A solid orange-red fish with no bars or striations, sold as red melon, melon red or super red melon. Grading turns on evenness and on how little pepper shows, since the line is pigeon-derived and pepper is the usual fault. Face color differs by line: some are red through the head, others keep a pale yellow face. Full color takes many months, so juveniles ship pale.
In the wild
A farm line worked up from pigeon blood stock by Asian breeders. Hobbyist accounts trace the usual route through marlboro red, itself pigeon blood crossed to red brown, with further selection against black dusting giving the cleaner fish renamed red melon. The same accounts note that some later show fish came out of other red families instead, and no breeder or year is on record. Nothing like it swims in the Amazon.
Good to know
Solid color means the melanin patterning is suppressed almost completely, leaving carotenoid and pteridine reds over a pale ground. Pigeon-derived stock still carries the capacity for pepper, and stressed fish show black specks on the face. Spawns are not uniform, and fish with heavy dusting get culled or sold under other names.
Did you know
A pigeon-derived red melon will still throw black specks when unhappy. The pigeon trait never removed the black cells, only most of the pattern they make. Pepper on a red melon works better as a stress gauge than as a fault of the fish.
Weekly picks
Tank mates
Red melon discus is a peaceful, shoaling species that keeps to the middle. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.
7.9 in (20 cm)65 gal (245 L)81–88°F (27–31°C)
7.1 in (18 cm)75 gal (284 L)82–88°F (28–31°C)
9.8 in (25 cm)115 gal (435 L)79–90°F (26–32°C)
6.3 in (16 cm)26 gal (100 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
5.9 in (15 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
5.9 in (15 cm)37 gal (140 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)