Oscar Fish At Petco "Pale"

[Fishbreeder]

Today i bought 2 baby Oscar about 1 1/2 inch and one of them is pale. Is it normal for it to be pale? Also im looking to buy more but it's just that almost all the Oscar at petco is pale and 3 was laying down together. I want to breed them and pair them up but just dont know if they're healthy ?

 

[waterfaller1]

Oscar colors do vary, but what you are seeing could be stress colors. A good diet may color him up if he is naturally pale. Foods with carotene or astaxanthin will color them. Keeping them in the appropriate temp, ph, and making sure no ammonia ,nitrite, and keeping nitrates at 20 or lower is important to avoid stress. Just handling,moving them can cause stress. Young fish are never as colorful as they will be as adults anyway, they would get eaten!

 

[SKB]

I agree with waterfaller1. But also I've always known Oscars to be quite the drama queens. lol. They have an attitude about them where there colors are changing all of the time. Most likely, they are new to your aquarium so they are scared or still getting used to it. Their colors will most likely brighten up once they are used to their surroundings.