Thursday, July 7, 2011

A little red suprise!

The first batch from the red pair , growing at a steady pace.





The red pair already on the second batch.


 


At one inch size, I noticed something other than reds in the batch. In fact ,Felix Low was the first to alert me when he saw the batch. He told me that there were some calico discus in the batch. I didn't think much of it hoping that the fries will just get redder as they grow.  



As the fries were growing, it was evident that the Calico discus were there to be seen. This led me to figure out that the genetic make of the reds I had, had ghosts discus genes. 

My primary goal of breeding full reds has indeed produced some interesting findings. The red offsprings looked good as the fins already started showing intense red even without much colour feeding.


At one and a half inch size, the full red juvenile showing good potential. Wonder how red they can get at 3 inches.




Yet, the little diversion of the calico discus was growing by the day. In fact, the red colouration was getting deeper as they grow. Further, it reminded me of the Singapore Flag. I really wish, one day to produce a discus just like the Singapore Flag with a tremendous amount of luck!.














My Red Calico Discus at 2 inch size.








Hope to update on them when they grow bigger. Do not have the space to house them all and have already been getting a few offers. Hope they can leave up to expectations.


The reds almost reaching 2 inch in size and the colour is getting intense.





The batch is now 3-4 inch in size. I have added a little red color enhancer (astaxanthine) to their food to see their potential. After 3 weeks of color feeding, the discus look great. Though most of them show strong coloring to 3 parts of their body, some pieces exhibit coloring up to forehead and gills. As for the calico's , I feel coloring them is not advisable as their body color turns a little pink thus not giving a good color contrast. 20/09/11