World Wide Fish Farm Blue Strains
環球魚場藍糸品種
WB1 Standard Brilliant/WB1S Super Standard Brilliant/WB1SS Super Standard Brilliant Improved
Above: Male parent of WB1
Above: WB1 Standard Brilliant
Above: WB1S Super Standard Brilliant
Above: WB1SS Super Standard Brilliant Improved
In mid 1982 Rocky, Mr. Ho and I purchased a young male Brilliant Turquoise of unknown origin in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Island from the tropical fish wholesaler Mr. Kwan Bun. This 12 cm long male has a very elongated body form, short fins, and yellow eyes. Although the turquoise color is a pale silvery blue, its iridescence is quite a bit stronger than the solid color RRB from Thailand.
In summer of 1983 we mated this fish with a Brilliant Turquoise female and succeeded to produce a brood of about 100 offspring in August. This red eye female was imported as Full Color Turquoise from Aquarium Glaser. It is a much higher quality discus than the male; its body form is rounder, the turquoise color is deeper and a lot more iridescent.
The F1 generation Standard Brilliant is quite disease resistant. They grow fast to attain 13-15 cm at maturity. The body form is long and the finnage is short in the manner of the father. There is about 15% Brilliant Turquoise in a brood. 85% of the strain has yellow eyes. They start to pair off at 10-11 months and breed successfully at a young age of 12-13 months. Although the average brood size is 100 young, there are many records of 200-300 fry in one breeding. Under optimum conditions, young pairs can be kept in a constant breeding condition to produce 8-10 broods a year that they continue to do so for 18-24 months until the females take a rest. The father's exceptional fertility is inherited well in this highly productive strian. This rather ordinary looking fish has also bred with several other Full Color Turquoise females in the latter months to produce more than 3,000 offspring in its life span. Incidentally, all the male Full Color Turquoise from Aquarium Glaser is sterile. In the F2 generation, the percentage of Brilliant Turquoise is increased to 30%.
IIn order to improve the quality of WB1, I mated the best F1 generation male with a female from the Aquarium Glaser "German Turquoise" group to produce the WB1S Super Standard Brilliant in early 1985. The F1 generation resembles the mother to have a brownish red body and turquoise stripes before a year old. About 10% of them, mostly males, become Brilliant Turquoise at 16-18 months. The rest of the siblings have some striping in the middle of the brownish red body but solid turquoise on the head and fins. There is a considerable improvement in the body form. Some round body individuals begin to appear. The turquoise color also becomes more intense and iridescent and its balance is changed from a pale, silvery turquoise to a deeper shade of turquoise blue. About 30% of WB1S have red eyes. The percentage of solid fish increases to roughly 40% together with the appearance of a few high body individuals in the F2 generation. There is also a considerable increase in the number of fishes with red eyes. The price to pay for improvements is a corresponding reduction in fertility
To enhance the strain further, I breed the best F1 generation WB1S male with a female from the group of Schmidt-Focke High Fin Brilliant Turquoise hybrid. The improvements are great. 75% of the offspring are solid turquoise discus. The turquoise color is even deeper and more iridescent than the previous version. Although the body form is still a bit long, most of them have high fins and blood red eyes. The WB1SS Super Brilliant Improved is even better than the German female ancestor from Aquarium Glaser. However, the exceptional fertility of the original cross is totally lost.
The first brood of WB1 in 1983 was like an atomic bomb explosion in Hong Kong. We have shattered the local belief that Brilliant Turquoise are sterile discus produced by feeding sex hormones to striped varieties.
We bred more WB1 and WB1S than any other of our blue strains. We gave 12 fishes from the first brood to Jack Wattley as a gift when he came to visit us in September, 1983. Every Hong Kong breeder in the early 1980s has utilized WB1 for breeding because it was the only fertile Brilliant Turquoise strain that was easily available locally at the time.
WB2 Cobalt Blue/Pacific Blue
Above: WB2 Cobalt Blue
Above: WB2 Pacific Blue
Above: WB2 Pacific Blue
I crossed the best F1 generation WB1 male with the best F1 generation WB7 female in 1984 to produce the WB2 Cobalt Blue strain. The F1 generation has wide turquoise stripes on a reddish brown body before a year old. About 10% of the strain becomes solid blue at 16-18 months. The body form is long like the WB1 parent. Roughly 30% of them have red eyes.
I select the best specimens to inbreed. The percentage of brilliant discus increases to 40% in the F2 generation. Round body specimens also start to appear. The turquoise color is enhanced to a good cobalt blue together with a major increase in its iridescence. The number of fish with red eyes also increases considerably. Body length is 14-16 cm.
