Why Cichlids Change Color?

[PiMpPiStOl]

like my 2 blue africans, they use to be kinda pruply blue, and you could barely see the stripes. then sometimes theyd show up a lil, the go away later... right now, ones light, and i think swimming against the filter curresmt, i dunno, but he looks normal, then the other has real dark stripes now. does that mean anything? theyre not acting weird or anything... its prolly ntohign to wrry about, i just wanna knwo why. cuz ive kinda been wondering why to get darker or lighter.

 

[bitteraspects]

Generally they lose color due to stress. This stress can be caused by illness/disease, aggressive tank mates and poor water parameters. Check into all of these things because its usually not a good thing.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

Generally they lose color due to stress. This stress can be caused by illness/disease, aggressive tank mates and poor water parameters. Check into all of these things because its usually not a good thing.

which ones not good? the darker one or the lighter one? i have some of that cichlid salt stuff... would that work?
i cant get a good look at em cuz when i get close, they hide...

edit: now theyre both kinda light. the normal light. the darker ones not darker anymore. i have 2 blues (not sure exaclt ywhat kind) a yellow lab, and albino snow white. theyve been getting along for a while... either theyre just playing, or just now getting aggressive i dunno... i just added another rock. so that gives em another place to hide or conquer... so i dunno. they still seem fine. and now the darker one went back to being darker..so did the light one, but not as dark... i dunno

 

[stang1]

As BA said, they can change colour due to stress. Most fish tend to lose colour although some fish can become quite dark, it all depends on species.
Are they being bullied? What else is in the tank? What are your water stats?
Sorry for all the questions but it may help determine if there is a problem or not.

 

[8inary]

i have a few fish that change colour for various reasons:

silver dollars - i think its the male ones that develop blackish marks when they are horny - as i only see them like this when well,
hmm bonking if im allowed to say that.

clown loaches - these tend to lose their blackness in their bands when being aggressive towards their own kind

EBJD - mostly electric blue and patches of black - however can appear very bright electric blue all over - not sure why, seems fine

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

As BA said, they can change colour due to stress. Most fish tend to lose colour although some fish can become quite dark, it all depends on species.
Are they being bullied? What else is in the tank? What are your water stats?
Sorry for all the questions but it may help determine if there is a problem or not.

the 2 blue ones IF any, are the agressive ones. but i still dunno fi any are. the water stats are all perfect. amonias the only thing im not sure about.

i just saw ones stripes turn dark... coudl it be a mating thing?? ive seen these 2 try to mate... but its like the other doesnt care. the guy does his lil seizure dance, and the other just swims away... i dunno

ive also noticed when i had puffers, they turned dark before they died, my black skirts stripes faded, and i have a tiger barb that almost got his tail munched off, and he started to fade, but now hes better and hes darker again...

 

[bitteraspects]

Breeding colors are very different from loss of color due to stress, and is absolutely not the case given the description by the OP.

 

[stang1]

What fish are they and what else is in the tank?
How big is the tank?

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

Breeding colors are very different from loss of color due to stress, and is absolutely not the case given the description by the OP.

theyre not losing color. they are orignally (at least since ive gotten em) kind of light. not really light. bu like a light purply/blue. the strips are what fades. when i got em, they werent very visible, and they were sometimes a slightey darker blue/purple than the rest of the body, but now its alot darker, and yeah. it keeps going from the dark, not not very visible. its just darker than it usually is, thats why im asking

What fish are they and what else is in the tank?
How big is the tank?

they are these fish

and the front one is usually how they are. or maybe kinda like the back one. but now, those stripes are a lot darker than in the pic.

and i also hve yellow lab, and albino snow white. in a 10 gallon untill a few days, which them, plus more will be in a 55. so its not permanent.

 

[bitteraspects]

As BA said, they can change colour due to stress. Most fish tend to lose colour although some fish can become quite dark, it all depends on species.
Are they being bullied? What else is in the tank? What are your water stats?
Sorry for all the questions but it may help determine if there is a problem or not.

the 2 blue ones IF any, are the agressive ones. but i still dunno fi any are. the water stats are all perfect. amonias the only thing im not sure about.

i just saw ones stripes turn dark... coudl it be a mating thing?? ive seen these 2 try to mate... but its like the other doesnt care. the guy does his lil seizure dance, and the other just swims away... i dunno

ive also noticed when i had puffers, they turned dark before they died, my black skirts stripes faded, and i have a tiger barb that almost got his tail munched off, and he started to fade, but now hes better and hes darker again...

If its lost color and flashing (the "seizure dance", as you put it), its either due to disease, or water parameters.. Which will quickly lead to disease or worse.
Check your ammonia ASAP, and keep an eye out for tell tale signs of fungal, bacterial, and parasitic infections.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

As BA said, they can change colour due to stress. Most fish tend to lose colour although some fish can become quite dark, it all depends on species.
Are they being bullied? What else is in the tank? What are your water stats?
Sorry for all the questions but it may help determine if there is a problem or not.

the 2 blue ones IF any, are the agressive ones. but i still dunno fi any are. the water stats are all perfect. amonias the only thing im not sure about.

i just saw ones stripes turn dark... coudl it be a mating thing?? ive seen these 2 try to mate... but its like the other doesnt care. the guy does his lil seizure dance, and the other just swims away... i dunno

ive also noticed when i had puffers, they turned dark before they died, my black skirts stripes faded, and i have a tiger barb that almost got his tail munched off, and he started to fade, but now hes better and hes darker again...

If its lost color and flashing (the "seizure dance", as you put it), its either due to disease, or water parameters.. Which will quickly lead to disease or worse.
Check your ammonia ASAP, and keep an eye out for tell tale signs of fungal, bacterial, and parasitic infections.

its not LOSING color. its DARKENING color. and just in the stripes. and the dance was a long time ago. but he was jumping infront of the other, and doing all that. i thought it was bad at first, untill i looked on yourtube and saw that thats what they do. except the other wasnt doing it back... i knwo that the seizure dance wasnt bad.

 

[bitteraspects]

Breeding colors are very different from loss of color due to stress, and is absolutely not the case given the description by the OP.

theyre not losing color. they are orignally (at least since ive gotten em) kind of light. not really light. bu like a light purply/blue. the strips are what fades. when i got em, they werent very visible, and they were sometimes a slightey darker blue/purple than the rest of the body, but now its alot darker, and yeah. it keeps going from the dark, not not very visible. its just darker than it usually is, thats why im asking

What fish are they and what else is in the tank?
How big is the tank?

they are these fish

and the front one is usually how they are. or maybe kinda like the back one. but now, those stripes are a lot darker than in the pic.

and i also hve yellow lab, and albino snow white. in a 10 gallon untill a few days, which them, plus more will be in a 55. so its not permanent.

The lines you see are often referred to as stress lines or atress stripes. Most cichluds have them under their scales, and when they become stressed for any of the reasons listed in my firat post, their scales becone lighter in color and the stripes become more visible.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

just tested ammonia, and its perfect. right at 0.

then would cichlid lake salt help??

 

[bitteraspects]

To put it simply, no.
You can't treat for an ailment you havnt yet diagnosed. While salt and heat are a common treatment for some disease, without knowing what's causing the stress, any treatment could just cause more problems. Keep an eye on them to see if tou can find the cause before you try to treat them.

 

[Gouken]

could be that one fish is more dominant than the other one and not letting the other one show its colors. Thats what my cichlids do.