My 16 Gal.

That picture of your Discus from this distance does not look like a snakeskin. It actually looks like a Mayan Jade. The red coloration on it seems like it is more banded than spotty. Snakeskin's have spotty red lines and Mayan Jades have solid red lines. Blue Turquoise are the same as a Mayan Jade but do not show the red lines as brilliantly.

Because red lines on yours are obvious, I think it is a Mayan Jade (Snakeskins dont usually show the red that easily from a distance either. A close up would be nice as I could be wrong.

Also those black bars are not a good thing. It does mean he/she (looks like a she) is stressed. It may be your camera spooking her out or it may be something else like water parameters/tank size/tank setup/water temp/movement around the tank/illness (doubt this as it does look like a healthy youngster).

 

might just be lonely?

 

My thought exactly. Plus there are no shoaling dither fish in there. A single discus does do better with say a shoal of tetras!

 

that beautiful discus deserves friends to show off for!

 

My tank has 9 now

 

That is what happens when you have 2,3,4 or 5 discus. They need to be in a larger than 6 group.

Tetras will eat whatever they can catch and fit in their mouth (same as a discus). The only sure way to save the guppies is a separate tank. Discus are omnivorous (more to the carnivorous side). Like an Oscar, if a Discus can fit a living creature in its mouth (that is the hard part with them tiny little mouths) it WILL eat it.

My point, if guppy fry is a concern, the Discus needs to leave that tank, also you will continue to see aggression in that 1 Discus where he/she WILL bully new Discus to death UNLESS you get a group of at least 5 to add to the tank with it.