Would you buy or grow-out a normal discus with bent/crooked stress bar?Or breed them?

[aqua]

Many people consider discus with crooked stress bars as inferior fish (let assume their backbone is normal, NOT shorten). Some will not buy them, grow them out or even breed them. Why?
Because.......
a. They don't look nice
b. It's a cull
c. Have bad genes/genetic and should not breed them
d. Will not become a big fish as others later.
e. whatever........bad fish!

Why do you think these fish are inferior? Many beginners seem to think they are low quality discus nowaday. If not, also give your opinions. I will have my opinions with pictures later. Let here yours!

[April]

well..i would expect if i bought fish from a seller..to send me ones with good bars. of course some can sneak through. the fish will grow out fine..its not a tragedy..perhaps genetic..someone with more experience in genetics can advise on that..i would think though that if you bred them...youd get lots of messy barred babies. and not sure they would go over in a discus show.
but....lets face it..alot of the wilds have messed up stressbars. nature hasnt culled them..
but for aesthetic reasons..i would prefer to have straight bars.
good post. lets hear from others.

[Carol_Roberts]

Crooked and missing stress bars are not an indicator of health or potential growth. If the spine is not compresses, then it is merely cosmetic. Straight stress bars are more attractive.

[kaceyo]

Streight or crooked stress bars have nothing to do with the conformation or health of the fish. I don't cull an otherwise nice fish due to crooked bars but I wouldn't breed one either. I also wouldn't sell one to someone who's looking for future breeders. But, as already stated, it's purely asthetic so I see nothing wrong with selling a beautiful discus with crooked stress bars to those who don't care about it one way or the other.

Kacey

[1977]

I really don't care, it makes no difference to me and haven't even considered that for breeding choices, besides when they're not showing the bars at all is when they look best!

[Breadhead]

On my first batch of fry (hatched out late Nov '05) I saw alot of bad bars. Turns out the female had some not quite straight ones I never noticed.

But seriously.. would you cull this due to a bar deformation??? I sure wouldn't...

[Tony_S]

But seriously.. would you cull this due to a bar deformation???

Yes.

Tony

[Kindredspirit]

Tony you would? Can you say why?

I had never seen a discus with crooked stress bars before the one posted on DU ~ The person that critiqued that fish had a very good eye as I wld never had noticed it nor did not even know that such a thing existed! Once pointed out it became obvious tho ~

How common is it I wonder ~ What if you thought you had a "grade A" fish and some time later ~ a lot later the stress bars popped out and one was crooked? Wonder how people would feel about that ....

I guess to be safe I suppose one wld need to cull ......if you did in fact know ~


Personally it would not bother me at all


Marie ~

[Kindredspirit]

I don't cull an otherwise nice fish due to crooked bars but I wouldn't breed one either. Kacey

Kacey why wouldnt you breed one? For cosmetic reasons only? What causes crooked stress bars?


Great Topic!


Marie ~

[pcsb23]

I agree with Tony on this, I would cull. Reasons are simple, in my own way I am trying to maintain or improve the standards. Bent stress bars are a fault. I would not cull an adult or sub adult though if it was otherwise healthy, but I would not buy one or breed from it either.

[IceDiscus]

It looks good to me, as a mater of fact I think it gives the fish character.

[kaceyo]

Marie,
I wouldn't breed it for the same reasons already given. It is a flaw and the purpose of breeding discus should always be to improve the strain. In any given spawn there are generaly enough discus with nice streight bars to pick breeders from so there is no reason to look outside that goup.

Kacey

[Kindredspirit]

I can understand that totally ~ but Kacey you wld cull this on the first cull or second or whenever.....you can actually SEE the bars on a discus that young?

I suppose sooner or later you will see that the bars are crooked.....I get it ~ and I agree with keeping the standards high....I guess I didnt realize I felt that way til now

I have seen some of 1997 fish and they are beautiful ~ I cld not imagine culling that but somewhere we have to take responsibility and pass on the best we can ~ while they are young ~


Never thought about this ~ Thanks Kacey!!


Marie ~

[aqua]

Marie,
You can see the stress bars on discus when they are about dime/nickle size, especially during feeding times when they all get excited.

Breadhead,
That fish has a very nice color and checkerboard patterns.

All,
Keep your answers and opinions coming. I will show what I know and what I have seen with pictures about this topic later. Thank you to those who have put in theirs thoughts/opinions.

[Squiggy]

I would take exception to April's statement that we see lots of wilds with crooked stress bars. That fault is quite rare in wilds. It reared its ugly head from bad breeding and eventually led to peppering. To me it is a major fault and renders the fish useless for breeding or show purposes.

Just my strong opinions on the subject....

Joe

edit: this keyboard can't speel right...