Help ! Peru Green Cory Aeneus

[Scarlet]

Just bought five Peru Green C. Aeneus. They look great and neon green. However, after putting them into my tank, they lose their colour within half day. How can I restore their body colour?? Can anyone advise me theie favourite water condition??

[Bathos]

other than checking water parameters (they will be paler if ammonia or nitrite are too high), you could look for other stressors (like other fish in the tank that pick on them) and try changing to a darker substrate. when my C. aeneus went from tan gravel to flourite (reddish brown with some black mixed in), their coloring changed. they're a lot darker and more colorful now in the new tank. Ian thought the color change was due to the substrate, and i am inclined to agree.

-Liz

[Scarlet]

LIZ,

Originally, they are in my tank with bare bottom. In order to make them less stressful, I've moved them to the other tank with sand bottom. Their body colour seems to restore to a certain extent. However, other than change of its body colour from neon green to dull, it remains inactive laying on the sand. I 've started to change 1/8 of the water in the tank each day so as to improve its quality. Any more advice??

Thx,
Scarlet

[mikey]

A couple of "counter-theories" that I have on the subject. This relates to irridescent coloring in general. I belieive that stress influences coloration greatly. However, I think the lighting can make an amazing difference as well. Secondly, sunlight will really bring out bright colors in fish. You might try experimenting with bulbs made for corals and such. Go to the pet store and look at the saltwater and look for some bright mushroom corals or clams where the irridescence looks best and try one of those bulbs. That and a dark substrate will do amazing things. There is a local pet store that sells tons of cardinals due to the highly blue coloring of their lights in those tanks. Caution though. Sometimes an overly blue colored light might give you a headache looking at it. Anyway, this is all a theory!!!! It does work for cardinal tetras, corals and clams.