Attempting to document color change of Denison Barb from normal to gold.

[Tomsfish2 2]

Well the title says it all.
I will try to get pictures of one of my Denison barbs that was purchased as a gold colored but has looked off most of the time.
I will say this should happen [change to gold] as I purchased 3 of these guys [at 2x regular Denison price] and the other two look pretty gold IMO.
Here is the fish we will be watching.



^ here you can see him next to one of the golds that came here with him.
This gold is still showing faint black stripe that travels the body legnth.

^ here you can see the hopeful results we will see with this thread.
This is the third of the three and hopefully by the end of this thread you will believe me when I say he looked worse than the fish we are watching here just 2 months ago.
For the record all three of the Denison's have only been with me since January of this year.
They are all kept in my 180g dual mega overflow tank that runs a sump filter in the basement below and has a jeboa cross flow circulation pump creating a decent current.
Tanks also house clown loaches , Mascara barbs, many super red BNP and a couple yellow rainbows,

 

[Magnum Man44 159]

my understanding, is the transition is highly variable, with some staying gold, and some reverting fully to the “normal” form…

there is also an eye issue, some golds are blind, often with black eyes, however I don’t think all of them with black eyes are blind either… that form, is highly unstable, if I can say that…

I went through my old pictures, and this one is pretty good…

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

^ That's a good looking gold there^
I have known my LFS owner for over 30 years and have a good relationship with him.
When I told him that all 3 of the golds I bought went back to normal but uglier he just looked at me with shock.
He and his employees have seen the ugly before and mentioned that it may be part of how the gold color arrives.
To untrained eyes and even trained eyes that aren't aware of the possibility the fish I have here looks to be infected with something.

I have high hopes for this fish after watching the other two do their thing.
And the funny part is he hangs with golds more than the other normal Denison's.
When these guys all switched back to normal and looked like ^this^ guy and worse I swore I would not buy such an unstable fish again.
If they turn out as nice as yours, I may change my mind in the future when replacements are needed.
I like to keep my Denison stocking at over 8 up to 12, same for my clown loaches. Mascaras number 6 for me as that was all that was available at the time.

 

[Magnum Man44 159]

mine was gold, when it came here, got a little shading, after about a year, but that cleared up, and was here for a couple more years after that… mine came from Dan’s, and he used to have a good write up on them, back when I bought it… I only bought one at the time, as the negatives seemed to outweigh the positives…

he still currently has the same write up posted…

Gold Roseline Barb (Sahyadria denisonii)

Gold Roseline Barb (Sahyadria denisonii) for sale from Dans Fish at $59.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

 

[GaryE4 2]

I was just posting about a fish in another thread that may be interesting to this one. I've kept a killie, C. poliaki, for many generations. Every once in a while, they pop out a generation with a significant percentage of a gold form that eventually becomes mottled, then develops into a typical form. For a while, I have what in colour looks like a different fish, and that probably has a problem with moving pigment through its body to the 'right places'. In time, the genetics work themselves out and what I guess is a skin disease gets cured.

I also once bought a bag of Chromaphyosemion biteniatum from the Cross River region in Nigeria, and there a few individuals had the same pattern from the wild. By generation 3, it had vanished, but if I had kept them longer, it might have reappeared. It presented like a developmental disease that didn't harm the fish seriously. If I had paid a good price for them based on that temporary look (6 months to a year), I'd have been scratching my head at them 'turning into' different looking fish.

I wonder if far away from them in Asia, your Roselines have the same possible medical history?

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

Weekly update.
Not seeing much difference but that is why I am photographing.
Here he is.

^Last week^

^this week^
If the other two had not turned gold so nicely I would definitely think there was an issue with this fish.
He was somewhat darker earlier in the week on his top. Not sure if the patches are coming and going quickly like mood changes or not. It appears they come and go.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

 

[Magnum Man44 159]

this is newly listed, and perhaps interesting to some ( see all the available pictures on the link )

Transitioned Gold Roseline Barb (Sahyadria denisoni)

Transitioned Gold Roseline Barb (Sahyadria denisoni) for sale from Dans Fish at $19.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

So this fish looks more normal today then ever~!
Clearly the dark top can change quickly possibly with mood or something I have no clue of.



It dawned on last week I was looking to document what I wanted to see and maybe not what will happen.
I mean I want to see this off looking Denison turn gold. I figured with my luck maybe I should take pictures of the golds in case they just decide to turn back~!
So I am going to toss in some pics of the golds weekly also.


^Both Last week^ ^^ This one the changer^^

^ this week^^
Hope everyone is having a great weekend~!

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

So with a little of the black lateral line starting to show more than last pictures one of the golds died today~!
The last couple evenings it was racing around in spurts that were not usual. It breached the surface a couple times which is what caught my attention.
Other than that, there was no signs and the color line showing more was only noticed yesterday.
The original changer looks more normal than ever and the remaining gold has black on top of his head.
I'll get pics for the weekend report.

 

[emeraldking24 75]

Attempting to document color change of Denison Barb from normal to gold.​

I used to keep Denisons in the past as well. But all were the wild coloration.
Recently, I've seen a gold version at our local fish store. The employees didn't even know that it was a gold version. They thought it was just a wrongly delivered specimen.

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

Attempting to document color change of Denison Barb from normal to gold.​

I used to keep Denisons in the past as well. But all were the wild coloration.
Recently, I've seen a gold version at our local fish store. The employees didn't even know that it was a gold version. They thought it was just a wrongly delivered specimen.

Good to hear from you Stan.
We go back a ways.
You may remember me as coralbandit?
I hope you are doing well.

 

[emeraldking24 75]

Good to hear from you Stan.
We go back a ways.
You may remember me as coralbandit?
I hope you are doing well.

We sure do...! Nice to see you here as well...

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

Well these guys have some hidden switch or something~!
The changer looks as normal as ever beyond being dark on his upper half instead of greenish like the other normal colored Denison's.
The one gold I have left has more black on him then before.

I know I don't fully understand how all this happens but the recovery of a full solid black line on the changer boggles my mind.
It is clearly showing a resurgence also on the one gold.
They swim and act completely normal.

 

[Tomsfish2 2]

Gold looks like more dark coming in the changer is almost 100% normal appearing and looks completely healthy.

Still dark on top and not green but no/much less blotching than before.