stress bars/color development

[craniac24]

Hi everyone,

I was just curious....at what age does a discus acheive full coloration?

I ask because I have 1 young red turk and 1 young red/turquoise leopard. Many of the pictures of the adult versions of these strains I see that the patterns have all filled in completely and there is no evidence of stress bars remaining.

Mine are probably 3 months old or so, about 3 to 3.5 inches (8-9 cm). At this time their color development seems incomplete as there is still a lot of brown left in their appearance, and their stress bars are still pretty prominent.

Did I get less than high quality fish? Or should I expect more complete color formation over time? Also...will the stress bars tend to disappear as they get older?

Thanks in advance!

[Mattzilla]

full colour is achieved at ault size, so about 18 months or so

as for stress bars always showing...i'd say they are allways stressed! i'd be checking my water quality if i where you. can you give us your water peramiters and more information on their tank? are they alone, how many discus, how many w/c a week etc etc

thanks

[craniac24]

Hey Matt,

My water quality is fine. PH is neutral and no ammonia or nitrites. 25% water changes are done 3 times a week. With the exception of one blue diamond, all of them are eating well and look generally happy.

I was just curious in general if there tends to be a disappearing or at least softening of stress bars as the fish gets older. One of the things I've noticed is that, of all the pictures I've seen of the turquoise or leopard type discus, most of the younger ones still have fairly prominent bars, whereas the older (bigger) ones tend to have little or none.

Is this more of a coincidence? Or is it typical that the older turquoise/leopard strains tend to mature in such a way?

[Kaza]

my three week old babies have stress bars just showing now.

[Merrilyn]

At three inches or so I would expect to see stress bars. They will fade as the fish gets older and larger. The body colour also becomes deeper, so you can expect to see more brilliant turquoise and red colouring.

Young fish seem to have drab colouring and show prominent bars as a means of camouflage. No point in drawing attention to yourself if you're small enough to be eaten.