I have a 90 gallon tank with 8 discus in it. I recently changed the gravel(I know bare bottom is best, but I just have a covering on the bottom)from black to white. I also changed backround to a lighter shade of blue. I noticed fish colors have faded. Is it the gravel or backround? If I just change the background to a darker color will it make a difference? Or would the gravel need to be replaced?
Color fade
- Thread starter mr limpet
- Start date
What strain of discus are they mate?
It could be a combo of both substrate and background changes. How long ago did you make the change? Perhaps they just need a little time to settle and adjust
Since the background is easier to change than substrate, you could start there if things don’t revert to what you know as “normal” depth of color.
A thin layer of fine substrate is ok as long as you keep it clean. Deep coarse substrate can pose problems w water quality d/t trapped detritus & gases. We all know discus like clean water…don’t all fish though
It could be a combo of both substrate and background changes. How long ago did you make the change? Perhaps they just need a little time to settle and adjust
Since the background is easier to change than substrate, you could start there if things don’t revert to what you know as “normal” depth of color.
A thin layer of fine substrate is ok as long as you keep it clean. Deep coarse substrate can pose problems w water quality d/t trapped detritus & gases. We all know discus like clean water…don’t all fish though
I think substrate colour makes more of a difference to fish than background.
I definitely agree, though the overall brightness of their tank environment is a contributing factor.
Is your lighting dimmable?
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Fish will lighten/darken to blend into the environment. Below you can see the same fish first with black substrate, then lighter substrate. Vastly different looks.
Here it is in the black sand tank, very dark to blend in better.
Same fish in a more natural gravel tank.
Here it is in the black sand tank, very dark to blend in better.
Same fish in a more natural gravel tank.
I changed gravel about 3 months ago. I have 2 blue diamonds, 2 red melons and 4 pigeons. I have a FX4 and FX5 filtering tank. I change 50% water 2 times a week with gravel vacuuming too. Maybe I’ll try changing backround first. It’s easier.
Sounds like a good starting point mate. If you don’t get the desired effect from the background change alone, you could add some black sand to the white sand to reduce some of the reflective light.
Lighter is better for melons and pigeons as they tend to get black peppering with darker substrates and backgrounds. I like the idea of mixing in some darker colored gravel/sand to your light substrate as stated above
Fish are not colorblind in addition to also being very in tune with their environment. Any change in anything that has been a certain way for more than a few months will cause stress until they get used to the change. Changing the color of the background or the color of the gravel is a major change and they will notice it immediately and become "unsettled" (slightly stressed out) for a while. It may take a few weeks before they accept the changes as normal and their former colors return. I've done the bare bottom thing with Discus too, but I did it with black art paper beneath the tank so they'd have a dark bottom instead of a view of the floor beneath the wrought iron stand.