opinions would be appreciated!

[rickztahone]

Was a solid blue fish? More than likely a Blue diamond if so. Kenny has some blue diamonds that seem to have a more metallic sheen to them, but I have forgetten what Forrest named them.

[Mongo77]

Yeah, I just got some fish from him. A eruption leopard cross and a blue scorpion from him. Beautifully fish, but don't have that almost neon character to them. The fish I was talking about wasn't solid blue.

[rickztahone]

It may have been a cobalt or something similar. Have you asked Kenny personally? Was it one of his fish?

[Cabe]

Hans Cobalts and Brilliant discus are very blue.

[Mongo77]

No I haven't asked and it wasn't his fish. It hard to tell from his photos cause he's holding them ( or Forest is). I'll have to look for a example in a tank.

[Mongo77]

Something like this

[XAnhLe]

It could be an autumn flora. I have an auntum flora that shows that neon blue coloration sometimes.

Discus tend to change their colors from light to dark depends on their moods. It also depends on the picture angle and light as well.

[blueluv]

Was a solid blue fish? More than likely a Blue diamond if so. Kenny has some blue diamonds that seem to have a more metallic sheen to them, but I have forgetten what Forrest named them.

I think you might be referring to the Reflection D Cross or Neon Saphire

[rickztahone]

I think you might be referring to the Reflection D Cross or Neon Saphire

Neon sapphire sounds like the one I was trying to refer to.

[DISCUS STU]

84417
I wanted to get a better look at this one so I cleaned it up a bit. This looks like an Altum Flora or possibly a Blue Snakeskin judging from the faint barring pattern. A little harder for me to tell looking at a fish out of water.

Some of the greenish hued Blue/Red Turquoise types can also look pretty metallic as well as some of the greener Blue Diamonds.

[Mongo77]

Neon sapphire sounds like the one I was trying to refer to.

Yeah, they weren't solid blue discus. Neon sapphire is a great looking fish though.

[Mongo77]

84417
I wanted to get a better look at this one so I cleaned it up a bit. This looks like an Altum Flora or possibly a Blue Snakeskin judging from the faint barring pattern. A little harder for me to tell looking at a fish out of water.

Some of the greenish hued Blue/Red Turquoise types can also look pretty metallic as well as some of the greener Blue Diamonds.
Thanks looks totally different that way

[Mongo77]

Here is one in the water.

[Mongo77]

Sorry for the small pic. Had a hard time posting it. Had to keep cropping it and finally email to myself in order to post it.

[DISCUS STU]

Thanks looks totally different that way

Sure thing. The key is to get the color of something recognizable to look right, like the hand, taking into account variations in people's skin tones, and to average that out. The Discus colors could be all over the place. I really just adjusted the brightness and contrast levels, and very little to the color and hue.

[DISCUS STU]

84419 Did what I could with this one, still looks a bit overly purple. This fish really just looks like a Red Turquoise. Is it the same fish? Hard to tell from this pic.

[rickztahone]

That simply looks like a turq with good looking lighting. Notice the discus is dark, that could mean that it is spawning or not that healthy or stressed. I only mention this in case you are looking for a darker looking discus as the one pictured.

[alcastro]

Stress makes them purple, I have never seen purple, be careful with enhance lighting.

[Tankster]

The photo is enhanced (in a big way) in the original pics. Discus Stu is adjusting to try and offset the color enhancement in the originals. You won't find a fish that blue in anyone's tank. Feel free to consider this a challenge to find one and post in this thread that has not had the blue digitally enhanced and cranked all the way up.

[XAnhLe]

Something like this?

http://i.imgur.com/2Yxw8aH.jpg

[DISCUS STU]

84420 The problem with auto settings is that much of the time they incorrectly get the exposure right for the background but not the foreground alot of the time.

This foreground (the fish part) of this picture was basically too dark. I tried to work it so the eye came out right and then adjusted the lights and darks for the rest. Not too much done with color. Sorry couldn't resist. Now that the exposure is adjusted for the fish and not the background you can see the background looks way too light but at least the subject looks good. Nice Red Turq. fish, one of my favorite strains.

[XAnhLe]

84420 The problem with auto settings is that much of the time they incorrectly get the exposure right for the background but not the foreground alot of the time.

