discus head profiles

[simmo2302]

i ahve just noticed that out of my 4 discus, there seem to b 2 different head profiles.


one discus looks like

\\\\\\
\
o \
< forehad at a 45* angle
_____/

the other has a more "rounded' profile.

\\\\\\\_
\
o |
<
_____/ not quite accurate but there are only so many computer keys.

may have to draw a pic or sumthing to show better.


anyway the question. is this an indication of gender?

[simmo2302]

dammit that forum doesnt allow lots of spaces , shrinks it all back to the border. will take photo or draw pic to illistrate what i mean.

[simmo2302]

pictures of what i m trying to say lol.

[Hollowman]

Ok, I am going to be brutally honest and give you my judgement on these fish.
Pic 1,

Should have been culled because of the deformity period. But you are looking after it now, so no problem.
The forehead is very badly shaped, in my opinion it bares no relationship to sex. The forehead shape of this one is all over the place, it dips in at the nape of the nose, then out again and then there is a lump as it nears the transition into the dorsal. The dips seen can be caused by infection/diease while in the early fry stage, it will not get better with age imo. The fish appears also to be stunted, which also exaggerates the defects.

Pic 2,
This fish is also imo stunted, the fish is elongated in shape, which again exaggerates the defect. In good shaped fish you sometimes see this hump/lump, which can be overseen if it is not too pronounced. But in this case it is not a good feature.

In both cases the foreheads are not good, made worse by the overall shape of the fish and the dips due to disease.

Take a look at the fish in the centre of this photo, the forehead imo is near perfect with a smooth transition into the dorsal. Ok, this is one of my fish, about 9 months old. Cost me £25

I am sorry if you are not pleased with my assessment, but I hope you can learn from this and next time know what to look for when choosing more fish.

[simmo2302]

thats cool, thanx 4 the info.

pic 1 is when i first got the fish (rescued them), and there was disease on / in all 4 fish. i couldnt b botherd trying to get a new pic, they get easily stressed when i chase em round the tank trying to get a good shot with my old camera.

pic 2 a more recent pic, is one of the turquoise discus (both of them were all black in my original post if u remember) he/she has come a long way since then.

i am aware of the deformities these guys have suffered by not being looked after properly by their previous owner, i m just glad that they atleast get a 2nd chance in life.

it is a pity that it is a deformity rather than a sign of gender, i though i was on to something lol.

atleast one good thing has come out of this excercise, and that is atleast this way as a noob i can learn the do's and donts of discus so when i eventualy buy some juvies to grow up properly, i can do it right.

[Hollowman]

Give them some TLC, good food and water and they will be happy :wink: