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Mbuna color variances

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  • Mbuna color variances

    I was wondering if anyone else has witnessed this? I know that there are color differences between dominant/sub-dominant males. I also know that colors change with stress and water conditions. However I noticed that with my Mbuna when I first turn on the lights in the morning most of them appear to be washed out in color. Within minutes however most of their color reappears along with their barring and other markings. I find this fascinating and was wondering if all cichlids (Tangs, Victorians, CA/SA) changed colors/markings in this manner?
    120g - Tropheus Moorii Kambwimba
    180g - Petrochromis Macrognathus Dine/Tropheus Moorii Namansi I

    "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains"....Winston Churchill

    "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm"....Winston Churchill

  • #2
    my firemouths did this alot when i had them. they would often be almost white in the morning and bright and beautiful during the day. my geos dont really do this but my fire eel does from time to time...i dont know about the trophs...ive had a yellow lab do it before
    I make people happy

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    • #3
      yes most will do that. when they are sleeping or resting at night their color washes out a bit to protect themselves from predators.
      fishless

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      • #4
        mark if you catch your geo's sleeping at around 4am and cut the lights on you will notice the color is a little washed out.
        fishless

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        • #5
          For some reason 3 of my 6 Demasoni have not returned to their normal color today. They are pale blue with very faint barring. I noticed this with the Demasoni at City Pets the last time I was there. Only 2 of mine are from there. Wonder what the cause is?
          120g - Tropheus Moorii Kambwimba
          180g - Petrochromis Macrognathus Dine/Tropheus Moorii Namansi I

          "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains"....Winston Churchill

          "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm"....Winston Churchill

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          • #6
            I have mbuna mbamba bays and the sub male tends to blend in with the females and the alpha female tends to have extreme color in comparison to the sub females. However... when the females are swimming around with a mouth full of babies their color changes yet again. The best color I see is during feeding from my alpha male...he becomes a brilliant light purple with extremely black stripes. I love it. Oh yes... during sleep, their colors become washed out.....or when they are stressed the same thing happens.
            5.5 fw fluval chi - class N top bar snake chested endlers/ red marble bn/ 4 stripe RCS/ pumpkin shrimp
            20 sw cube - a few damsels and a colony of bristleworms
            29 fw - self cloning crayfish..which can't seem to clone haha
            29 fw - mollies / albino bristlenose / ghost shrimp and snowball shrimp/ glo danios
            29 fw - crs/ amano/tiger shrimp /assassins/ whiptails/ plants/ 3 emerald cories
            55 fw - steatocranus casaurius (20ish)/ tetras/ rainbows/large Jack Dempsey
            75 fw - large Jack Dempseys / pictus cat/ yoyo loach/ Red gippicep
            / 10+" oscar/ parrot

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Rico View Post
              mark if you catch your geo's sleeping at around 4am and cut the lights on you will notice the color is a little washed out.
              i do every night at around 1am when i feed my birchir and raphael.... oddly enough, they become MUCH MUCH darker, almost black, at night when they are asleep, i think its due to the black background i have, they blend in that way
              I make people happy

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              • #8
                I know this is an old post, but I just read it. Recently, I was trying to net a couple of young male red top trewavassaes; in the same tank were quite a number of male and female fish - alledgedly Copadichromis azureus. After a while I noticed that some of the red top males were doing a pretty fair impression of azureus females! I guess they decided they were the least noticeable fish around them so that is what they went for. At least that is who it looked to me.

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