My peacock is losing color

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Duddits

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Messages
472
Location
Jacksonville, Florida
So I've had my peacock for roughly 2 months now. When I got him he was a gorgeous powder blue and orange/black spotted. Now his blue looks to be washed out and is primarily white/orange/black. Why is this? Diet? What food do you all recommend to feed to keep the vibrant colors?
 
Duddits said:
So I've had my peacock for roughly 2 months now. When I got him he was a gorgeous powder blue and orange/black spotted. Now his blue looks to be washed out and is primarily white/orange/black. Why is this? Diet? What food do you all recommend to feed to keep the vibrant colors?

I see several brands named here by people that you can find in most stores (Omega, Hikari, etc.), though I have not been a big fan of them. The brand I have used for years now, with great results is Xtreme. You can find it in some specialty stores or online, as well as their web site (http://www.xtremeaquaticfoods.com). All they make is food, so they have a pretty good idea of what they are doing. Good luck with whichever brand you select.
 
I totally recommend New Life Spectrum range, fantastic high quality food. They do a great range for Cichlids with natural colour enhancers.
 
Did you recently change your substrate? If you have light colored gravel or sand it can make the colors look washed out, also if your background I light or there are lots of light colored items in the tank. This would be the very basic of issues, is your fish acting strangely or different then usual? If the fish is stressed it can loose it color. Stress could be caused by being bullied or toxic spikes in your water chemistry. Test your water, and keep an eye on them for a bit. Hope this helps, similar things have happened in my tank.
 
All water perimeters are great. Never had a issue with water quality. The substrate has been the same since the tank was set up and the fish were introduced. No change to the backing, lights or decor either. The peacock is the king of the tank right now. Nobody bullies him around nor is he stressed in any way. I can only think its the food. Right now they get a mix of foods. About every 3 days try get frozen food (brine, blood worms and veggie mix). They get a flake/pellet mix every day which consists of Omega One cichlid flakes, Tetra Color flakes, Omega One color pellets and Aqueon Cichlid Pellets.
 
I use omega, Ive had the same issues but with peacocks only, all my other fish were extremly colorful... Peacocks might just be a bit more sensitive than other cichlids
 
You can always try a different diet, I honestly cant remember if peacocks are herbavores or not but there are color enhancment foods out there. Give it a try, test your water, it could be stress, Or like the comment above, the color of your enviorment could potentially change their coloration
 
Anyone ever try vegetables? I was just reading on yahoo answers that people feed their mbunas zucchini, squash, lettuce and spinach. They say it can enhance their colors.
 
Duddits said:
Anyone ever try vegetables? I was just reading on yahoo answers that people feed their mbunas zucchini, squash, lettuce and spinach. They say it can enhance their colors.

I feed zucchini but I have to cut it up in small pieces then freeze it and defreze to make it softer
 
If all other fish are bright and vibrant then my guess is the fish in question lost his stop on top and is now sub dominate which would explain the sudden and dramatic color shift.
 
Mogurako said:
If all other fish are bright and vibrant then my guess is the fish in question lost his stop on top and is now sub dominate which would explain the sudden and dramatic color shift.

You beat me to it! That's what I was gonna suggest. He's not the Dom fish anymore so hes lost some color.
 
Yea that works both ways too, I got a convict for my south American and he actually gained 50%more color than he had before the tank. He just got a better position of dominance in this tank so he perked up. Also, I read that they dye fish? Maybe he's loosing dye ? You don't seem like the type who is unknowledgable about those kind of things, but I've been tricked into buying a fish that wasnt what they said it was before. Also when doing lettuce use romaine it actually has nutrients in it where a iceberg does not.
 
Your fish isn't dyed. It's more likely he is not happy. Whether its due to his new status or he is just in a bad mood. My fish dull sometimes and perk up others.
 
I hadn't really read too much about the dying, someone had sent me an article about it bc of my parrot fish? Wasn't sure just throwing a few ideas out there :)
 
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