I've noticed that when i turn my lights off and put my fish to sleep, that when i wake up about 5 am (( its still dark )) and i take the blanket off my fish tank, that my fish (( specially my skirted tetras )) are different colored.. My tetras " skirts " are very dark and also take up the fish's whole fin. Do fishies usually do that?
changing colors?
- Thread starter Rach101
- Start date
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Psyhampster
Aquarium Advice Addict
my female ram and both Yo-Yo loaches are always really plae when I first turn on the light, but color up after a bit. I think its just them changing out of their pajamas as they wake up.
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
HAHA. I have nothing to add to this, but I just thought that was really funny.
ChileRelleno
Aquarium Advice Addict
Pajama colors is what I've always called'em, can't remember where I picked up the term?
My Oscar changes coloring according to mood, excitement/fear level and at night, at night he gets very dark, almost black, shows off his red markings very well. His normal color is shades of olive green, but it can change moment to moment.
I believe changing colors at night is perfectly normal as I've seen it in most fish we've had to one degree or another.
My Oscar changes coloring according to mood, excitement/fear level and at night, at night he gets very dark, almost black, shows off his red markings very well. His normal color is shades of olive green, but it can change moment to moment.
I believe changing colors at night is perfectly normal as I've seen it in most fish we've had to one degree or another.
frog girl
Aquarium Advice Freak
A lot of fish have color vision so they use it to communicate different "emotions" if you will to other fish of the same species. Like Chile said excitement, fear, agression, sometimes sickness even. I think when the lights are out & they rest there is probably no reason for them to keep their color communication system online so its not too suprising that they get paler or shift colors.
mattrox
Aquarium Advice Addict
I had cardinals that would go white at night. It looked like they were really in bad shape. But as soon as they were awake they returned to normal colours. I think most fish go a different colour at night. After all, if there is no light why would they need their colouration, as it is a visual cue?
RoK
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've noticed some of my fish get a darker coloration when I turn the light off in the tank and I go back to look at them after a few mins. I've seen the change mainly in my opalines and snakeskin gourami. In the morning my tetras color is a little darker than in the later morning-evening when the light has been on for awhile. 
shawmutt
Aquarium Advice Addict
My tetras were the same. If you want to see some wild color changes you should see my badis' change color. They are known as chameleon fish because they change color so rapidly. Mine will go from pale striped when I'm rooting around and making changes in the tank to red striped when I drop in bloodworms. It really is quite amazing.
