Can I Be Boss?

[ox5477]

I have a JD in with just a albino pleco. He is about 2 inches long now and growing in (getting fat ). He is a very healthy and happy fish but just his color is always an almond or tan with his stripes barely visable. You can still see his purple and teal flourescent dots, but he just never gets dark. He can be skiddish when I walk towards the tank as well.....

Just wondering if anyone knew what could be going on here? Most tanks have a boss and do you think that maybe he thinks I am the king fish of the tank and is always lighter colored to be submissive? I'm really not sure what is going on. He shows his stripes more in the morning when I have had the light off all night. But the stripes disappear by about 5 minutes after the light goes on. I just noticed.....maybe the temp is a little too high and it's making him act funny like this?


Tank stats:
30G (I know a bit too small but I understocked and gonna work something out in the future)
36"L x 12"w x 18"h

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0-5 ppm (20% H2O change per week)
pH: 6.5 to 7.0
Temp: 78F to 80F

Hiding spaces under a log, in claypot caves, and behind plants.

Pic of the tank:

My Jack :

 

[-=Joel=-]

How big is your plec ?

A trick I know if you want to keep alot of cichlids together is to buy smaller cichlids 2inchers and a large 10inch plec in. They will see the plec as the dominate fish for a while which helps the cichlids to get on as they grow

Your fish looks stressed why I dont know but I wouldnt worry your water is spot on. Also as you may know, cichlids can change colours (lighter and darker) at the click of a button ... its often triggered by there mood.

Bright colours = Happy
Light / Dark = normally stress related.
Dark = It can also mean angry Lol

Joel

 

[Ferris]

Are you sure he is not a she? JD females generally have a slightly lighter colouration than the males.

 

[kubora666]

yeh my former chocolate cichlid in my signature, used to go dark red/brown when i was cleaning the tank or anoying him in any way possible.

 

[ox5477]

Well the plec is the is only 3" so he is def not bossing the JD around.

I thought that when they were light, usually meant scared, but if he is happy then awesome!

Im pretty sure he is a male. Long pointed dorsal fin and such, but maybe he is too young still to sex.

And yes! I think that he looks stressed too, he is just very skidious and thought maybe he was just showing superiority to me (not to be full of myself... )

I know his water is fine, I pride myself on trying to keep the tank as clean and chem free as possible, both my tanks, I just don't know why he acts so scared all the time.

I would think he would be used to me by now, I have had him for about an inch now (or almost three months for those of you with a concept of time)

 

[~T~]

Are you sure he is not a she? JD females generally have a slightly lighter colouration than the males.

Both sexes can be dark or light depending on moods.The fish in the pic is male, you tell the sex of JDs from the blue marking on their faces/gill plates.Males have just the spots round the eye while females have large patches of blue and often the whole of the gill plates are solid blue.

 

[Nevergone815]

Both sexes can be dark or light depending on moods.The fish in the pic is male, you tell the sex of JDs from the blue marking on their faces/gill plates.Males have just the spots round the eye while females have large patches of blue and often the whole of the gill plates are solid blue.

i never knew that, now i'm going to go sex my JD to find out! thanks for that info ~T~.

 

[~T~]

Both sexes can be dark or light depending on moods.The fish in the pic is male, you tell the sex of JDs from the blue marking on their faces/gill plates.Males have just the spots round the eye while females have large patches of blue and often the whole of the gill plates are solid blue.

i never knew that, now i'm going to go sex my JD to find out! thanks for that info ~T~.

No problem