There are significant improvements in the later generations of WB2 after several backcrosses with WB7. The percentage of fish with red eyes increases to over 80%. Most of the males have an almost solid turquoise body. Iridescence of the turquoise color is excellent. The high dorsal and anal fins are embellished with many deep red streaks. Females are still striated yet the deep red body color is a very attractive feature in addition to their superb finnage. The final attempt to rejuvenate the strain was made in the late 1990s by breeding it with WB12 Super Brilliant. Although the crossing has restored its strength considerably, it has also diluted the beautiful cobalt blue color.
We breed many WB2 over the more than 10 years of its existence. The number only ranked second to WB1. The daily production of WB2 was 5,000 larvae from only 15-18 pairs in the early 1990s. Without doubt, the good fertility comes from its WB1 ancestor. The third runners-up is WB7. WB1, WB2, and WB7 were responsible to establish WWFF as the leading producer of Turquoise Discus in the mid 1980s.
This strain has two names. Cobalt Blue is the name for the original WB2. I called the improved version Pacific Blue. It was this strain that popularized Cobalt Blue which has always been a rare discus variety. Due to its high quality and relatively cheap price, WB2 was selling well for many years in Japan, Taiwan, and USA.
WB3 Electric Blue/Iridescent Blue
Above: Male German Cobalt Blue
Above: Female Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise
Above: Dragon Seed female
Above: Dragon Seed female
Above: WB3 Electric Blue
Above: WB3 Electric Blue
Above: WB3 Iridescent Blue
There were four young adult discus that we purchased from Dr. Schmidt-Focke inside the first shipment of 1983. Three of them are specimens of his Brilliant Turquoise strain. These are the last of this precious, inbred strain. The best fish is a small, 13 cm long oval female with short fins, even so, the iridescence of its near solid turquoise body is the best that I have ever seen in my life.
The forth fish is an excellent Cobalt Blue male from another strain. It has high fins and blood red eyes but the fish is not solid color.
A few weeks after their arrival, Rocky mated this male with the exceptional Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise female. After nine months of the best care we were rewarded with a small brood of 37 fry on the first day of 1984. They are so rare I called them Dragon Seed. We continue to provide the pair with the best care but they never breed again. Feeding the larvae with skin tissues is an extreme stress to the two disease-ridden discus. They never regained their strength and died a few months later.
The Dragon Seed was infected with hexamita and capillaria. I had to treat them with metronidazole and levamisole every two months to make them live and develop. Notwithstanding the parasitic problems, the Dragon Seed develops color very early. When the fish is only three weeks old, a little blue can be seen on the operculum and by two months, it already has a strong blue film on the whole fish. The group matures as magnificent, 14-16 cm nearly solid turquoise discus. The turquoise color is a very deep and iridescent cobalt blue. They also have a round body form, high fins, and red eyes. The Dragon Seed breeds very early too. Females begin to lay eggs at an age of only 71/2 months. Unfortunately, the males are all sterile.
In August, 1983 Jack Wattley sent us six small discus as a gift before he came to visit us in Hong Kong. He told me these thumbnail size discus are the offspring of his best solid turquoise male. One of them matures to become a nearly solid color, 15 cm fish. Although it has yellow eyes, the body form is round and the fish has an iridescent, medium cobalt blue color.
I mated this male from Jack Wattley with the best female from the Dragon Seed in 1985. Several small broods were produced. The offspring attains a length of 14-15 cm when fully grown. The F1 generation has a very good medium cobalt blue color and a round body form yet over half of every brood has inherited the father's yellow eyes. There is a mixture of turquoise striped and almost solid blue discus in every brood. Only one male is a Brilliant Turquoise. I named them WB3 Electric Blue with reference to their medium cobalt blue color and the exceptional iridescence. Upon vigorous selection and inbreeding, solid blue individuals start to appear in the F3 generation.
Like its ancestor the Dragon Seed, WB3 is very difficult to breed. The problem is male fertility. That was a very common problem in the early 1980s which was most probably produced by a combination of drug toxicity and its genetics. We were only able to breed very few of them. In order to save the strain, I had to cross it with WB11 High Body Brilliant. The second line of WB3 is known as Iridescent Blue. They are mainly Brilliant Turquoise which have a very round body and high fins. One fish even has a high body form. They are larger (15-17cm) than the first line and the majority of them have red eyes. Unfortunately, the turquoise color of Iridescent Blue is not as intense and iridescent as Electric Blue.
WB4 High Body Cobalt
Above: Mother of WB4 High Body Cobalt Blue, 1st Line
Above: Father of WB4 High Body Cobalt Blue
Above: WB4 High Body Coblt, 1st Line
Above: WB4 High Body Cobalt, 2nd Line
In late 1983 Rocky noticed the two largest Aquarium Glaser "German Turquoise" pairing off in a community tank. They have wavy turquoise stripes inside a round body. He separated them and succeeded very soon to produce a big brood of 180 fry. We kept 10 in a 80 liters aquarium and sold the rest to friends.
