I had Blue Diamond Discus from Jack Wattley for years ... while they were beautiful, when Discus get frightened, they often will loose their color and many of their natural colors or imperfections will show ...

My 180 gallon tank was in my office and my discus got quite accustomed to my movements and the movements of most of my co-workers. But when a "guest" would come in, their movements would sometimes startle my Discus. And then you would see what to me was a "dirty white" or "dingy grey" color.

So I personally am not a fan of the Blue Diamond variety ...

I also had the Hi-Fin Colbat discus and I also briefly had some Red Spotted Green discus from Jack Wattley. I liked both of these, but *personally* I really liked the Red Spotted Green ... I not only liked their coloration, but I also thought they were more natural ...

Traditionally in the hobby, we have gone through many different "fads" ... sometimes the hobby in general focuses on finage ... sometimes the hobby focuses on solid color ... sometimes the hobby focuses on color varieties (just take a look at what Bettas are popular right now) ...

And then there are some diehard fans that care about Species Maintenence and Preservation ... I often fall into this camp <grin> ... but when I am not in the species maintenence mindset, I usually then to have natural biases towards solid colors (that was what was popular when I was a child and thus was my first impression of what was "right") ...

Thus we all can have our personal opinions about what we personally "prefer" and I think that is what is important ...

Sometimes what we personally care about can change ... with swordtails, I prefer a more wild natural green heleri swordtail and care very much about the row of what I call red dots that is typical of many wild populations ...

However ... if we are talking about mollies, I prefer a Sailfin Black Molly that is pure black with a yellow/gold band on the top of the sailfin ...

Both of these are personal preferences of what I think is "right" <grin> ...

This year, our local aquarium club is having a breeding contest - and the fish is a gold fleck speckle molly (gee, that name means nothing to me <grin>) ... it is actually a very beautiful fish, but it is not what I would personally choose ... but I am excited about it for our club program ...

Greg