I have some NRBD's and they have not had any red coloring since I got them last fall. One of them gets a red belly at night, but after the lights come on for 15-20 minutes in the morning, he loses the red. I have seen these guys in the wild with amazing colors from red to yellow and bright orange. Anyone got any advice for me on how to get them to color up?
Thanks.
Northern Red Bellied Dace Color?
Started by
Guest_Elijah_*
, Feb 11 2010 05:48 PM
9 replies to this topic
#6
Guest_Elijah_*
Guest_Elijah_*
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Posted 13 February 2010 - 05:00 PM
I have many live plants and logs, slight current.Do you have a dark-bottomed tank,
good current,
and logs and plants that the fish can hangout under?
Mine are showing good color and have spawned.
Around here RBDs live in dark ponds with tons of plant growth and almost no current.
My substrate is play-sand, so I bet it is too light?
Cool that yours have spawned!
#9
Guest_31dirty_*
Guest_31dirty_*
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Posted 05 March 2010 - 07:02 PM
How dark should it be? What do you use?
My SRBD stay in color all year long without any temperature control on the tank, the houses heater keeps the water at about 65F. Im using a fine black gravel substrate, a few live plans, driftwood from a local river, ect.
I have noticed that their color seems more intense the first few days after they get a water change, so Ive always figured the O2 content of the water has alot to do with it.
#10
Michael Wolfe
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- Board of Directors
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 06 March 2010 - 10:05 AM
I have noticed that their color seems more intense the first few days after they get a water change, so Ive always figured the O2 content of the water has alot to do with it.
I have posted several times on different threads that my shiners (yellofins mostly) color up during and immediately after a water change. I think it does have a lot to do with temperature. I mean your cold tap water is almost always colder than room temperature, so you are likely adding cold water to the tank, at least in relative terms. THat being said, O2 is also high in cold water so you may have somethign else there to consider. I have also seen coloring up as a result of food. This also goes with a water change in a way, as many times you will be stirring up the tank and putting more "items" in the water column, which is where shiners and dace eat from. They seem to color up and then dash about trying to grab things to eat.
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