Blue Ram Colour ?

[Jam Jam]

Yesterday I noticed both the male and female Ram in my tank changed their colour to a real dark shade in the black areas and really orange at the front.
Why would this be ??

 

[mark4785]

From 2 years of experience of keeping GBR's I'd say the change of colour was brought about voluntarily by each Ram to show each other that the conditions are right for spawning. The conditions that induce spawning are usually low nitrates, depression in temperature and feeding them lots of live foods.

More black areas can often occur on the body: horizontal 'tar' mark across the entire body of the fish or a solid black horizontal line above the mouth of the fish will appear if they are stressed/scared or unsure about something (i.e. if you enter the room with an unfamiliar object, such as a camera with flash, this will often scare the ram). Where stressed/scare/unsure, I have never seen a GBR develop a more orange facial area in addition to more pronounced black pigmentation.

As far as I know, a bright dark orange facial area indicates that you are feeding it a very healthy diet of Spirulina which enhances skin colour.

 

[Jam Jam]

Interesting,thanks. Great fish aren't they I love rams.