Despite the crowded conditions they grow very fast. I notice one fish is different from the rest when they are only 10 weeks old. It has a high body form and is the biggest as well as the most aggressive member of the group. The ten fishes reach 17-19 cm when one year old. The turquoise color is more green than blue for males and the reverse for the female sex. There are two groups. Four of them are Blue Turquoise that have broad turquoise stripes which converge into solid patches on the forehead and the anal, dorsal fins. The remaining six are Red Turquoise with wide turquoise stripes and a deep red body color.
The high body fish matures into a giant of nearly 20 cm long. This female soon pairs with a green striped brother from the Blue Turquoise group. The unique feature of this male is a long streamer on the dorsal fin and a round but not high body form. Eye color of both fishes is yellow. Spawning starts at about 13 months of age. The colossal female produces more than 400 eggs in her first spawn. I named this group WB4 Giant Cobalt.
Very soon afterwards, we moved the pair into our newly completed hatchery in Tin Wan. Two months later we succeeded in obtaining a brood of about 90 fry. By this time, the female has become a Brilliant Turquoise with an almost opaque, non iridescent purple color. A second brood was obtained a few weeks later. This time there were only about 60 youngsters. Although the pair spawns regularly afterwards, the two fishes start to fight as soon as eggs are laid and eventually devour all their spawns.
The F2 generation also grows up very fast. The biggest specimens also reach 19 cm when 18 months old. Most of the brood mature as Red Turquoise like the previous generation. Only 10% of the F2 generation becomes Blue Turquoise. A few fishes have a high body form but are not as high as the mother. Some of these high body specimens have also developed the other "Giant Discus Traits" (concave throat, protruding chest) which are absent in the mother. Although not a single discus has purple color, but the males have inherited the long streamer from their father.
In the F3 generation of this blue line, the size is reduced to only 16-17 cm. There is an increase in the percentage of solid color fish but there are no high body discus.
In 1986, very soon after the pair was relocated to our newly completed second farm in Wong Chuk Hang, a faulty heater killed the big, exceptional female. I then pair the old male with another similar but smaller blue female from the same F1 generation Blue turquoise group. We obtain a small number of fry by the use of foster parents. This green striped second line is inferior to the first line in all respects. They are smaller to attain only 14-16 cm when full grown and none has a high body form. However, there are a lot more solid colored fish in this second green line than the first blue line.
Iridescence is poor in both lines of WB4. Only very few of them have red eyes. In this strain, the first black vertical bar continues through the eye to divide the iris into an anterior and a posterior segment.
There are two big problems with WB4. Firstly, the strain is very prone to diseases. The high body form can only develop when the discus has a very good early development; specifically good nutrition, good water conditions and parasites free. Secondly, there is a very bad brooding behavior. In all generations of the first line, the partners of every pair become very aggressive towards each other when guarding their larvae. The fighting is getting worse with age. It was impossible to breed the first blue line to the F4 generation. There is less aggressive behavior in the second green line but it is not exceptional in quality. Breeding was terminated at the F2 generation.
To save the strain, I had to cross it with WB6 Metallic Cobalt to produce WB4S Super High Body Cobalt. This third line grows to a big size of 15-18 cm. About 40% of them have red eyes, which is a significant increase when compared to less than 10% in the two other lines. The males have high fins and are mostly solid color. Although this third line has better iridescence, not a single fish of WB4S has the unique high body and the characteristic purple color of the female ancestor.
The hybridization of WB4 took place in later 1983, for this reason, Rocky may be the creator of the world's first high body discus strain notwithstanding the fact that Manfred's high body discus also appeared at around the same time. However, his fishes are individual specimens derived from different crossings which are too early to be classified as belonging to any strain.
WB5 Giant Cobalt/Majestic Blue
Above: High Fin Cobalt Blue from Dr. Schmidt-Focke
Above: WB5 Giant Brilliant
Above: WB5 Giant Cobalt
Above: WB5 Majestic Blue
In 1983 Dr. Schmidt-Focke hybridized his best High Fin Brilliant Turquoise male with a female from a friend's strain which has good color but still has small brown spots and bars in the middle of its body. He sent us 20 offspring from this cross. These 5 cm youngsters matured to be high fin discus with a deep metallic turquoise color and outstanding iridescence. Most of the yellow-eyed males are almost solid colored. The red-eyed females are all striated. All males are sterile when matured.
I chose the best female from this group to breed with the largest F1 generation WB7 male. The offspring grow very fast into magnificent Cobalt Blues with a round body form and high fins. Males reach 18 cm and females average 15 cm when one year old. But even at maturity (18-20 months), both sexes still have thick turquoise stripes in the middle of the body. I named them WB5 Giant Cobalt.
