Black Skirt Tetras

[JamieBailie]

Hi, I'm posting this for my father. He got 5 Black skirt Tetras last week, They almost never come out from the plants when the lights are on.
As soon as the lights are switched off they come out and swim all depths and areas of the tank, The second you turn the lights on again they swim into the plants.

Overnight their 'skirt' turns black, as it should be, Then when the lights are turned on in the morning, within 3 minutes their black colour disappears.

Could this be stress from the lights causing the colour to fade, I wouldn't say the tank lights are as bright as mine, But they aren't dull either.

In the shop he said all the other black skirt tetras didn't have any black at all.

 

[Matty P]

Hi, I'm posting this for my father. He got 5 Black skirt Tetras last week, They almost never come out from the plants when the lights are on.
As soon as the lights are switched off they come out and swim all depths and areas of the tank, The second you turn the lights on again they swim into the plants.

Overnight their 'skirt' turns black, as it should be, Then when the lights are turned on in the morning, within 3 minutes their black colour disappears.

Could this be stress from the lights causing the colour to fade, I wouldn't say the tank lights are as bright as mine, But they aren't dull either.

In the shop he said all the other black skirt tetras didn't have any black at all.

Yeh it may be because the lights are to intense..?

 

[JamieBailie]

I don't think so, But then again I don't know much about these fish. The tank has been setup for over 5 years with the same equipment, Everything else in the tank have always been fine. Maybe it's because they were only put into the tank on Friday.

When you google for pics of the fish, There are some which have no black, They look identical to the fish my dad has.

I also just noticed i've posted this in the wrong section Never even looked in 'Cyprinids, Characins and Atherinids' before. Sorry!

 

[BigC]

Black widows/skirts colouration will fade in strong lighting, scared or new additions and possibly disease/unwell. Surface plant such as Salvinia will help see pics.
A better choice would be Black Phantom Tetra.

Regards
BigC

 

[JamieBailie]

Just wanted to give an update incase anyone else reads this in the future

The fish have been in his tank for almost 2 weeks now and they no longer hide in the plants, And are VERY interesting to watch feeding, I think i'll get some.

They also have some black on their 'skirt' now whilst the lights are on!

 

[AshleySpatula]

thats so strange because i started to notice in the morning before i turn the lights on my black neon tetras almost have no black in thier stripe, look really tranparent but a few minutes after turning the light on the black line comes in fully. glad to know i'm not the only one with color changing tetras!

 

[afishdude]

omg. mine do the same thing. do you have any bigger fish in the tank with them? like mine are scared of my angelfish so they hide all day.

 

[Straydum]

varying color intensity is common. the main cause would include stress.

 

[AshleySpatula]

i have 4 black noen tetras in a 20g with no other fish. but it's every morning i wake up and see clear little fish, then turn the light on, take a shower, get out and they have a dark black line. sometimes the four of them will sit up huddled in a corner for a few hours at a time, then swim around, i think they maybe bored and need more friends.