Black Background, sides, and substrate - Best type of discus to keep?

[Rudy00]

I have a 90g that is fairly planted but it has a black background, sides and substrate. As discus darken/pepper to blending in with their surroundings, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with discus morphs that would do best colour wise with my dark tank and also does anyone think having a fairly planted tank will cause some lightening to occur?

Thanks

[pcsb23]

I would not keep any pigeon blood based discus in this tank, they will most likely pepper up. Any decent turk would be a good bet, or change the background & sides some. Also blue snakeskins would probably look good too. Also i'd get adult discus for a planted tank.

There are some nice albino's about that have no pb in them, they would look good in this tank.

Plants can cause pb's to pepper up too btw.

hth,

[1977]

No discus will look very good in this setting, all black is kind of depressing anyway, get some color in there!

[poconogal]

I had black background and have black gravel. Like Paul said, my Gold PB peppered, even though he was only very lightly peppered when I first got him. My Yellow faced RM developed peppering on her yellow face, and she was totally clean when I bought her. My BD turned navy blue, I could barely see her. My BD red scribbled was dark too. I removed the black background. They have lightened up a lot, but the PB and RM still show some pepper. I will be moving them all to a bigger tank and have decided to leave out the gravel and use a light blue or white background and bottom covering.

Connie

[soundtweakers]

now I know I'm a real newbie, up until now I didn't know that pigeon blood will morph based on their surrounding.
I have a few sunshine discus which sometimes all peppered up, and other times very clean, they are house in a tank with 130 Watts of 6,700K light, I also have an option of adding another 130 Watt...mmm, interesting...higher intensity lighting will cleaning them up?

What if I put them in a BB tank? would it help them clean up the peppering if bright lighting is provided?

[poconogal]

now I know I'm a real newbie, up until now I didn't know that pigeon blood will morph based on their surrounding.
I have a few sunshine discus which sometimes all peppered up, and other times very clean, they are house in a tank with 130 Watts of 6,700K light, I also have an option of adding another 130 Watt...mmm, interesting...higher intensity lighting will cleaning them up?

What if I put them in a BB tank? would it help them clean up the peppering if bright lighting is provided?

I don't think adding more light would actually work, because the Discus will still be trying to blend in with the background and/or substrate, which will still be dark colored, no matter how much light you shine onto it. Maybe someone else who has tried it can answer that... BB with all that light would cause some major reflection... the Discus will need little sunglasses :D If you have dark substrate, I would either remove it or lighten it up by removing some and then mixing what's left with lighter gravel. If you put them in a BB tank, remember to place something light colored under the outside bottom of the tank so that they won't see thru the bottom. They get frightened and act weird if the bottom is not covered.

PBs will pepper if they are stressed, also.

Connie

[pcsb23]

Actually think that adding more light may well cause them to pepper more. Its their surroundings they are blending with, the brighter the overheead conditions the higher the need to blend for protection from predators which mainly come from above.

I disagree with Brit (1977) though I think albinos would look cool, but he is right, all black can be kinda depressing.

[metfan581]

What about adding plants will that lighten them up becasuse then the background woulb be more green?

[poconogal]

What about adding plants will that lighten them up becasuse then the background woulb be more green?
Maybe if they are light green colored plants, otherwise, many plants have dark green leaves, which still amounts to dark color in the tank.

[lhforbes12]

What about adding plants will that lighten them up becasuse then the background woulb be more green?

No

[Ed13]

Actually think that adding more light may well cause them to pepper more. Its their surroundings they are blending with, the brighter the overheead conditions the higher the need to blend for protection from predators which mainly come from above.


Yes,


What about adding plants will that lighten them up becasuse then the background woulb be more green?

No

I love this new multi quote:D

[metfan581]

i was just wondering...

thanks guys...

[CARY_GLdiscus]

BLUE diamonds allways look great with good lighting on blk backdgrounds

[poconogal]

BLUE diamonds allways look great with good lighting on blk backdgrounds
Cary ~
Mine turned a purplish navy colored blue. Could barely see her in there. Maybe its because I also had a black substrate?? Of course, my BD is a different shade of blue than the lighter ones I've seen. She's more like a violet reflection blue without any striations whatsoever. Yet she is supposed to be a BD ~ hmmm. My cardinals, however, looked stunning with the black substrate and background.

Connie

[kjmillerfw]

I don't think that it is necessarily the plants that will make them turn dark so much as the fact that they have something to hide behind. I've seen them turn dark when I put a piece of planted driftwood in a barebottom tank.

From my observations, discus in a bare bottom tank are quite social but if you put any object in the tank that they can hide behind, they will. And in the process of hiding or blending-in, they will turn dark, pepper, etc.

[standoyo]

White sand will help them lighten up even if the bg is black.
Here's an example I took of my RT. [Not colourfed]

I've kept many kinds of discus in planted tanks and the only one that doesn't darken are albinos as they have no black pigment.
Even the Snow whites and goldens turn grey with the back dorsal and anal having jet black rims in most cases. Agree that PB's would be the worst and look like black pepper steaks. lol.

The best are still wild fish who do look right at home in planted tanks and some of the blues that don't look patchy [eg hi quality BD's].
Albino strains would look really interesting IMHO.

[standoyo]

Erm before we get into PB bashing, I have one here that looks fine in a planted. A little peppering but IMHO a bit of character! :D

[poconogal]

Erm before we get into PB bashing, I have one here that looks fine in a planted. A little peppering but IMHO a bit of character! :D

Well, I like PBs and that is a really pretty one. Must have been an extremely clean PB and only shows a few little pepper dots.

[standoyo]

Yeah, he's fairly spot free in a white tank I must say. His fins would not be jet black like in the picture above.

Regards

Stan

[poconogal]

Yeah, he's fairly spot free in a white tank I must say. His fins would not be jet black like in the picture above.

Regards

Stan
Have any pics in the white tank?

[mmorris]

Wouldn't it make sense to choose the discus you like the most, and then choose tank colors that will show off the discus? Isn't this like buying a doghouse and then choosing a dog that will suit it? Is the black painted on? Can paint be removed or are you stuck with it? Martha

[Alan]

Yeah, he's fairly spot free in a white tank I must say. His fins would not be jet black like in the picture above.

Regards

Stan

Hey Stan,

It was a different thread but I see Connie reading this post so that's great.

May the force be with you. :D


Alan

[poconogal]

Hey Stan,

It was a different thread but I see Connie reading this post so that's great.

May the force be with you. :D


Alan
Huh????:D

[standoyo]

Lol, don't worry about it poconogal. It was Alan who asked me to post pictures to a discussion about backgrounds and discus. Looks like i got the wrong thread but seems like the discussion is going ok. :D

The fella in question is still with me and I will take a picture of him to show you soon.

[Alan]

Actually, it was kaceyo's thread not Connie's. I got my posters mixed up :p :confused: :blushing:

[poconogal]

Actually, it was kaceyo's thread not Connie's. I got my posters mixed up :p :confused: :blushing:
Alan, not really, because I also had a thread a few months ago about background colors and Discus!

It's always good to hear what people come up with.

Connie

[standoyo]

Whoops, totally forgot my promise. By chance spotted this thread again.
Here's the pix of the fella. Not that spot free I'm afraid. Perhaps it's showing it's age. He's gonna be 6 this year.