I make a backcross by breeding the best F1 generation WB5 male with its mother. The BC1 hybrid is even bigger that reaches an exceptional length of 22 cm together with a very desirable round to high body form. Males become almost solid turquoise and the biggest ones have a streamer on the dorsal fin. However, the females are still striated like their German grandmother. Most are yellow-eyed discus and share the same unique feature of WB4—twin color iris.
WB6 Metallic Cobalt
Above: WB6 Metallic Cobalt
Above: WB6 Metallic Cobalt
Above: WB6 Metallic Cobalt
Above: WB6 Metallic Cobalt
I bred the best female from the 20 Schmidt-Focke High Fin Brilliant Turquoise hybrid with the male from Jack Wattley in 1986. The offspring reach a length of 20 cm in a mere 10 months. They are striated fish with a lot of red color before one year old. The turquoise color develops gradually afterwards. At 18 months, some of the males are almost solid color but none is a true Brilliant Turquoise even a year later. The fins of the males are higher than average. The smaller females have short fins and are striated with wide turquoise stripes.
There is no improvement in the F2 generation. To ameliorate the strain, I perform a first generation backcross by mating a gigantic F1 generation male with its mother. The BC1 hybrid develops color earlier and matures to become our best Cobalt Blue strain. Body form is round in both sexes but some exceptional males are high body discus. The iridescence of the deep cobalt blue color is phenomenal. There are a lot of bright red streaks on the long dorsal and anal fins adding considerably to their charm and exoticness. The almost solid turquoise males grow to 18 cm. Most of the females are still striated but they attain a decent size of 15-16 cm.
WB7 Red Flash Cobalt
Above: "German Turquoise" parent of WB7 Red Flash Cobalt
Above: WB7 Red Flash Cobalt
Above: WB7 Red Flash Cobalt
Above: WB7 Red Flash Cobalt, 2nd Line
In autumn of 1983 the two best fishes from the Aquarium Glaser "German Turquoise" group started to pair off in the community tank. The male is like a Blue Turquoise with a lot of turquoise color on the body. The female is the reddest fish in the group which has wide, parallel turquoise stripes on the whole body.
The first brood was produced a month later after I put them into a breeding tank. The offspring of this pair develop color very early. Turquoise color starts to appear on the operculum and fins at a mere six weeks of age. By 8-10 weeks, they begin to show turquoise striping. Red color also appears very early, at around 3-4 months of age. The offspring mature to have thick turquoise blue stripes which fuse into solid patches on the fins and the anterior part of the body. There is also a distinct sexual dimorphism. The dorsal and anal fins of males are very high and they are larger (15-17 cm). The smaller females (13-15 cm) have normal finnage and a black band on the dorsal and anal fins. Regrettably, the excellent red color of the mother is lost in the F1 generation.
I inbreed the best specimens to ameliorate the strain. The excellent red body color of the grandmother is restored in the F2 generation. They have a round to high body form and graceful, high fins. The turquoise stripes are so vivid that they appear to be painted on the fish's body by an artist. Their eyes are blood red. This is the best Red Turquoise that I have ever produced. I named them WB7 Red Flash Cobalt with reference to their perfect turquoise striping and the deep red body, but it is more correct to categorize the strain as Red Turquoise rather than a Cobalt Blue variety.
Early in 1988 I hybridized the best F2 generation male with a high fin Red Turquoise female (F1 Generation Schmidt-Focke Pearl Discus X wild Royal Blue) to produce a second line. The resulting fishes are equally enthralling. They also have the same high fins, blood red eyes, broad and ruler straight turquoise blue stripes.
The excellent quality of WB7 is maintained until the F3 generation. In the F4 generation, most of them become Blue Turquoise. The beautiful stripes and the red body have disappeared to be replaced by a 80-90% solid turquoise body.
To enhance the WB2 Cobalt Blue strain, I hybridize it several times with the solid blue WB7.
I estimate our group has produced at least 3,000 of these F1 and F2 generation WB7 from 1983-'86. All were sold locally in various sizes from 5-6 cm juveniles to 12-14 cm young adults. Together with the thousands of WB1 and WB2 offspring, these three strains were used for breeding by every Hong Kong breeder in the early to mid 1980s.
WB8 Flach Cobalt
Above: German Cobalt Blue, mother of WB8 Flach Cobalt
Above: Male from Jack Wattley, father of WB8 Flach Cobalt
Above: WB8 Flach Cobalt
Above: WB8 Flach Cobalt
Above: WB8 Flach Cobalt
Above: WB8 Flach Cobalt
Jack Wattley went to Germany every summer to visit Dr. Schmidt-Focke in the early 1980s. The doctor took Jack around to buy discus from breeders during all his visits. He purchased six small discus from a friend during the tour in 1984 and sent them to us a few weeks later.
