Dull Neon

[flyhawk]

the red part on two of my neons are a bit dull, and im just wondering what that could be
i do water changes every day
i feed them frozen bloodworm and flake food
i have an under gravel filter and a penguin bio wheel filter

 

[Truck]

there could be a few causes. stress, to much light. are the two on their own? if they are that could be an issue. or it could be a gene defect. the list goes on

 

[flyhawk]

well, i have four bulbs over my tank, but i only keep 2 on most the time
they are not seperated from the group
they eat with all the others
they pretty much act normally

 

[Lateral Line]

Have they always been like that or is this something that has suddenly happened? It is certainly true that the intensively farmed stock you often see is a bit different from the wild ideal as genetic changes get concentrated into a small breeder pool. There are line bred Neon variants that have certain "desirable" traits semi-fixed, lutino, diamond head etc., (mind boggles!).

There is also another closely related species, Paracheirodon simulans, often called the False Neon or Green Neon, which resembles the regular Neon, (Paracheirodon innesi), but is characterised by having a much less obvious to almost absent red mark. When I've seen them, the blue stripe seems, (to me at least), to go a bit further towards the tail.