The ones that are almost totally black seem to keep their colour(that is about 5 of 10) . As far as I have read before they are all supposed to have their very distinct black/white pattern. But not these guys - diffrent sexes? Or too small tank? The thing is that its not just the biggest ones that has the bright colours its some of the smallest ones as well...Another question: How much circulation should I set up?
Your Pseudo's look good. I have heard that the coloration of the fish is genetic, and does not show the sex of the fish, but I am really not sure?. I would not worry if some are darker than others. I have a few Planiloricaria, and one of them is much lighter than the others, but eats like a pigs, just like the others..
As far as current I have found that they like quite alot of current, I have to be carefull that the food will stay on the bottom so that they can eat it, and the current does not just keep the food in suspension.
Let me know if I can be of any more help....
Too Many Tanks... Too Many fish... not enough time!!!
The coloration of Pseudohemiodon apithanos is mood dependent. Darker fish are frequently more stressed.
Make sure the darker fish are eating and behaving normally. If you haven't already done so, I'd also suggest you treat for gill flukes. Heavily infested fish quite often retain a stressed color pattern.
They have been in the tank for at least 4 months and have been eating all the time. They seem to prefer Golden gate artemia which is consumed with enormous apetite.
Do you really think that they may still have gillflukes after this time? They seem fine in everything but colour. As you (maybe) can see in one of the photos the darker ones are almost all of them bigger and moves around more. They also have no problem with stealing food from the more colored ones...
There were 12 of them when I got them, and one died after a few days with no outer signs. After a few more weeks one of them developed a patch of fungus like materia on the back and died in a couple of days. Since then they have all been OK. Knock on wood...
Pturley: You seem to have had these guys. How many did you have and how did you keep them?
Where they in good shape when you got them?
I have biopsied (on live fish, not so many specimens) or dissected (dead ones) literally dozens of fish. I have yet to find one that didn't have at least one gill fluke in the samples taken.
I realize that may sound like a pretty bold statement, but it's true. Gill Flukes are much more common than most people realize. For the most part, many fish will harbor the parasite with little or even no effects.
Once the fishes' immune system reacts to the irritation however, the gills produce mucus and become inflammed. Both the mucus and the swelling of the lammellae reduce the ability of the fish to absorb oxygen. This, combined with shipping stress, may have led to the death of your fish.
I typically regard constant stress patterns, in contradiction to behavior as a clear indicator of, if not flukes, some form of infection/infestation. Gill flukes IME being the most common and generally fairly easy to treat.
Recently, the treatment options for those in the U.S. were severely limited as the U.S. outlawed the commercial sale of 37% formalin. This was my treatment of choice in that used as a bath, was extremely effective and quick. Combined with periodic tank "sterilization" with potassium permanganate (KMnO4) or bleach I could keep them easily in check. (Obviously this was after I removed all the fish/filter media/substrate, etc.) Formalin could also be added directly to the water in lower doses, but I usually relyed on the dip treatments instead.
Commercial preparations of Formalin and Malechite green are effective, but they also deter plant growth (if not outright kills the plants) so I generally don't use it except in quarantine. I'm still trying ot find a treatment that is as easy and effective as a formalin dip, and has the same low systemic toxicity.
