Color blind newbie

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firesign

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
2
Hello everyone!

This is an odd question but relevant i think...

I am somewhat red/green color blind, and my girlfriend (Umberle) just got me hooked into this fish habit with a 55-gallon freshwater tank. (This being my first post here.)

We've noticed some differences in which fish i think look more interesting vs. ones that she does (on a color basis).

I'm just curious if anyone else on here is color blind at all (though maybe I'm the only one), and what fish you prefer if you are?

Didn't immediately think it would impact so much, but fish-keeping is, at least on one level, a very color-oriented hobby!
 
I'm both Red/Green and Blue/Yellow, and their is a huge difference.

I find active, curious fish, or fish that serve a purpose for me, to be more interesting. Cories, SAE's, or similiar fish are my perference.

My wife likes Angels, Red-Wag Swordtails, and other similiar fish.

The real problem is those test kits- I've yet to be even close to what my wife says the Nitrate reading is.
 
Welcome to AA!

Interesting topic... I'm really color-blind as well. I don't know that my fish choices were really effected by it, I picked them based on their behavior. I definately agree that water testing is an issue, lol. My wife jokes she is going to charge me for every time she has to match colors for me! With how many things in aquaria relate to specific color, I'm constantly asking her to tell me what colors things are. What tint is the cloudy water, what shade of green is that algae, is petey's poop tan or grey? It's good though, cause it has increased how much she is involved in my hobby. Every question I ask her leads to her asking me three!
 
test strips are a waste of time for me too.

I found this shirt funny. Caution it uses the F word
*Link removed*

but I cant read it.
 
Thanks for the insight, everyone. I did wonder about the water tests; so far she's been taking care of all that (and it sounds like that will continue). I'm just now starting to really look into behaviors as well as just appearance. I'm sure my tastes will start being influenced moreso by how they act, but at the beginning it was interesting to see which fish stand out more to me than others for the colors.

Incidentally, that is a highly amusing t-shirt.
 
I'm not colorblind, but I found Oliver Sack's account of a colorblind painter very interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/Anthropologist-Mars-Seven-Paradoxical-Tales/dp/0679756973

The artist's paintings look like muddy gauze to non-colorblind people, but to him they display a rich palette of texture and varying tones that are obscured by color perception.

I wonder if colorblind people see textures and patterns that the rest of us can not - even on fish.
 
travis somonson is fairly colourblind aswell but has the most beautiful tank i have ever seen. for those of u who are un familiar with his tank HERE is an example of his beauty. i am not sure how he chooses his fish but i would eb interested to know.
 
QTOFFER said:
I wonder if colorblind people see textures and patterns that the rest of us can not - even on fish.

I can't answer specifically for fish, but yes, we do see different colors, patterns, and textures. I recall one study (The title of which I forget) that found that Red/Green and Blue/Yellow colorblind folks may see up to 15 different shades of Khaki that normal color vision folks could not see.

In more personal terms, camoflague is often less effective or ineffective against me. When playing paintball in the woods, I would hear other people talk about how good a particular person or pattern was at blending in, but would be unable to notice it myself. The downside, of course, was that throughout my paintball and military career's, I was completely unable to do my own camo. In the fish tank, my wife and kids can't find our pleco's when they are on the driftwood, but they stand out to me.
 
I can't believe I found a thread about this here. It never struck me when it comes to fish. I am unfortunate to be Red/Green colorblind. I'm an Oscar fan which are greenish brown with the Tigers having reds and oranges. Some of the worst colors for me to see, LOL.

When I was single I always had to looks for help when picking out clothes, now my wife helps me.

To all non colorblind people out there. It's not that we can't see red and green it's just that we see it in a different way than normal people. It's when you shift the red towards orange and towards purple or shift the green towards brown that we have trouble.
 
Bud8Fan said:
When I was single I always had to looks for help when picking out clothes, now my wife helps me.

To all non colorblind people out there. It's not that we can't see red and green it's just that we see it in a different way than normal people. It's when you shift the red towards orange and towards purple or shift the green towards brown that we have trouble.

Heh... sounds like you've heard that wonderful question once or twice yourself... "You're colorblind? What color is my shirt?"

I used to take female friends with me to buy clothes when I was single. More then once, it turned into more then shopping. :)
 
MarkP said:
Bud8Fan said:
When I was single I always had to looks for help when picking out clothes, now my wife helps me.

To all non colorblind people out there. It's not that we can't see red and green it's just that we see it in a different way than normal people. It's when you shift the red towards orange and towards purple or shift the green towards brown that we have trouble.

Heh... sounds like you've heard that wonderful question once or twice yourself... "You're colorblind? What color is my shirt?"

I used to take female friends with me to buy clothes when I was single. More then once, it turned into more then shopping. :)

Yeah I actually spent about a month after we started dating asking firesign what colors he thought things were. :roll: I was just insanely curious because I knew that colorblind was a misnomer but at the same time what do ya see. Dying easter eggs was real interesting :lol:

It's a good thing firesign has a good sense of humor but at least now I have an idea of when to mention something being x color and when not to....if that makes any sense.
 
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