Blue backgrounds?

[frinklinduds]

What is the purpose of having a blue background on discus aquariums?

Is it 100% necessary or just a preference?

[Skip]

so they dont' slam into the glass when they get spooked.. :) does not have to be blue.. mine is a yellow

[frinklinduds]

okay mine is black right now but i can easily flip it over to be blue........i read online somewhere that it is to stop some sort of pigmentation of the color on the discus... in other words the blue background helps them to color out better?

[nwehrman]

Black will cause them to darken to blend usually. That's why most people go light with backgrounds.

[rdiscus]

think black bg helps them to color out better, but some will develop peppering ... that's why most people don't like black bg

[discuspaul]

If you have a planted, display-type tank, I find that a medium-darkish blue background makes the fish and plant coloration really pop, especially if you have a light colored substrate, like PFS. Just a preference.

[frinklinduds]

yes i do have a white gravel substrate and live plants so i probably will change it to the blue because i have noticed my blue turqoise discus to start to be a little darker.... i know he is still young and will color out more but i definatly want to make sure they color out as bright as possible

[jlcoop277]

My gold discus got a lot of pepper when I changed to a black background. It's about to go away so hopefully the pepper will fade.

[frinklinduds]

okay i am definatly going to switch to a blue background instead just because i have it. so ill see how that works out..... how old are discus until there bodies are completely colored. my blue turqoise has blue and "red" pattern much similar to you avitar jlcoop277 but its body coloration seems darkened or faded grey but i can make out the pattern. he is only about 2 - 2.5 inches now and i just got him last week

[jlcoop277]

When i got my avatar female snakeskin she was about the same size as yours. But had really good color
At the LFS. She darkened once I got her home and after about a month she looked like she did at the store. But I had her in a tropical community tank for that first month. Once I got rid of everyone else and got her a few friends she really took off color and growth.