One of the six fish died soon after arrival. The remaining five grow up slowly to reach only 11-13 cm at maturity. There are four females and a male. All are striped discus with the exception of one 11 cm female. Although this is a small and oval discus, nevertheless, its cobalt blue color is the deepest and has the best iridescence that I have seen in discus.
This red-eyed female was not willing to breed with the only male in the group, I had no other option but to pair it with the male from Jack Wattley, which was the only high quality male with good fertility that we had at the time. The pair produced four broods, adding up to a total of 160 fry. The ordinary looking F1 generation only has pale greenish turquoise stripes on the body when young. A rapid color development begins at 10-11 months to result in all males becoming Brilliant Turquoise at 12-14 months old, and over 85% of the females also turn solid blue at more or less the same time. In total there is roughly 95% Brilliant Turquoise in a brood. The turquoise color of these round body offspring is very good yet it is not as extraordinary as the mother. The majority of them have inherited the yellow eyes from their father.
The excellent quality is not maintained in the F2 generation. In addition to about 20% striated discus in a brood, there is also a wide variation in both the turquoise color and the body form. The turquoise color varies from turquoise blue to cobalt blue. Fishes with good body form are striped while solid color fishes have a long body. Eye color ranges from pure yellow through orange to a deep red in a continuous series of variations.
I inbreed the best F2 generation specimens. There is a general improvement in the body form, the percentage of solid color individuals, and the number of fishes with red eyes in the F3 generation. WB8 has finally evolved into a first class Cobalt Blue strain after years of inbreeding and vigorous selection.
I breed the best F1 generation male with the best Dragon Seed female to produce the second line of WB8. About half of the offspring never develop stripes as they grow. There is a blue haze on the body that gradually intensifies as they mature. The other half is striped fish before fully grown. About 60% of the siblings mature as Brilliant turquoise which have a round body form and blood red eyes. This second line is better than the first line, especially with regards to the intensity and iridescence of the turquoise color. For unknown reasons and to my great disappointment, this exquisite second line is very difficult to breed.
WB9 Neon Blue
Above: WB9 Neon Blue
Above: WB9 Neon Blue
WB9 Neon Blue is an enhanced version of WB2. It has a deeper turquoise color, a better body form, longer fins, and redder eyes than WB2. The strain was developed from the best F1 generation WB8 male crossed with the finest F1 generation WB3 Electric Blue females. On average, 60% of the F1 generation is solid turquoise discus. The remaining 40% is not striated discus but has small specks, spheres, and narrow stripes of the basic brown body in the middle of the body.
I mate a F1 generation female with a small solid blue male from Manfred. Despite being an oval discus, it has a deep and iridescent cobalt blue color. The second line is as excellent as the first line in many respects.
WB9 is our second best Cobalt Blue strain that grows to a proper size of 14-15 cm. The best is WB6 Metallic Cobalt.
WB10 Giant Brilliant
Above: WB10 Giant Brilliant
Above: WB10 Giant Brilliant
In 1983 our friend Mr. Shek purchased some young discus from the cross RRB X Brilliant Turquoise bred by Mr. Ho. Soon afterwards, he also acquired from us a group of F1 generation Red Flash Cobalt WB7. He hybridized the two varieties together in late 1984 and mated the offspring with WB7 in late 1985. When we saw the interesting BC1 hybrid in 1986, we purchased some 8-9 cm youngsters from our friend.
They are striped discus before one year old. From that age onwards, the turquoise color develops very differently from fish to fish. At 18 months, 25% of the batch has a pale, non iridescent, solid turquoise body. Another 50% fish has a very strange motif of a translucent bluish haze on top of the more intense turquoise stripes. Half striated discus makes up the remaining 25% of the group.
In late 1986 we succeeded to breed a brood of 70 fry from the best solid turquoise pair. At 16-18 months, the long bodied males grow to 16-18 cm. Some are almost solid blue but the turquoise color is very pale and non iridescent. The females attain only 13-15 cm at maturity. They have a much rounder body form and are striated with wide turquoise stripes. The remaining 25% of the siblings are 1/2-2/3 striated discus. Their eye color is a mixture of yellow and red.
The biggest F1 generation male is a 18 cm monster. Its unique appearance is made up of a combination of Green Discus characteristics (long body & cephalic hump) and "Giant Discus Traits" (concave throat & protruding chest). Offspring from this gigantic male are all striated discus. They become smaller to reach only 14-16 cm when full grown. None of them has inherited the unique body form of the father.
I stopped breeding WB10 at the F2 generation as a result of its unstable inheritance and the fact that WB10 is a RRB hybrid which will eventually develop the ugly gray film.
