A Little About Discus Fish History
In 1840, Dr. Johann Jacob Heckel was the first scientist to write about a discus fish, Symphysodon discus heckel. The Heckel is native to the Manaus (Rio Negro) area in central Brazil. After that, various varieties of discus were discovered. In 1903 the Green discus (Symphysodon aequifasciata aequifasciata) was documented by J. Pellegrin. Harald Schultz discovered the Brown discus (Symphysodon aequifasciata axelrodi) and the Blue discus (Symphysodon aequifasciata haraldi) in 1955 and documented them in 1960.
Now that you know a bit about the history of the discus fish, note that controversy still surrounds these classifications. Some taxonomists believe that only one species of discus exists and the sub-species are only regional color variations.
The first European import of a discus fish occurred in 1921, but it did not live long. Another import attempt was made in 1928, but again, this fish did not survive. In 1932, success was finally achieve when H. Härtel imported a discus fish to Europe.
Although, it is reported that H. Härtel successfully bred discus in 1936, there is no detailed literature about the breeding. The first published story of discus breeding and hatching dates from 1960 in an extensive report from Dr. E. Schmidt-Focke and Professor Dr. E. Van Slogteren.
One of the first color variations discovered in the wild was the Turquoise discus fish in 1969. Until the 1970s, discus fish were limited to a color palette consisting of Blue, Green, Brown, and Heckle. These were mostly tan fish with a few blue/green striations.
Around this time, American breeders started trying to create more colorful discus. They bred for thicker blue stripes that covered the whole body. They finally created the Turquoise discus and later, the almost, solid blue Cobalt discus. European breeders were also trying to create unique variations and they came up with a discus with intense red stripes, the Red Turquoise discus.
The Ghost, Blue Diamond, Snake Skin and Pigeon Blood varieties were created in Asia during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Ghost discus is a mutation that came from the brilliant Blue discus. The Ghost discus lacks vertical stress bars and body striations. Most are a grayish-white with white eyes. Some Ghosts still have a partial bar above their eye and on their tail. Ghosts may not be brightly colored, but they can be used to remove black bars and body striations, especially in the cheek area.
The Blue Diamond discus is a solid blue discus. There are no vertical stress bars and no pattern on the body or fins. They have red or yellow eyes.
Snake Skin discus have irregular fine lines on their forehead, face, gill plates and pelvic fins. They have 12 to 18 vertical stress bars instead of nine. The Snake Skin genes have been used to develop many new types of discus.
Pigeon Blood discus were developed in Thailand. They can range in color from white to yellow, bright orange or nearly red. They come in many varieties where they are either solid in color or have patterns of striations and spots on their body. Pigeon Bloods were originally covered with black speckling, known as pepper, but this has been reduced in the Pigeon Bloods that are available today.
The white eyed, Snow White discus was developed in the late 1990s and also lacks vertical striations.
Pink eyed Albino discus have recently become available in North America.
With all the variations and mutations that have occurred throughout the years, many new strains of discus have been created. Tri-colored Calico discus and Red Spotted Pigeon Snake Skins are fairly common today.
