Red-Striped Rainbow... Lost it's stripe?!

[MrQuan]

I have recently added two red-striped rainbows in my 240L (63gal) planted aquarium and have noticed one of them has lost it's stripe! 8O

In the photo below you can see that it has no red stripe at all, but rather a darker blue area on the lower half of it's side. When I first introduced this rainbow into the aquarium it had a red stripe like it's friend (also pictured) although faint.

No stripe anymore

The striped friend

I've noticed a difference between the two rainbows... The one without the stripe is a very fussy eater, he will take a bite at the flake food, but just spits it out again :?. Where as the other isn't as picky and doesn't mind flake food (picks out the red coloured bits, but does swallow them). Should I try feeding them black worms or something? They were raised in the same LFS and bought together so their feeding habits should be the same, no?

I'm also aware that apparently female red-striped rainbows have a faint stripe compared to males.

Should I be worried about the diet or another problem? They don't seem stressed... can anyone please help?

Cheers

 

[Devilishturtles]

I can't see your pictures from where I am, but how long ago did you add the fish? Stress can make the fish lose it's color for a bit. Give them some time to adjust. It's also possible that you have different gender fish and they are reacting to each other.

HTH

 

[MrQuan]

I added them a week ago... so the stress factor is definately a possibility. I asked the guy at the LFS about what he feeds them and I bought a batch of his flake food and they seem to nibble a bit at that at least (still not eating normally IMO).

Anyways, I'll give them time to adjust to their new surroundings and keep an eye on their eating habits.

It just suprised me to see the stripe dissappear in a matter of a few days! (compared to the pic with the stripe - it was faded about half that when I bought it).

Thanks