This foreground (the fish part) of this picture was basically too dark. I tried to work it so the eye came out right and then adjusted the lights and darks for the rest. Not too much done with color. Sorry couldn't resist. Now that the exposure is adjusted for the fish and not the background you can see the background looks way too light but at least the subject looks good. Nice Red Turq. fish, one of my favorite strains.

This is an autumn flora from Tony Tan. I think it's a darker blue strain developed from the red turq. I don't think it's the auto setting because what you see there is exactly what I saw in person. I think it's more of what angle you look at the fish, the iridescence of the blue variety is very interesting. Different angle gives you different blue intensity. I took it with an iphone 6 camera, which I really like haha.

Another thing I noticed with the blue sapphire from Forrest is that it looks exactly like one of my blue diamond when the picture was taken at a certain angle. At a certain angle, the blue iridescence of BD look almost neon blue.

[DISCUS STU]

This is an autumn flora from Tony Tan. I think it's a darker blue strain developed from the red turq. I don't think it's the auto setting because what you see there is exactly what I saw in person. I think it's more of what angle you look at the fish, the iridescence of the blue variety is very interesting. Different angle gives you different blue intensity. I took it with an iphone 6 camera, which I really like haha.

Another thing I noticed with the blue sapphire from Forrest is that it looks exactly like one of my blue diamond when the picture was taken at a certain angle. At a certain angle, the blue iridescence of BD look almost neon blue.

I can't argue with you and it looks like a really nice fish. Much of this is subjective as well as the way our various monitors may or may not be calibrated to best profile and display the image. The image I saw on my work monitor, when I worked the image originally, as well as at home now, both seemed dark to me as there was very little detail in the eye other than a flat dark area. The background seemed to have the right exposure but not the main part of the image, the fish itself, but again some of this may or may not be related to the way the monitors are tuned/calibrated.

The exposure of the fish behind this fish seems better and the background looks good also.

[Andy27012]

Alteration of photos seems to be an issue with most aquatic life, I know many times I have ordered an incredible looking piece of coral and paid an incredible price for it to only have it show up and be disappointed. I wish there was an industry standard kelvin pics were taken at along with a white background or object in the picture so you could adjust the picture and your monitor to make sure colors are displayed correctly.

[Mongo77]

Alteration of photos seems to be an issue with most aquatic life, I know many times I have ordered an incredible looking piece of coral and paid an incredible price for it to only have it show up and be disappointed. I wish there was an industry standard kelvin pics were taken at along with a white background or object in the picture so you could adjust the picture and your monitor to make sure colors are displayed correctly.
I agree with you 100%. One of the reasons I left saltwater. That and I hated mixing saltwater only to have hair algae eventually sneak into your system and take over. I guess the lesson I learned here is that the neon color is really a play in lighting and a lot of the blue strains will show that hue given the proper lighting or camera! Thanks for all the responses.

[Ryan]

All the photos in this thread are examples of lighting more so than true color. That's the problem with most fish. Their colors change based on a lot of factors: substrate color, background color, water quality, lighting offered, dominant vs. submissive coloration, breeding dress vs. normal everyday coloration, etc. A lot of the examples shown above show darker discus, mainly because they're in tanks with dark substrate and decoration. The fish will darken overall and specific lighting will reflect the blue, giving off that deep blue-purple color.

Unfortunately with non-pigeon blood discus there really is no such thing as a set color. It will change with mood, plus all the factors I listed above. And I honestly don't know of any discus with the same blue-green-teal color as cardinal tetras. The closest you'll get to that blue-green iridescence is a cobalt or blue diamond type. Most of those look better in person than in pictures on the internet because the viewing angle really influences how the color appears. The same can be said for cardinals and neons. Per wikipedia:


The characteristic iridescence of this and related fishes, such as the neon tetra, is a structural color, caused by refraction of light within guanine crystals that develop within special cells called iridocytes in the subcutaneous layer. The exact shade of blue seen will depend on the viewing angle of the aquarist relative to the fish - if the aquarist changes viewpoint so as to look at the fish more from below, the colour will change hue, becoming more deeply sapphire blue and even indigo. Change the viewpoint to one above the fishes, however, and the color becomes more greenish.