Mike Wells Discus, raised by Lance Krueger

[Lance_Krueger]

Here are a few pix of the discus that I've raised up to maturity. They are discus I got from Mike Wells about a year ago. These guys were about 2" when I got them, and are now full grown brutes.
This first fish is 7"+ and is a Giant Cobalt Blue. All the fish around him are 5-6" fish. And he's as thick as a ten pound weightlifting plate. I don't really know how big he is, 'cause I'm scared to net him out and measure him. He's a brute, for sure. I have plenty of other discus from Mike, but I just have a few photos of these guys.
Lance Krueger

[Lance_Krueger]

Here's one of the incredible Marlboro Reds I got from Mike too. He has absolutely no peppering, nor black fins. Just a beautiful, solid red discus with a few blue striations on the face. This guys probably 5 1/2-6" from nose to tail. The monster cobalt I showed you above is way in the back of a 24" wide 200 gallon tank, and he still looks bigger even though he's way in the background!
Lance

[Lance_Krueger]

Here's another Marlboro Red from Mike. This one's not quite as solid red, but has blood red splotches along the sides, which kinda blend in on this photo, I know. But this one only has one small striation and a blue blob of a striation on the forehead. Nearly solid colored. And again, no peppering! ;D I've got another Marlboro Red from the same group that's just as nice (plus a bunch of other strains), but I don't have any photos. I'd love to get these guys to pair off. They're starting to flirt, but nothing yet.
Lance

[Ajdiscuss]

Lance you got very nice Super Red Marlboro. Keep it up. :bounce2: :bounce2: :bounce2: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :bounce2: :bounce2: :bounce2:

[fcdiscus]

That Blue Diamond would make a meal for three! Nice fish Lance! Frank ;)

[chirohorn]

Those MRs look awesome! Are they getting any color enhancing food? Maybe they're given some of that Valley citrus. :D Lance, once mated, you've got to send some fry up this way (Austin). Good job.

[keith_cny]

Gorgeous MR's!!

Mike !! Is that what all of your MR's look like???

Keith

[BLUEKNIGHT]

Really nice fish. THe MR in the first pic is just stunning. :o :o :o :o

Those two MRs look like the colors have been altered in photoshop or another program. Is that true?

[hunterbeav]

Nice Lance that Mike Wells guy has some good one's hayyyyy I'll have to look him up some day!! Jim & Diane :)

They look good Lance

Hope they pair off for you.

I'm not breeding that line anymore... Were working with Melons....

Mike

[Lance_Krueger]

SeaDiscus,
First of all, due to the photographic process, the red of this fish is redder than in real life. I make my living as a full-time professional photographer, thus have little need for digital cameras. So I use the traditional film cameras, have the negatives developed and printed, and then I have to scan the prints with my scanner. Each step of the process away from the original negative is subject to interpretation, and changing of the color. When I picked up the photos I shot of these fish (which I was actually photographing some other fish, and these Marlboro's just happened to get in the way), I thought, darn, those are redder than the fish actually looks, but didn't have the time to have them reprinted. When I scanned them, I actually had to "desaturate" the red, 'cause the scanner made the red glow even more! With a digital still camera, I know a lot of guys have a problem showing the intensity of the colors since the little CCD that makes the image in the camera just doesn't reproduce colors as brightly as they are. My problem with film is that most of the films nowadays makes colors brighter than they are! But even with my digital video camera, I know I've video'd these same Marlboros, and been able to compare instantaneously on the camera's LCD screen that the video image was somewhat redder than what the fish actually looked like in person.
So, no, I did not enhance these fish, but yes, they are redder in the photos than in real life. The first fish is very deep red on most of the perifery of the discus, but in the middle, is more of a deep orange color. I would look at the photo, and take away about 25% of the red, and you should have about what the fish looks like. On the second Marlboro, there is even more orange, but with deep red splotches on the sides, which are much more evident than in the photo I posted. I should have mentioned all of this, but I just wanted people to see how pepper free these discus were, and how big the cobalt male is. I should have mentioned all of this, but you see how much space it took to explain this. Next time I'll put a disclaimer that says the fish is XX% less or more colorful than what you see. Of course, individual screens will change that too. Actually, the big cobalt is quite a bit bluer than the photo showed, due to the lighting, I think. So I guess I'd have to say the old standby of "the photo does the fish no justice." I was just showing size on him.
Now, to the questions about if color enhancer was used in the rearing of these fish. I color feed my fish Natu-rose, which is a natural algae that is farmed in Hawaii and other places. It is a natural source of asthaxanthin, which is a red color enhancer. I use about half of what they say to use in my beefheart mix, and will double that amount in my next batch, since I do want even my marlboros to be even redder, maybe more like the photo shows! ;D
I hope this helps.
Lance

[BlueTurquoise]

:o WOW I don't think I have ever seen a marlboro that red before!!! are you sure you're not using a red bulb on your fish tank? :P

Chong :thumbsup:

[Lance_Krueger]

Chong Ly,
Nope, no red bulb. The flourescents that are above the tank are rather dim. The only light that is illuminating this photo is my external flash that I laid on the glass lid, connected with a TTL cord. It is many times more powerful than the flourescents, which did not expose at all in the photo. This overhead lighting position gives several advantages over "on-camera flash," the reflection of the fishes scales don't bleach out the colors, the light is coming from the direction we expect it from (overhead like the sun), plus you don't have to worry about getting at an angle to the front glass since your flash isn't at the same point as the camera. The film and printing were responsible for the overly bright colors, as I explained above. 8)
Lance Krueger

[SLY]

kinda like too red to be true..nice fish though.

[joswa]

i have a question.....................
this pictures are edited! ;D