My Leopard

[Scat]

Hi :)

Ive watched this guy grow from a 5cm juvie and believe myself that he/she is turning into a spectacular discus and though i would get some opinions from people far more expeirienced than me :)


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/scat35/leopardforcritique224-12-08.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/scat35/leopardforcritique24-12-08.jpg


Your comments will help me understand if im on the right track when it comes to judging the quality of a discus.

Thanks
Craig

[Scat]

No thoughts or critique anyone ?

Cheers :)
Craig

[lpiasente]

This is the critique area and I am only a beginner myself so I have no idea on how this fish goes as a show fish but to my eye it is beautiful.

[Matt15]

Craig looks like u have yourself a nice female there. In the photos she displays very well and has some solid colouring which is great.
Personally I don't like the oval football shape bodies which also make discus look alittle stunted (i've got a few like that myself and all of them are female too).
I'd say she'll bare you some great fry in the future should u choose to breed with her.

Note: I'm not an expert but an enthusiast....=)

[Scat]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the feedback, and im curious to how you have determined the sex of this fish ?

She ? is still very young as ive only had her 6 months so im assuming by the size i bought her at then she would still be under 1 year old and is still growing nicely.

I can see the football shape more now that you have pointed it out although this is more apparant in pictures than looking into the tank !

I was trying to look at general forehead shape(smoothness) and good uniform colour.

Will have a very nice pair of penang eruptions to put up for critique once i pick them up this Sunday :)

Cheers
Craig

[Hollowman]

It is not a bad fish at all really. Maybe a little on the oval side, but not that bad. It has quite good body colour, but it does tend to fade towards the belly an over the head. The pattern is also reasonable, although spotting to the dorsal and anal fins slides into lines. The eye is a little large and looks slightly odd in shape, (could just be the pic though) the colour is poor, it should be a vibrant red.
The forehead, because of the oval shape of the fish is a little too angular, with a slight saddle over the top of the nose, but only slight. The transition (again because of the shape) of the dorsal into the forehead makes it look a little abrupt.

Overall, it's not a bad fish, it looks healthy and happy, not a show winner, but a nice fish for a display tank for sure. I would also say it is a female. I have had this strain before and looking at the roundness of the end of the dorsal at the back end, this would sway me to say that. But as we all know, the only real way to tell is to see her laying eggs.

hth

Steve

[Scat]

Excellent Steve :)

Both you and Matt have provided me with the information i was looking for to help me learn !

Will scrutinise this more later (im at work atm :))

Cheers
Craig