environment color and its effect on fish

[the_daver]

Hi all,

My first post here and my first tank so I'm about as new as you can get.
I have a question about a fish's possible reactions to certain environments.

I decided to go with a red-tinted environment which includes brownish/red aggregate (natural), redish/white river rocks (natural), rainbow rock, red slate, and some red plants (not overly red), with a black background.
There won't be much, if any, green though.

Would this type of envirnment stress any particular type of fish or would it negatively affect a fish's colors?

Sorry if this seems like a newbie question. I guess I'd rather err on the side of caution.

thanks!

 

[lordmoose]

hello and to the forum!

Wow you're certainly showing a lot of consideration to the welfare of your fish! Your tank sounds great, I've never known fish to be particular fussy about their decor, but I have to say I preffer the natural look. I cant stand tanks which have brightly coloured un-natural gravel and tacky ornaments like sunken pirate ships!

 

[the_daver]

Thanks for the assurance and advice. I agree with you 100% about trying to keep the tank looking natural. I'm shooting for an overall hue I guess (kind of the same way the Garnd Canyon is red) so the rocks with all be naturally red and the plants will have a washed out look to them.

and thanks for the welcome!

 

[the_daver]

well, here are the results. (please excuse the reflection. it's a black background).

left

right

 

[caz27]

Your tank looks gr8

What are you going to put in it.

Caz

 

[smb]

Yea, nice tank, what are you going to keep?

 

[the_daver]

thanks!

that's the next question....

seeing as how this is my first time, I'm probably going to start with some guppies. I kind of want to get some neon or penguin tetras but I think I might want to go with some slightly larger fish (like tiger barbs) that could harass them.

 

[smb]

Let me say welcome to the forum. I was remiss in my last post.

What size tank is it?

What type of fish are you looking for? Aggressive, big, small, schooling, alone color etc?

 

[the_daver]

oh, sorry about that. it's a 55-gal.

I want a community tank of peaceful medium-sized fish (4"-6") with some schools if possible.

 

[mickey]

there was a study done about fish stress relating to environment color.
same species of fish from the same litter, all placed in seperate tanks with identical conditions other than the color of the decor.
the results were that fish placed in darker tanks, deep blues, purples and greens or blacks were generally LESS stressed than those in brighter, red, yellow, pink tanks. which makes sense, seeing as different colors subcontiously effect the happiness/stress level of humans as well.
also, fish WITHOUT backgrounds were more stressed than fish WITH backgrounds.

just thought i'd share.

 

[Tori1984]

Wow - what a pretty tank.

 

[Alien Anna]

Blind cave fish wouldn't mind either way!