Bars have changed on my Cobalt???

[prolude006]

So I am wondering if discus can change how many bars they show or have as they get older?

I am asking because my Cobalt has always had nine bars not including the eye bar as do my brilliant and santerem. Today I notice them showing their bars and I had to look again because my cobalt now is only showing clearly three bars on its body and it has this pattern:

head ) | ( tail

the bars bend just like that on either side of the straight bar in the middle of his body. I will try to get a picture but they dont show the bars when I get close with the camera. lol

so any ideas?
fish is 2.5 years old from my lfs and came from Hans originally.

[ockyra215]

It could be a sign of its wanting to breed?Or maybe the water parameters changed?;)

[kaceyo]

They can't change the number of bars they have. But they can change the number that you see.

Kacey

[prolude006]

thats what I would believe to be true until I noticed that there were three large bars compared to the previous 9 small straight ones it had when it was younger.

so who knows, was just curious if anyone had come across it before?

[April]

they flash their bars..with moods and health. they can also do reverse bars.their body darker..and the bars almost white. usually an dominant signal .