WB11 High Body Brilliant
Above: WB11 High Body Brilliant
This strain is the offspring of a pair of Blue Turquoise bred by Manfred. It was shipped to us in 1987 together with several other batches of discus. Although the two discus are average in quality and do not have a high body form, nevertheless, most of their offspring are high body discus growing to a large size of 16-18 cm. I gave them the name WB11 High Body Brilliant which is a very good description of this strain.
This is a short-lived strain. High body specimens do not appear in the F2 generation. To improve the body form, I mate the best F1 generation male with a WB12 Super Brilliant female. All the offspring are high body discus. I then stopped working with WB11 to focus on improving the WB11 X WB12 hybrid which eventually evolved into the WB 24 Ultra Brilliant strain.
WB12 Super Brilliant; WB22 Blue Diamond/WB22S Super Blue Diamond
Above: WB12 Super Brilliant
Above: WB12 Super Brilliant
Above: WB22 Blue Diamond
Above: WB22S Super Blue Diamond
Above: WB22S Super Blue Diamond
In 1988-'89 a friend, Mr. Tsang Yuen Man bred several broods of youngsters containing 1-2% solid turquoise fishes when only a centimeter long. I was able to select about 40 pieces of these solid turquoise discus. There are two types: 40% have no vertical bars, 60% have 5-6 incomplete bars.
It is impossible to identify their parents. Mr. Tsang has no understaining about strains and selective breeding. All his broodstocks are purchased locally as 5-6 cm youngsters from several breeders. There are a lot of different combinations of strains in his breeding pairs. In addition, he matches and rematches them randomly all the time. Mt. Tsang also mixes broods from different pairs to be raised in several big aquaria.
I inbreed the best specimens from the two groups separately when they have matured.
WB12 Super Brilliant
The F1 offspring from those with black bars attain 16 cm when full grown. Most are graceful Brilliant Turquoise having an amazing iridescence and also have 5-6 incomplete black bars like their parents. The balance between the round body and the high dorsal, anal fins is ideal and there is a long streamer on the dorsal fin in the biggest males. I called them as WB12 Super Brilliant.
WB12 Super Brilliant, together with SFB2 High Fin Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise, are our best Brilliant Turquoise strains. Unfortunately, there is a great reduction in fertility and regression in quality beginning at the F2 generation. To save WB12, I had to cross it with WB11.
WB22 Blue Diamond/WB22S Super Blue Diamond.
The other group without vertical bars matures to be angelic discus. The fishes are 100% solid turquoise including the whole body, the head, the operculum, as well as the dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins. The nine vertical bars are also absent. In view of their rarity and beauty, I named the strain WB22 Blue Diamond.
WB22 is small, not more than 13 cm long. The finnage and body form are really gorgeous. The neat and tidy rows of small scales give them an exceptional iridescence. This is also a perfect balance between the blue and green components of the turquoise color.
There is about 15% in a brood in the first two generations still possessing some broken black bars in the body. When all traces of the black bars disappeared in the F3 generation, I changed the name to WB22S Super Blue Diamond.
While all WB22 have yellow eyes when matured and discus with red eyes only starts to appear in the F3 generation, there are a majority of red-eyed specimens in WB12 right from the F1 generation. This is a very intriguing inheritance pattern which should be controlled by recessive alleles.
Unique discus are always difficult to breed. The problem in WB22 is male fertility. Females start to lay eggs at 20 months but males mature earliest at 38-40 months. The situation is getting worse with inbreeding. In the F4 and F5 generations, males need to be nearly five years old to become fertile; occurring when all the females of the same generation have already stopped producing eggs months ago. We have succeeded to breed less than a thousand WB22 and WB22S during its 15 years lifespan.
WB22 Blue Diamond is the most elegant and refined blue strain that I have seen in my life. They have an inexpressible charm when these dainty discus are swimming around so gracefully in the aquarium. Unlike most other hybrid strains, they are born perfect right at the F1 generation. Instead of working hard to make improvements, my job with this strain is an easy one: just to maintain its quality.
WB21 Sail Fin Cobalt
Above: WB21 Sail Fin Cobalt
This is a short lived strain. The two dozens discus with very long finnage were selected from a brood of Metallic Cobalt, WB6. However, they are impossible to breed.
WB23 No Stripe Blue
Above: WB23 No Stripe Blue
Above: WB23 No Stripe Blue
Above: WB23 No Stripe Blue
All WB23 is Brilliant Turquoise. It has an appearance rather similar to the inbred Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise to have the same body form, the same pointed mouth, similar long dorsal, anal fins and also grows to 12-13 cm. What sets this strain apart from others is its exceptional iridescence which is almost as good as WB12 and WB22. WB23 was selling very well in Japan for nearly a decade.
Although the nine vertical black bars are missing in this strain, all the WB23 pairs from Mr. Tsang produces normal offspring having all of them. In addition, when we tried to breed Mr. Tsang's discus in our hatchery, their progeny matured as very ordinary Blue Turquoise without the unique body form and the exceptional iridescence. Hence, WB23 was produced by Mr, Tsang on our behalf.
