JakeTeque

Hey Cichlid peeps!

I've noticed something interesting about my firemouth cichlid. I picked him/her up at the store because it was very colorful. After a few weeks of having it I noticed the red color underneath it wasn't as vivid as I remembered in the pet store. The fish was acting fine and energized, and the water condition was great too, so I know it wasn't stressed or anything. I then thought that it was a female because the males are more colorful.

However, I got home late last night and just wanted to take a look so I turned the lights on and noticed (the firemouth was "sleeping" hanging out at the bottom of the tank) that the fish's color was BACK. She had darker vertical stripes and bright red underneath!

Is something wrong with my lighting? Why is this fish less colorful when it's active and about during the day? It was colorful in the light at the fish store...

hmmm...

Dino

It is probably subdued by the 2 oscars it is housed with.
Also, they tend to color up when they are kept with their own/or closely related species.

Steen16

I find lighting can effect some fish, my severums show much nicer colour under a single bulb rather then two.. so i ges lighting does have some sort of effect

Sabi

Not sure if firemouth cichlids, too fall under the color loss being due to mood changes, like with angelfish....?