San Merah

In 1992, Chow San from Singapore wanted to create a solid red discus without any stripes or patterns on the body. He began crossing wild Ica brown discus, which were reddish brown and had a 5th bar, much like the Heckel discus. After two years, he was able to produce strains without any blue striations on the forehead. After five years, he found that his fry grew up without the stress bar. Finally, he worked on improving the coloration to make the San (Sun) Merah the red that it is today. The word “merah” means “red” in Malay.