Fish Turning Black

[xltd1]

Fish turning black a week after putting into tank. Fish seems fine. Water parameters are normal.

Top pic is of the one turning colors, the pic on the bottom is what it should look like.

 

[guppy_man]

lol i dont think its changing colours, it looks alot like a MELANOCHROMIS JOHANNI, im not sure though, im still learning about these fish, there are people on here who know everything you need to know about these fish and i kno they can tell you what it is so wiat for their reply

 

[kev350d]

If im right they change colour once they reach sexual maturity.. but im no expert at all on tropical fish let alone mbuna.

 

[jgray152]

they do change color...but I believe only if its a male.

 

[adambrum]

The one that is turning black is a melanochromis aurtas they all start off with yellow and black stripes but the males change. I hope you are aware of how aggressive these are they are the most aggressive mbuna you can get !.

If 2 go black one will kill the other unless its a huge tank at least 6 foot

 

[mr.dark-saint]

Most cichlids when they go "dark" or "black" it's a sign of dominance. That "Alpha" status, you don't want to mess with me mentality and (my favorite) where the females at .

 

[Ferris]

That is indeed a male Auratus going through the normal colour transformation as it reaches adulthood. If both fish are the same size, it is likely that you have 1 male and 1 female. Auratus are a seriously aggressive Mbuna species which will almost certainly dominate your tank - something to keep an eye on.

 

[kribensis12]

It is definatly a male aruatus going through its normal color change when it reaches sexual maturaty. They are worse than cons and I suggest you get rid of all the black ones or else everything else will be dead.

 

[SG-1]

Ive got an auratus, the key to them getting along is to put them with lots of other big nasry fish. My Fish list:

1 Melanochromis auratus
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Electric yellow
1 cobalt blue
1 jewel cichlid
1 green severum
1 bala shark
1 red tail shark
1 common pleco
1 angel fish
1 chinese algie eater

Guess which of my fish is the most agressive? BY FAR? Yup, the RTS. The rts is big, real big, and usually when I put new cichlids in there he immidiatly dominates them. The jack, the auratus, and the jewel especially he mercelessily went after them. I think that by establishing dominence early, not only has the RTS curbed some of the cichlids agressiveness behavior, in the case of the jack and a few others, by the time they outgrow the RTS to the point where he can no longer dominate them, they seem to be alot more mellow because of the rough treatment as smaller fish Im guessing. As a result, Ive got a community that no one thought would work however they all get along brilliantly now. The lesson here, try putting a big ass RTS in the tank before your smaller auratus gets large and goes on a killing spree

 

[adambrum]

That list should not work at all, how do you know what to keep the ph at ?

I think its more luck than a key to keeping them.

 

[SG-1]

That list should not work at all, how do you know what to keep the ph at ?

I think its more luck than a key to keeping them.

You know what, I dont actually have a test set to meter the ph, Ive never needed one. Only thing I moniter is the water temp which is maintained at around 82 degrees F at all times, they all are very comfortable with that temp. The only other secret to my sucess is that I keep the tank exceedingly clean. I bought the biggest cannister filter I could get, 2 rotating power heads, bubble wall, and I do a 30% water change every week. This keeps em pretty happy, Ive been running this tank with these fish in it togeather for 3 years now, I havent had any deaths, and the RTS is the only fish in there that seems to exhibit an unreasonable level of agressiveness, but only to the cichlids his size or smaller, once they outgrow him, he leaves them alone and they leave him alone. Its been great to have such a wide variety of fish living togeather in perfect harmony with very few exceptions. I had many many people tell me not to do it, it wouldnt work, I think in the beginning I just wanted to proove that it could be done, but now, years later like I said, its a beautiful thing to have all these guys living togeather all healthy and not fighting with each other. And when I say not fighting, I mean they dont even have squabbles, other than the RTS to most people's suprise I have had 0 agression occurances between the fish that I have on my list of fish above. Not 1

Now I did have one misstep, I guess I got a little over confident, I tried to add 3 pangasis catfish last month, the auratus and RTS evicerated them all in under 12 hours Wont be trying that again, but I chalk it up to a learning experience.

 

[adambrum]

Well i cant argue with how your keeping them if there still alive after 3 years.

Still makes me cringe though my tanks the opposite with all mbuna except the synos which are the only catfish native to malawi (there is a new one but i dont think its got a proper name yet) and a lake victoria cichlid, water is close to that of malawi with a ph of 8.2 and minerals to simulate the water but i do keep wild caught species.

I suppose its horses for courses and all that but i would not advise anyone else does it without a hell of a lot of knowledge and spare tanks.

 

[SG-1]

I do have them in a 125 Gallon tank too, Im sure that plays at least some part in their ability to get along as well, they all have alot of room to swim around. I do agree with you on not advising someone who doesent have a lot of fish knowledge to try something like this as well. Now I dont actually have any spare tanks but I am in the process of setting up a 20 gallon tank for more peaceful fish, should be ready in about a month, thinking about maybe some tetra's, maybe a swordtail or betta

 

[fishfishfish]

also with fish like bumble bee cichlids, they go black and change their apperance(mine streched fins) when they are stealing eggs.then they change back.

 

[jgray152]

That list should not work at all, how do you know what to keep the ph at ?

I find almost every freshwater fish can be adapted to any water condition. Such as Mbunas in water with a PH of 7. They will still live a long healthy life.

When I first got my E-Yellows mized in my 30 gallon with some cummunity fish and a jewel. PH was around 7 +/-. Would flucuate sometimes. Was fine for the couple years I had them in there. I then got my 55 gal.