The Ghost discus was breed in Penang, Malaysia sometime in the early 90’s. I still vividly remember the couple of trips Andrew Soh (my Sifu) and I made to Penang and came across this unusual breed. Coincidently, this was around the time when the Blue Diamond, Golden discus and the Snakeskin were discovered and were being developed rapidly. You can say this was a golden era in discus new breeds. Though today the discovery of new breeds has slowed down drastically, the ghost discus still offers avenues for cross breeding and

producing new varieties of designer discus.

The Ghost discus did not create a visual impact compared to the other breeds but was much valued by breeders due to the absent of the stress bar. Through careful breeding, the strain evolved into money spinning variants such as the Golden Cap and Nebula discus in early 2000. The breeders basically wanted to clean up the ghost discus from its ghostly pale and dusty image. I assume the golden breeds were used to do the job. Though these breeds were unique, they did not last the onslaught of the snakeskin and red variants.

One of the ghost variant I quite liked was the Red Ghost. Breeders were now turning their attention as this variant was breeding true and looked stunning and different. This variant too did not last as mentioned earlier the Ghost strain looks ghastly as it matures. Often during breeding the black rim around the dorsal and ventral fins become very evident and never leave the fish. However, my hunch why the Red Ghost did not last was that the breeders saw the intense red colouring the crossing offered. Whether it was from the throwbacks of these crossings or through further crossing of breeds like the Red Golden Diamond, a new generation of intense red discus and calico discus where soon hitting the markets in the later part of 2000. Special mention must be given to master breeder Ung Seng Lip for developing the Albino Calico.

The original Ghost Discus. No red eye ring and not eye catching.

GHOST STORIES….By Rajan

The golden cap and Nebula discus not only looked cleaner, some specimens showed clear red eye rings.

A pair of Red ghost discus. Red Ghost juveniles

Now coming to the Red calico discus which I am breeding currently leads me to believe that some of the stunning red discuses do carry the ghost genes. One sure way to identify them is if they show a black lip, a profound black rim bordering the fins and a rather golden head area as seen in the two pictures seen below. Another interesting fact about the calico is that they tend to loose some of the red pigment if overly fed with red colour enhancers.

As many breeders continue to work on producing the full red discus (mouth to tail), I intend to go the other way in trying to produce a unique Red Calico discus that would represent the colouration of the Singapore Flag, half red half white. Hopefully this dream of mine propels me to continue my discus hobby for another twenty years. I encourage all discus hobbyists to venture into breeding their dream discus as nothing is impossible.

A seldom seen yellow Ghost variant

My Calico Red that won the 1st prize in the open Class of the 12 national DCS competition

Albino Golden Cap

My pair of reds that produce 40% calico

A very clean and dynamic Calico

In breeding of my My Calico and Red F2 pair.

Sandwiched between the Red calico is the sibling red that can also be developed into a full red that carries a rich red colouration.