The kings of the discus fishes are the “Royal” varieties. A discus is called Royal if green or blue pattern elements are spread over the entire body surface. Among the green discus the Royal from Tefé in Brazil (which is also one of the type localities of S. aequifasciatus, i.e. the locality from which the specimens on which the scientific description is based were collected) is the legendarily most beautiful. Here one finds particularly many Royal fishes, which additionally have orange-red spots on the flanks.
However, it should be clear to every discus lover that there are royal fish in (almost) every discus population and that this is not a species or race characteristic, but an individual color variation. In nature royals and “normal” color varieties, which are far less attractive in our eyes, live together and form a reproductive community with them. Only in the export stations the animals are sorted by color. Just like the royal coloration, the eye coloration is not a race characteristic. There are always specimens with yellow and red iris ring among the wild fish.
We have very nice Royal selections of Tefé in the stock right now. Each fish is – seen for itself – a gem. Currently the animals have a length of 12-15 cm.
For our customers: the fish have code 733095 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
