Tefe Discus

[Terrybo]

I was just at my LFS, and they had 3 gorgeous, round, big Tefe discus. Made me wish for an extra tank! One thing that I thought was interesting was that the two largest ones had huge eyes compared to tank raised discus. Is that normal for wild discus?

Terry

[Polar_Bear]

Yes it is.

[plecocicho]

I heard somwhrer that the body coulor of green discus, especially Tefe varient, changes from olive green to golden yellow during growing up. Is that true, ad if isi ti true, wwhich green discus variant keep green body coulor?
lp

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi, IP,

the "green" discus (S. aequifasciatus) can vary even if they come from lake Tefe, or from Rio Tefe. Normally those from Rio Jutai have more yellow, specially along their chest. But I have also collected some in the Tefe area which had a yellow base colour (you can see those in either my book DISCUS or Bleher's Discus volume 1).

The name "green" was actually give by Harald Schultz in 1958 and it has been established in the Hobby since 1960. But it does not necessarly mean that all "green" discus will be greeen... (although very rarely you will find a brown/blue with any greenish colouration - I actually never saw one - and never a Heckel discus with any greenish colours, only green discus may, and quite often, have this color pattern and naturally red spots/dots or going into a redspotted stripe formation in some).

I hope this helps you, also further reading is suggested...

Heiko Bleher

[russell]

2 of my Tefe's show differing colour paterns. as you can see the first is more base green no spotting , the seconjd pair have darker patterning with spotting and a more brownish/Tan colour. They all came from the same exporter and from the same region. so there is variation. The lighter one seems to be the odd one out, as the other two have paired off and keep it at arms length, I am at pains to let it go as it seems to be able to hold it's own against the other two. which I hope is a good pair. also it's a good fish.

[plecocicho]

Thank you, for your answeR, Heiko. A real wild green discus with green coulered base has ben on my wishinh list for a very long time. Whwen i bought your unbelievable monograpphy about wild discus, History nad present of Amazonia, beatifull alpha specimens of green discus from Juruti absolutully enchantewd me with their sheer beauty:D. I have noticed, that they are sold very rarelly, I guess that the best specimens are also bought by Japanese people.
lp