“Peppering” Discus.. what is it?

[jacobfata]

So a few days ago i shared some pictures of my shoal of discus (my pride and joy). A person commented saying “watch out for the peppering on the pigeon bloods face”. What does this mean? I mean, yes I’ve see lots of discus with black peppering spots on their face. Especially with pigeon bloods. Anyways... some of my fish “have it”, so what is it exactly? I expected it was just random coloration but is it not?

 

[jacobfata]

Is this dangerous or harmful to my fish?

 

[kno4te]

Supposed to be a natural coloring/camouflage. From having pigeon genes. Keep the tank with light colors to lighten the spots and fish. Varies a lot.

 

[RD.]

Genetics, and as Ron stated is why many discus owners have lighter colored backgrounds, substrate, etc.

 

[jacobfata]

I obviously have white sand but recently painted the back of the setup black and use red and blue lighting only. Is this beneficial? How does the lighting adjustment benefit the fish? Is it harmful to the fish? I’m worried my fish have a disease because that’s how some people make it seem. Or is this normal. Will my fish be ok is the main question.

 

[RD.]

Peppering doesn't affect the health of your fish.

 

[RD.]

You should probably read up on pigeon blood genetics in discus, it's purely a case of genetics, and aesthetics. In years past many found peppering a desirable trait, today most find it undesirable. But black backgrounds are often not used with discus as it tends to bring out darker tones in fish, including peppering in those that carry the gene.

 

[jacobfata]

So this is pretty much normal and common and nothing to worry about?

 

[kno4te]

So this is pretty much normal and common and nothing to worry about?

Nothing to worry about.

 

[jacobfata]

I don’t care how they end up looking they’ll always be beautiful to me. Jack watleys partner that runs the store in Miami hand picked s few of them for us so I’m assuming they come from s good blood line.