What does the bars mean? color changes?

[YZFR1rider]

I'm just curious how to tell my discus's moods from the color changes or the fish bringing out his bars?

Matt

Generally the darker the fish, the more stressed out or excited he is. Of course, some fish will still show bars even when they are very happy and others will almost never show them. The bars were a defense mechanism in the Amazon that allowed them to blend in with plants and thus hide from predators, so they still come out now when placed in similar situations.