changin colour

[teknikz]

ive had this blood parrot for a few weeks now n she always been jet black (coz she hasnt been dyed ) and ive just put some new tablet food in which all the fish love.......this was like 5-10 minutes ago and she's changed colour from jet black to a gold/bronze colour and all but 1 of her stripes has gone

just thought id share.....any1 else had anythin like this?

 

[smb]

Wow. No, I have never heard of anything like that before. I've had red devils go from a lot of black to red in a week but never change colors like that in 5 minutes.

 

[teknikz]

its very very strange.......my mum was here lookin not long ago askin why she so black.......very very strange

 

[KnuckleHead]

Sounds like a sign of stress to me. Have you used these tablet foods before?

 

[AquaNut]

One of my female bettas changes colours right before my eyes sometimes. Sometimes she's a beautiful red with deep blue around the edges and turquoise fins, then she's pale and coppery with different colours on her. The first time I saw her do it, I thought it was stress, or perhaps related to territorial/mating behaviours, but after watching and observing it over and over, I've decided there is no clear common link between the different times she's done it.

 

[Kossy]

Youll find your female will show her colours around other bettas. Its all territorial. Its fine a normal female betta is that dull color

 

[teknikz]

i dont think its stress.......she eats the food and she is swimmin and acting as she always does......i wouldnt think stress would be bropught on that fast

 

[Alien Anna]

I know bettas can change colour when fighting - I used bettas for animal behaviour experiments at university (no actual biting occurred). The male bettas were kept in a 10 gal with an opaque divider and then the opaque divider would be removed and they'd be face to face - but with a glass divider between them. The behaviours I observed included flashing bright pink and purple (these were wild-colour, dark blue bettas).

I've never observed this rapid colour change in my own bettas but I suspect it might be behaviour they'd only show to another betta.

 

[teknikz]

so is it natural for a fish to change colour then???

i know betta's do sometimes but ive never seen a blood parrot do it so quickly

 

[AquaNut]

Youll find your female will show her colours around other bettas. Its all territorial. Its fine a normal female betta is that dull color

Nope. She's usually the beautiful, brilliant colours and changes them even when there are no other bettas in the tank (the other female is in a smaller tank alone, conditioning for breeding). My other female is always bright, brilliant colours, too. I've never seen her display any of those washed out colours. She's as brilliant red and blue as any of my males.