Black phantom tetra turning red?

Hi everyone. Hope you’re all having a nice day. I have 5 black phantom tetras in my tank and they have been in there for about 3 weeks. However the past week I’ve noticed one of them turn like a reddish colour. I’ve attached a picture of him below with a picture of another normal coloured one too. Is this normal for them to change colours? Like I say he did look like a normal one about a week ago haha. Kind of looks like he’s morphing into a serpea tetra haha.

Normal coloured one.


redish one

The lower picture is of a female; the red adipose and ventral fins are external indications of females in this species; males have all black fins. And with the females, it is not uncommon to see a slightly reddish hue at times. I've seen this over the years with my fish.

I used to have black phantom tetras. There was one in the group that was red. No clue why...

Byron said:

The lower picture is of a female; the red adipose and ventral fins are external indications of females in this species; males have all black fins. And with the females, it is not uncommon to see a slightly reddish hue at times. I've seen this over the years with my fish.

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Nice one Byron,

The normal coloured ones when they extend their find they are mostly black but the finds underneath have a lovely red colour to them. Would they still be males if they have that red tint on these fins?

PheonixKingZ said:

I used to have black phantom tetras. There was one in the group that was red. No clue why...

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Yes this is exactly the same haha just one line red one haha.

Tropical Tony said:

Nice one Byron,

The normal coloured ones when they extend their find they are mostly black but the finds underneath have a lovely red colour to them. Would they still be males if they have that red tint on these fins?

Click to expand...

This para from my profile of the species, with photos, should clarify.

Sexes are easily distinguished; the first photo below shows a male, the second a female. Males are dark gray with black fins and a black shoulder patch, with an extended dorsal fin that can be unfurled like a banner above the fish. When displaying, the gray colouration darkens almost to black. Females are lighter, usually with a slightly reddish background colour, with a smaller dorsal and with vivid red adipose, pectoral and ventral fins. All these colours are less intense in harder water.

Here is the one I used to have:

(Excuse the terrible photo quality, that was some time ago...)

Phoenix, your fish was a little girl.