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Cichlid Color Development and Substrate

gerald

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5 Year Member
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1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
This thread was split off from:
http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/showthread.php?11585-Apistogramma-baenschi

>> I'm just guessing that it can happen with Apistos. An angelfish breeder who spoke at our Raleigh aquar conference a few years back noted this phenomenon, and personally I've seen it with Julidochromis transcriptus. I gave some Julies (an old strain I've had many generations) to a local friend who uses white pool filter sand or bare-bottom tanks, and his offspring have greatly reduced (and paler) black areas than mine do. (I use brown, gray or black sand in all tanks). Do other folks have experience with this? Does normal pigment develop later if adults (raised from birth on a light bottom) are moved to a dark bottom?

>> Melanochromis: Interestingly, I may be having problems with the vertical bands on the fish. The earlier Inka I bred don't have dark vertical bands like their parents. The bands are very faded and difficult to see. I don't know if the batch will grow up to be without bands as well.

>> Gerald: The substrate color can affect their pigment development. If fry are raised on white sand or a bare glass bottom their melanophores might not develop normally. I dont know whether this effect is temporary or permanent. It might depend on their age and duration of "dark bottom deficiency".

>> Melanochromis: Wow, you sure that's possible? This is a new knowledge to me. Never thought of it before. If this is true, I'll probably have to adjust so many things :-(
 

regani

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5 Year Member
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429
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Brisbane, Australia
I had a case like that with Pseudotropheus demasoni fry. After they had grown a bit too large for the small fry raising tank, I put them in a large eskie (Australian for cooler box) with lots of pvc pipes for cover. both the pipes and the inside of the eskie were white. after they had originally shown some nice color after a week in the eskie they almost looked like albinos! I kept them there for about 8 weeks. when I returned them to the main tank. it took a few days for them to develop color again, but after a week or two they had returned to full color. so the effect is definitely there, but I am not sure if anything like this would be permanent.
 

gerald

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5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Ps. demasoni have prominent black bars when released from mom's mouth. I suspect the light-bottom effect would be stronger on other cichlids that are born with little or no pigment and develop color later. We've probably all seen temporary color loss, or what field fish photographers call "white bucket effect".

Here's some info on photoperiod effect on angelfish stripe development.
Cant find the light/dark bottom info right now, but didnt have much time to hunt around.

http://theangelfishsociety.org/articles/norton/dr_norton(7N).html
 

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