Angelfish colors and light

[ccronje]

Hi All,

I have a 200 Liter tank with 6 Angels and some Tetras. It's a hardscape tank with no plants. Water conditions are great and all fish seem healthy and happy with no aggression detected.

One thing I have noticed with the Angels is that their colors are constantly changing when the tank lights are on. When the lights are off and there is only natural light as in the first attached photo, the colors of the Angels are perfect and they constantly have dark black lines that tells me they are content and not stressed. Even when I feed them for example and they get excited their colors don't change.

As soon as I switch on the tank lights their colors start changing and they constantly go from the way I described above with dark black lines to almost completely silver as in the second photo. They don't seem stressed and roam the tank looking very relaxed, but those black likes are constantly coming and going.

Is this normal for Angels, or does this mean that the fish are stressed? Could my lights be too bright?

Thank you
Chris

[Aiken Drum]

Yes this is normal. My angels change colour depending on the lighting, their mood etc.

[ghyti]

Yes this is normal. The stripes fade in and out with their mood. Actually when they get excited/stressed the stripes get darker. You can tell when a pair is getting ready to spawn by the intense colors.

[Andy Sager]

As the others said, this is normal. It's the fish's way of showing emotion as well as trying to blend in with their background for protection.
There's a lot of information on using lighting to create different patterns in Angelfish. Leopards, 1/2 Blacks and stripeless varieties are all done by manipulating lighting. You can read about it here: TAS Library - Dr Norton Article: Continuous Light Affects on Patterns

[Jacky12]

Welcome to the forum, ccronje.

And congratulations on your powers of observation! I have a similar group of angels and they always look pretty much the same to me. Any color shifts were attributed to swimming nearer or closer to the lid LED. I only keep one of the two on. I will be sure to take a closer look! Thanks for your informative post.


This is 2. The other 5 declined to be photographed. Two are black. One is missing half of it's dorsal fin. It came to me that way after being picked on in the previous owner's tank. i wonder if it can regenerate.

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Jacky12

This is 2. The other 5 declined to be photographed. Two are black. One is missing half of it's dorsal fin. It came to me that way after being picked on in the previous owner's tank. i wonder if it can regenerate.

All depends on how deep in the bone it goes. Fish fins will regenerate with good clean water but if the bone is too affected, it usually doesn't.

[Jacky12]

Hope it does, but she gets around fine with the damaged fin. Some minor damage to other fins. Yet she swims & eats & hangs out with the other angels. She’s in a peaceful community tank of mostly small fish.