New to Discus - Black spots on face?

[Anubias]

Hi,

Just wondering, what are those black spots that Discus get on their faces?
What steps can you take to avoid this, if any?

Thanks!

[DR.V]

Is your discus pigeon blood ?

[Anubias]

No, i don't have any with this spotting, but i have noticed it on red ones. i am looking at getting some and am just curious. Should i buy fish that have this?

[goldenpigeon]

its just peppering which comes from the pigeon blood strain. most red fish were crossd with pigeon blood lines to get the red. althoagh it is not a preferable traite to have in discus it is fine. try to avoid discus with lots and lots of peppering as they may be hard to sell further down the track and they may not product nice offspring.... its just to you but it its fine if they have peppering ;)

[Anubias]

Hi,

I've just read it the Classifieds section that a planted tank can contribute to peppering. Is this true?

[Merrilyn]

Not sure if it's actually a planted tank that contributes to the peppering on the face of red fish, but I can tell you this.

I have a lovely female Marlboro red discus who is in a planted tank with her mate and several others. In the planted tank, she never displays any peppering. When she and her mate show signs of getting ready to spawn, I move them into a breeding tank, and she begins to darken. As the eggs hatch and the fry turn into wrigglers she continues to darken and show peppering.

She maintains this peppering all the time the fry are feeding (the male never shows any peppering, but the fry prefer to feed off her). Within days of being removed from the breeding tank and returned to the community planted tank, the peppering vanishes.

I don't have an explanation for it. Maybe someone else can explain, but from my experience, the planted tank has nothing to do with peppering. :P