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Anyone have a Red and Blue Gourami turn Black?

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Jan Cavalieri

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These are two fish I've had since April - the only disappointment was that the "Red and Blue" consisted 90% red, and you could barely see any blue as shown in the picture. I figured they just needed some time to mature. Well now they are both turning Black. One is completely black on both sides, the other one is primarily black on one side but has retained his red and blue markings to some extent on the other side. I started feeding all my fish color enhancing food - could this be the reason for the drastic color change? The first picture is that of the male with his normal colors on one side (he's black on the other) The second fish is also a "Red and Blue Gourami - one that is now all black on both sides. Is this too weird or what?
Red and Blue Gourami = male.jpg


Red and Blue Gourami Female.JPG
 
That's a Paradise Fish. Macropodus opercularis. There are red ones that I believe are the original wild type and there's a blue one and a black one. I'm not positive but the blue may be a different species. They are somewhat pugnacious. They are an anabantid labyrinth fish but not a gourami. They were one of the first tropical fish kept in this country. I think they go back to the late 1890's or early 1900's. I sure like the ones in your pictures.
 
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Thank you but they were sold to be as blue and red gourami's and at one time they both looked like blue and red gourami's - in fact they were identical. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of the other side of the male which is completely black just like the female is all over. The color change has just occurred within the last month, Crazy isn't it. I'm now looking at what once was a peach colored gourami that is slowly turning reddish black. I think I should stop using that color food. It's supposed to enhance their existing colors - not change them!! Thanks for the history lesson!
 
I’ve heard of Gouramis turning back when they mature and are in the mood to breed. I don’t know how much of that is true but something I once heard. Hopefully someone who has experience with Gouramis can tell you if that’s true or what’s going on.
 
Fish can turn black from stress, nocturnal colouration, poor water quality or chemical poisoning.

The fish in the second picture looks stressed (clamped fins and tail) and might be getting bullied by the other one.

Check your water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and post the results (in numbers) here.

--------------------------
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What other fishes are in the tank?
Did you add anything new to the tank a couple of weeks before this started?
What chemicals, plant fertilisers or anything else do you add to the tank?
 
This business of color enhancing foods ? I think it's marketing hype. Fish are as colorful as they should be if they've been fed right from the time they hatched. Commercial fish food is mostly cereal that fish never eat in the wild. Byron once posted that he uses Omega One brand food. I have too. Read the label on that stuff. Good stuff Maynard. But hey, I fell for the color enhancing hype myself. It turns out that it's crock of bull.
 
Colour enhancing foods can increase the colouration of fish. However, they normally only increase red, orange and yellow colours in fish. The main ingredients for this is Paprika and Beta-carotene. Other foods can also be used and things like apricots, orange carrots, orange squash and pumpkin all contain beta-carotene, which increases orange and yellow colours in fish.

Blueberries and purple carrots can increase blue colours in fish.

These foods also increase colour in birds.

Check out the ingredients on the packaging of colour enhancing foods and see what they add.

To get the best out of colour enhancing foods, you need to feed them every day and it takes a month or so before you notice the difference. The easiest way to see the difference is to photograph the fish when you first start using the colour enhancing food, and every week after that, for as long as you use the food.

Having said all this, if you stop feeding the colour enhancing food, the fish will fade back to their normal colour after a few weeks. And the increase in colouration is not huge, so the fish won't go from dull to fluorescent.
 

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