changing colors

[samctex]

I have 7 cichlids in my 55 gallon tank and 3 of them in particular keep changing colors. One is a big one that I got about 6 months ago. He is getting big and then the other day he went from being bright white, yellow and black to being nearly transparent and then the next morning he was back to his regular color and then when I came home from work that night, he was transparent again and then by noon the next day, he was normal again. I have a black and white striped one that went from being very vibrant black and white to now nearly silver with faint black stripes on his body and he also changes back and forth. Can anyone tell me what the reason for this might be?

 

[cichlidmommy]

The ones I have do the same thing. I would be curious to see if there is a reason for it.

 

[tropheusfreak]

What kind of africans do you have? I would guess mbuna. More than likely the color change is due to him showing off to other tankmates. Stress, breeding, and aggression are all factors here. Now if they all had nice bright colors than all of a sudden they faded I would start to look at water quality, but I don't think thats whats going on here. Maybe start paying attention to your females you might find a mouth full of eggs soon. I hope this helps.

David