Mr. Tsang's profession was pig farming in the late 1980s. Breeding discus was only a hobby for him at the time. I made several visits to his farm in Sheung Shui, New Territories together with Rocky in 1988 and '89. The water source is a shallow, 5-6 meters deep well. Mr. Tsang is only changing 10% of the water in his breeding tanks and half of the water in the raising tanks 2-3 times a week. The discus are fed live bloodworms and minced beef heart. On top of each tank is a five watt light bulb that is left burning non-stop 24 hours every day.
I can understand the unique body shape, the long finnage and the small size of WB23 are all produced by a combination of starvation and insufficient water changes in Mr. Tsang's farm. I also know the vertical stripes disappear as a result of continuous light in the hatchery, nevertheless, the exceptional iridescence of WB23 is a mystery to me until today. I still cannot figure out why Mr. Tsang's discus is so good in color even after a lot of investigation. (NB. This paragraph is missing in the moble version due to a technical problem.)
WB24 Ultra Brilliant
Above: WB24 Ultra Brilliant
Above: WB24 Ultra Brilliant
This is a hybrid of WB12 and WB11. An excellent F1 generation specimen was subsequently crossed with a Brilliant Turquoise from Manfred to enhance the strain.
WB24 grows to a giant size of 20 cm. The strain also has other excellent characteristics such as a round body form, red eyes, and solid turquoise color. It is captivating but the iridescence is not as spectacular as the WB12 strain.
WB30 Sapphire Blue [WB4S Super High Body Cobalt X WB6 Metallic Cobalt]
Above: WB30 Sapphire Blue, photo courtesy of Mr. Masahiro Kariba, Japan
This strain is made up of mostly striated, high body Cobalt Blue specimens. For unknown reasons, only one generation was produced.
WB32 Blue Angel
Above: WB32 Blue Angel
Inside the first two generations of WB22 are about 15% discus still having some broken black bars. They mature as Cobalt Blue with a few stripes of the basic brown body color on the head and operculum. At a maximum length of 18 cm, WB32 is twice as big as WB22. Some individuals have a few 2 cm size ink blue patches on the body to give them a dirty, untidy appearance. This strain ages quicker than the normal WB22. There is a great loss of iridescence and the appearance of wrinkles on the body when they are just over 2 years old.
WB33 Utopian Blue [WB11 Super Brilliant X WB22 Blue Diamond]
Above: WB33 Utopian Blue
This strain is the result of my effort to produce a high body WB22. The F1 generation is a mixture of the normal WB11 type discus and high body WB22 type fish. I select the latter to inbreed. In the F2 generation, specimens with "Giant Discus Traits" begin to appear. This strain evolved into a very nice half Blue Diamond in the F3 generation. WB33 has a rather strong resemblance to WB11 in both the body form and finnage but there is an improvement in iridescence. This very rare, half Blue Diamond strain grows to 16-17 cm at maturity.
WB34 Mother of Pearl [SFB1 Schmidt-Focke Brilliant X WB12 Super Brilliant]
Above: WB34 Mother of Pearl
WB34 is a stylish creation showing some resemblance to Dr. Schmidt-Focke's Brilliant Turquoise. Although the body form is long, this minor defect is more than compensated by its outstanding iridescence, the gorgeous finnage, and the blood red eyes. WB34 attains a decent size of 14-15 cm.
WB35 World Wide Blue [WB22 Blue Diamond X WB9 Neon Blue]
Above: WB35 World Wide Blue
With the exception of a deeper and more iridescent cobalt blue color, WB35 is very similar to WB33. The strain grows to 14-15 cm and many of them have blood red eyes.
WB39 Blue Velvet [WB6 Metallic Cobalt X WB12 Super Brilliant]
Above: WB39 Blue Velvet
WB39 is a strain of big discus with great vigor attaining 16-17 cm at maturity. Its color is intermediate between Cobalt Blue and Brilliant Turquoise. WB39 has inherited the exquisite features from WB6 such as excellent iridescence, a good body form, long fins and red streaks on the dorsal, anal fins. Like its ancestor WB6, the biggest males also have a long streamer on the dorsal fin. Although not as outstanding as WB6, nevertheless, most of them have red eyes.
WB40 Emperor Blue [WB24 Ultra Brilliant X WB5 Giant Cobalt]
Above: WB40 Emperor Blue
Despite the large size, WB5 is a weak strain that has a short life span of only three years. It is also very susceptible to swim bladder problems to become head standing very easily.
I mated WB24, my second largest strain with WB5 in 1993. The result is the creation of our biggest strain—WB40 Emperor Blue. The largest male is 23 cm long and weighs 350 grams, which are actual measurements, not estimates.
