red honey gourami turning brown

[m.bug]

I have 3 red honey gouramis, 2 of which i just got a few days ago. I had heard that if you fed them color enhancing foods every day they would turn black. I always fed the one I've had regular tetra min with color min every other day. That one is really bright orange... Within just a few days both of my new ones are dark brown. They only ate the color food twice probably. They don't look well but they are acting totally normal. Has this ever happened to anyone? What can I do? I've totally stopped the color food. And is that even the cause?

 

[BrianNY]

I doubt it's the food that's causing your problems. More than likely something environmental in your tank. How new is the tank? Could a mini cycle have started? How long were the fish at the lfs? Could be they were just stressed from being moved.

 

[willowthepoet]

i doubt it's the food too, but try giving them betta food. mine love it, and their colours seem to have gotten brighter in the couple weeks i've had them and that's all i've fed them because they're picky little buggers and won't eat any kind of flakes and run away from live brine shrimp.

 

[lmw80]

Are they dark brown on the bottom half only? Like by the mouth and below? Happy, healthy male honey gouramis have such a dark coloring along the length of their bodies just below the mouth.

 

[m.bug]

How new is the tank? Could a mini cycle have started? How long were the fish at the lfs?

I got the tank in June. It is a ten gallon so it definitely could have started a mini-cycle. However, all the levels are fine, no ammonia, no nitrite, ph 6.8. I know they werent at the lfs for more than 2 weeks.

Are they dark brown on the bottom half only? Like by the mouth and below?

I'm including a picture. The more effected fish is male but the discoloration is on the top of him. The brown is darker to the eye than it looks in the pictures...

Thanks for the advice!

 

[lmw80]

Hmm...it's hard to say....I am not 100% convinced either way (natural coloration change or illness). Since you just got them, I am tempted to think it's a stress/adjusting to the environment thing. It's hard to tell from the angle of the picture, but it looks like that fish may be a female, in which case they can have hints of brown...but that is a major hint. I know I am not really giving any advice, lol, just trying to talk this thing through.

Are they behaving normally? Eating, pooping, swimming around? Do they spend most of their time at the bottom of the tank, kinda sitting there?

 

[m.bug]

actually, the one in all 3 pictures is male. The other one is female and she is not turning brown as badly as this one. Both of them are acting totally normally, big eaters and swimmers. However I havent seen any poop since shortly after i brought them home. Not to say they havent been doing it but it is normally pretty obvious w/ gouramis...

 

[lmw80]

ok, I am very excited! I did a bit of research. Found out that a lot of the times the LFS's don't sell the true red honey gourami, but a color variation or sometimes a color variation of the C. labiosa (thick-lipped gourami).

According to http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Colisa labiosa.html :

The body color varies, but the back is usually dark orange-brown,