why do some discus get peppered

[gr8nguyen1]

i was just at my lfs buying some food, when i started to look at his discus selection. they all looked relatively healthy. i mean i'm no discus expert, but they were all very colorful. as i approached the tank none of them swam away scared or anything. but i did notice something strange. almost all his discus had peppering of some kind. little speckels of black dots covered their fins or sometimes the tips of their front mouth. why do discus pepper. and what can i do to prevent that from happening.

[gr8nguyen1]

theres so much info to learn about discus i think my brain is gonna fry. i've read that 2 schools of thought have theories about peppering. one believes black backgrounds cause it. while the other one says its genetics especially in pigeon blood and theres nothing you can do. so does anyone know for sure?

[Arjunpun]

These has been discussed many time before just search the forum

[waters10]

theres so much info to learn about discus i think my brain is gonna fry. i've read that 2 schools of thought have theories about peppering. one believes black backgrounds cause it. while the other one says its genetics especially in pigeon blood and theres nothing you can do. so does anyone know for sure?
Genetics determine how much pepper a discus has. However, discus doesn't show them all the time. Dark background causes the discus to show the pepper it already has.

[Wahter]

theres so much info to learn about discus i think my brain is gonna fry. i've read that 2 schools of thought have theories about peppering. one believes black backgrounds cause it. while the other one says its genetics especially in pigeon blood and theres nothing you can do.

Sure there is - don't buy a pigeon blood based discus! :D

The early pigeon bloods showed a lot of peppering; as time goes on, through selective breeding, some pigeons will show less peppering.

Pigeons usually don't darken up, instead they show pepper. Put a pigeon blood based fish in a dark environment (black background, dark gravel substrate) and the pigeon will show pepper (whereas most non-pigeon based fish will just darken up).

As far as how much peppering a pigeon blood will show, you'd either have to try it and see or rely on the breeder/ importer / seller.

HTH,


Walter

[gr8nguyen1]

so how do i know which type to get that wont have any peppering. if captive breds are pigeon and most sold are captive bred then is it safe to assume that a vast majority of discus sold will have the peppering gene. unless i bu the more expensive high grade discus..correct?

[Wahter]

so how do i know which type to get that wont have any peppering. if captive breds are pigeon and most sold are captive bred then is it safe to assume that a vast majority of discus sold will have the peppering gene. unless i bu the more expensive high grade discus..correct?

"if captive breds are pigeon and most sold are captive bred then is it safe to assume that a vast majority of discus sold will have the peppering gene."

This is incorrect, captive bred discus are not automatically pigeon blood discus. Where are you getting this information that captive bred discus are pigeon and that "a vast majority of discus sold will have the peppering gene."?

It's the other way around, pigeon blood based discus are captive bred, but there are other captive bred strains which not pigeon related. There are leopard skin, snake skin, blue diamond, red cover, etc... which are captive bred that don't have any pigeon in them. (however, Marlboro is a strain that is pigeon blood based). On the other hand, there have been crossing where these non-pigeons have been bred with pigeon blood discus.

Let's start from square one.

The pigeon blood discus is a strain of discus that was developed by Kitti Phanaitthi in 1991 from a mutation in Thailand.

Here are some pigeon blood discus from Stendker's website:

Blue pigeon blood
http://diskus.vs121046.hl-users.com/gb/Farbschlage-gb/Pb/

Red pigeon blood
http://diskus.vs121046.hl-users.com/gb/Farbschlage-gb/pbr/

Silver pigeon blood
http://diskus.vs121046.hl-users.com/gb/Farbschlage-gb/Pbs/

Now if you don't like the way those fish look with their white and creamy coloring over the orangish base coloring, then don't look at pigeon blood discus (oftentimes their tails are blackish). Discus that look like those fish are pigeon blood. If you are looking at the other strains I mentioned, like leopard skins or blue diamonds, then don't worry - they shouldn't have any pigeon blood in them and thus won't show peppering.

If you're 100% set on getting pigeon blood discus because you like the way they look, then it's up to you to find out out from either the breeder, the importer, or the seller, on whether or not they will show a lot of peppering in a dark tank. Or you'll have to try it and see. Or you will have to keep them in a brighter environment - such as a sand bottom with a light blue background.

HTH,


Walter

[gr8nguyen1]

Thanks walter this helps a lot you my friend are a wealth of knowledge and i am seriously addicted to this website...hence so many posts

[johnnathan]

Hello Wahter

here is my tank background : light blue color with small white spot background
and lighting schedule for : 6 pm - 2 am everyday in my garage .
for my worry is , i don't want my flamingo and red white get black pepper on their body.
do i need to change tank background and light schedule?

i appreciate your advise:D .

Johnnathan

[Wahter]

Hello Wahter

here is my tank background : light blue color with small white spot background
and lighting schedule for : 6 pm - 2 am everyday in my garage .
for my worry is , i don't want my flamingo and red white get black pepper on their body.
do i need to change tank background and light schedule?

i appreciate your advise:D .

Johnnathan

Should be okay if the background is light blue - what is the coloring of the bottom of the tank? if that is a very light beige or blue, the shouldn't show peppering. Keep in mind many fish have the spots already, many people just don't want to see them, so you are putting the fish in an environment where it won't need to show them.


Walter