Emperor Blue also has excellent features such as a round body form, solid turquoise color, good finnage and of course, big size. Both sexes can easily grow to over 20 cm.
WB65 Celestial Cobalt Blue & WB66 Neon Cobalt Blue
Above: WB65 Celestial Cobalt Blue, photo courtesy of Aqua Navi
Spring vol. 04, Japan
These are our two last blue strains. WB65 was created in 2002 and WB66 in 2003. These two rare Blue Diamond type varieties are not descendants of WB22 but were developed from complex hybrids of WB6, WB8, and WB9. They look very similar except the turquoise color is more blue in WB66.
WB65 and WB66 are better than WB22 in many respects. They are larger to attain 16-17 cm at maturity. The turquoise color is also deeper, fins are higher and the eyes are redder. However, they still lack the perfect balance between body and fins. The turquoise color is also too deep to be able to change from blue to green and vice versa. In other words, WB65 and WB66 still lack that elusive touch of distinction to be qualified as premier strains.
SFB1 Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise [Klaus Eckert Brilliant Turquoise X WB1S Super Standard Brilliant Improved]
Above: Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise female
Above:SFB1 Schmidt-Focke Brilliant
It was impossible to breed the doctor's brilliant strain purely by using the few females that we had.
In 1985 Klaus Eckert terminated his many years of discus breeding to open a tropical fish shop in Bad Homburg. Dr. Schmidt-Focke sent us a few young adults from the 10th generation of this famous Brilliant Turquoise strain.
Our SFB1 is my recreation of the doctor's strain. Its parents are a fish from the group of Eckert Brilliant Turquoise and the WB1SS Super Standard Brilliant Improved. SFB1 is a wonderful strain but its iridescence is a little less amazing when compared to the original strain.
Above: High Fin Brilliant Turquoise, the doctor's fish,
photo courtesy of Dr. Schmidt-Focke, Germany
Above: High Fin Brilliant Turquoise, the doctor's fish of unknown origin,
photo courtesy of Dr. Schmidt-Focke, Germany
Above: SFB2 Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise
Dr. Schmidt-Focke found a high fin discus in a brood of his old Brilliant Turquoise in the early 1980s. The doctor bred this male with a sister to develop his High Fin Brilliant Turquoise. Besides the round body form, very high dorsal, anal fins and blood red eyes, the iridescence of this new strain is almost as good as the mother strain. Males are completely solid turquoise and also have a streamer on the dorsal fin. Regrettably, it is very difficult to breed from the solid pairs.
In 1983 there was another equally beautiful, or more correctly to say, more beautiful high fin Brilliant Turquoise in the doctor's home. It has exceptionally high dorsal, anal fins, a perfect body form and blood red eyes. This one in a million fish is most probably the world's first Blue Diamond; its opericula are almost solid turquoise. I am always very impressed just by looking at its photo even though I never have the opportunity to see the fish.
The doctor really did not say much about the origin of this fish but Manfred has the full story. In the early 1980s there was a group of university students who bought discus from small breeders in late spring every year. They kept the purchased discus in a small hatchery and began to sell them in early summer. In 1983, the doctor received information from a friend that the group had some nice discus. Manfred drove him to visit the students by the doctor's request. When Dr. Schmidt-Focke saw the fish, he purchased it immediately.
Dr. Schmidt-Focke was very fond of his newly acquired High Fin Brilliant Turquoise. He showed it to every visitor and sent its photo to discus friends all over the world. Both Marc and I received a copy. He soon mates this male with a female high fin Powder Blue having a perfect body form but no body stripes. The F1 generation is disappointing. All fishes have pale, silvery, almost non iridescent turquoise stripes. The body form and the finnage are also much inferior to the parents. The turquoise color intensity improves a little in the F2 generation yet there is still no Brilliant Turquoise.
The doctor then breeds the best F2 generation female with its grandfather. The good body form and high fins are restored in the BC2 hybrid. However, the intensity of the turquoise color is still pale and its iridescence is only average. Although not as exceptional as the grandfather, this new high fin strain is still first class in view of its perfect body form and the gorgeous high fins. The doctor sent us six youngsters from this backcross in 1986. They already have very high dorsal, anal fins and are solid color at only 6-7 cm long. As with many other valuable discus from Dr. Schmidt-Focke, they were too weak to recover from their long journey to Hong Kong and died a few months later.
To recreate the Schmidt-Focke High Fin Brilliant Turquoise, I selected WB12 and offspring of the High Fin Schmidt-Focke Brilliant Turquoise hybrid (7) as broodstocks. I crossed them together repeatedly over a period of nearly 15 years to produce SFB2 in 1998. SFB2 is a spectacular recreation which shows a strong resemblance to the original strain. The strain is truly worthy to bear the doctor's name.