Keeping Discus Fish The Appearance

Before keeping discus fish, it is important to know what a discus fish should look like when they are healthy and fully grown, as well as the various different colors that discus fish can come in so that you are able to keep discus fish happy and healthy, and they can be a rewarding fish for your aquarium.
Discus fish are a little like cichlids of the symphysodon species. This means that they have a laterally compressed body shape and they also have a rounded shape to them. Their body shape is where they get their name discus from. The sides of the discus fish have patterned shades which can come in various colors including green, brown, red and blue. The length and height of a fully grown discus fish is between 8 and 10 inches, so they can grow quite big which is why when keeping discus fish you should have a tank large enough for them.
There tend to be three layers of color on discus fish which is comprised of the base color which ranges from red-brown to cream, a secondary color which is often a metallic color which is either blue or green and the third layer which is black pigment and makes up the vertical bars and can allow the discus fish to lighten and darken whenever they want to. Most discus fish that you can purchase have a red or yellow base color and the second color is in stripes down the side of the fish although it is possible for different strains of discus fish to have a secondary color which will end up covering most of the body of the fish.
There is nothing which constitutes a perfect variety of color or what the name of it is; most of the common breeds of discus fish are true breeds. There are several different color varieties of discus fish and these include; brown which is the commonest color of discus fish in the wild and they tend to have a brown base color with a secondary color on their head and fins, blue or green which is quite similar to the brown wild discus but they do tend to have more of a secondary color, and you can also find a red spotted green discus fish which has a red base color with a green color on top with holes in it which is what produces the spots. This breed is very rare in the wild and is mainly produced specially by breeders.