Colour Loss

[Delta62 Thorn]

I have a nice yellowbelly catfish who is supposed to be an attractive jet black colour but is quite the shade of white. He is not albino and should be jet black. In the wee hours of the morning when the tank light has just come on he has a black colouring to him though as the day goes on he fades to a grayish off-white.

As a species they typically live in cool dark areas, I keep my water temperature cool (20° or so) and he has places to hide that stay dark all day - though these are just pipes, should there be more darkness or even, perhaps, no tank light at all? Any suggestions as to the prevention/reversal of this colour loss are much appreciated.

[I will add a picture of his natural jet black state later on, see my avatar picture for his current colour loss appearance]


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[KittyKat]

Try floating plants, they will make him feel less exposed probably.. or a lotus and let the leaves grow till they reach the surface.

 

[Delta62 Thorn]

I was planning on getting some non-synthetic plants soon anyhow, but would comfort level truly effect his colouration? He's a bloody yellowbelly cat, lowest stress fish I've ever owned. Has no problem with 2.5 hour car rides between homes - just sleeps the whole way.


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[KittyKat]

Hmm, yellow belly as in Ameiurus natalis? You might want to drop the temperature to 15°C. Also it could be stressing if your fish tank is not big enough for it, adult specimens would need at least 6+*2+ ft bottom area.

 

[Delta62 Thorn]

Yes, yellow-belly as in Ameiurus natalis (a.k.a. yellow bullhead and the plethora of other "common" names).

For the time being he is merely 11 centemetres long, using the rough approximation of 1500 cubic centimetres per centimetre of fish my catfish fits quite comfortably in his present accommodations. I have plans to further increased the size of his tank this summer in order to account for his adult size.

I will try lowering the water temperature and see if that has an effect on his colouration. Thank you kindly for your advice.

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[KittyKat]

..the length of fish per volume doesn't really indicate anything useful. For example, a 30*30*30 cm aquarium would long since have not been enough for any 11cm fish, yet it is double the volume the fish needs according to that calculation. For the moment, you probably want a 3-4 ft aquarium with clear swimming spaces for the fish to be able to grow properly, but I expect it is not long before he should have a longer aquarium.

 

[Delta62 Thorn]

I didn't use the words "rough approximation" without meaningful intent. To make my intent crystal clear let me clarify that the intent was to discourage one from coming up with scenarios that would allow the calculation to provide for uncomfortable living spaces for one's fish. Given your response I clearly need to overstress the importance of such wording in the future.


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[KittyKat]

Hey! I was only pointing out that 16500 cubic centimetres is uncomfortable living space for a fish that size and there are better ways to estimate a fish's requirements. Not having a go at you or anything (unless you really do have him in a 16.5 litre aquarium, in which case you are very welcome to all the wrath I can muster).