Chaetostoma stress coloration?

[Bristlenose 94]

A teacher just picked up a Chaetostoma formosae for a tank at my school, and the fish was the usual brown when it arrived.
however i noticed this morning that its color has changed to almost a piebald pattern or one similar to that of Parancistrus aurantiacus when it is between its gold and grey color forms (all patchy and stuff).
has anyone else noticed this in their Chaetostomas? i'll try to get pics when possible.

[N0body Of The Goat]

I recently adopted "MartinS"'s Chaetostoma milesi and when she arrived, she was practically bleached out to an off-white colour. However, she quickly developed a golden brown body.

I have so much more confidence that she is going to be around for years (she readily eats and has started head-butting my Hoplos when food arrives in her favourite spot!), compared to my sad Chaetostoma formosae experience ~15 months ago (fish greeted me everyday but was never observed eating, it then vanished after ~6 weeks and then reappeared dead three days later).

These catfish are not easy to get settled in and need quite specialist conditions (cool temps as close to 20C as possible for higher potential oxygen saturation, lots of water surface rippling, an understocked yet heavily water changed tank will help keep the water quality in tip top condition [I'm changing a 240l tank 10-20% daily, that contains just 6 Phenacogramus spp.; 4 Megalechis thoracata; 4 Synodontis flavitaeniata; ~20 Rabbit snails]).

[The.Dark.One]

Yes, compare this:


with this:



The same specimen!

[Mod edit: add images directly to post instead of links --Mats]

[Bristlenose 94]

thats interesting, i didnt know they could be that sensitive. i'll get to work adjusting the temperature and start doing water changes much more often.