Discus colors on black substrate

[ksage15]

Hello,

I've kept fish for many years and have recently started my first venture with discus. I have a 200 gallon aquarium with 15 discus, somewhere around 60-80 Cardinal tetras, around 20 red minors, a couple of Rams and 6 panda garra. I've always used black substrate and a black background in my aquariums as I just prefer that look and did so with my discus. My discus are all doing great other than I've noticed they stay very darkly colored. Now part may be due to age? As they're still very young. I've had them for around two months and purchased them at around 2 inches. I recently discovered black aquarium environments can contribute to the dark coloration. I flipped my background to the blue side this morning, but obviously changing out the substrate to white sand in such a large aquarium with many fish would be a big undertaking. I'm looking for some tips to brighten my fish up aside from having to tear apart my aquarium. I keep my water at 83 degrees and change frequently. My discus are mostly eating beefheart and new life spectrum discus formula. I can't feed bloodworms, I'm deathly allergic to them. I run 3 fluval fx6s for filtration.

[John_Nicholson]

It might be the dark substrate and it could be bad health. Most of the time when someone takes their first jump into discus they do so with a planted tank. It almost always ends badly. My first suggestion would be to pull the discus and put them in a bare bottom tank until they are adults. This will improve their health and growth. It would also give you time to change out the dark for light.

-john

[DISCUS STU]

It could be bad health. Health fish show well regardless of background color. Pigeon Bloods can get darker spots.

Young fish often get sick, bacteria mostly, when they're reared in a non bare bottom (bb) tank. If they're looking dark brown it may be health oriented. It takes a while to get used to the very strict requirements needed to keep Discus healthy. While initially it can seem like a PIA, the results are worth it.

Can you send some pictures?

[DJW]

I wonder if you could siphon out a section of substrate at a time with each water change until it was bare. I have removed plants this way, hovering the siphon nearby as I pull the plant, to suck out some gravel and the cloud of muck that rises up. Adding a thin layer of clean sand later would be easy. I suppose there is a danger that you would be releasing some bad bacteria and toxic gas while doing this, so that should be considered, but if done as part of large water changes maybe it would be alright.

[rickztahone]

Removing gravel isn't that difficult as some make it out to be. It is time consuming, but not difficult. Adding sand is better in so many more ways than gravel. With that said, I think John nailed it by saying that 2" discus +1 month means they are still too young to have in a huge tank. Put them in a smaller tank, feed more often and do big water changes and then put them back in the large tank. This also gives you a chance to change stuff around in the tank in the meanwhile.

[Filip]

It takes a while to get used to the very strict requirements needed to keep Discus healthy. While initially it can seem like a PIA, the results are worth it.

I totaly agree with this one.im kind of in that proces of discus adjustment. After 20 years of keeping all kinds of freshwaters and plants, its takes a while for us aquarists to realise that proper keeping of discus is a totaly different ball game.
Its a period and proces that takes time ,brings a lot of PIA and compromises but eventually the route is worthed .

[rickztahone]

I totaly agree with this one.im kind of in that proces of discus adjustment. After 20 years of keeping all kinds of freshwaters and plants, its takes a while for us aquarists to realise that proper keeping of discus is a totaly different ball game.
Its a period and proces that takes time ,brings a lot of PIA and compromises but eventually the route is worthed .

hence the "king of the aquarium" title our precious discus hold ;)

[Filip]

hence the "king of the aquarium" title our precious discus hold ;)

More of a princess i would say ,given the care and attention required :) ,but we definitly agree on the royality status.
Who woldnt want a couple of princesses rather than kings in their home after all LOL .
Sorry for a little offtopic here.

[Eddie]

The bottom is more important than the background. White or light bottoms will have a dramatic effect on their colors. The background and ornamentation can still have some impact but I've seen hundreds of set-ups with white sand and black backgrounds and the fish are always showing amazing color. Obviously health plays a factor, as mentioned but if you have healthy fish and you're taking care of them, change the bottom.

Eddie

[ksage15]

Thank you all for the tips and advice.. I decided to go ahead and tackle the substrate. I changed out the black sand for white sand today and it instantly made a difference on the fish. They've all gone from navy blues to a much lighter pastel color.

[Eddie]

Thank you all for the tips and advice.. I decided to go ahead and tackle the substrate. I changed out the black sand for white sand today and it instantly made a difference on the fish. They've all gone from navy blues to a much lighter pastel color.

Awesome!