Jennifer B wants to know:
I have several African cichlids that started colorfull, such as a tiger, and zebra African. Does anyone know why they would have changed orange???
I have several African cichlids that started colorfull, such as a tiger, and zebra African. Does anyone know why they would have changed orange???
August 20th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Cichlids use body coloring as language or communication. The most dominant male will be brightest. The females are less colorful. When the males try to attract females for breeding they get very bright. Males get brighter or duller as they vie for dominance and can show their stripes more or less.
It may be that your fish are trying to reflect the gravel or something in your tank.
August 23rd, 2009 at 8:18 am
It has to do with breeding, aggression, pecking orders over food and their territory in the tank.
Changing color is a sign that it is dominant. Part of their hierarchy rank is color, the darker the stripes the higher up, and more aggressive they are. This exaggeration of color establishes it as the “boss” of the tank.
Hope this helped you out
August 25th, 2009 at 2:55 am
males get bright when they whant to attract a female i hoped that helped(:
August 27th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Shawnee has the closest answer actually as it has NOTHING to do with communication, and I wouldn’t know the first place someone could dig something like that up. I’ve been keeping African cichlids, all sorts of Malawi Haps, Mbuna, and Peacocks, limited Tangyangikans and now Madagascars, in several cichlid forums and I’ve yet to see anyone say coloration has a dam thing to do with communication.
It’s about your species and a sign of two things. The dimorphism in males and females and a sign of a fish growing towards sexual maturity. Each species varies though. I’ve never heard of a tiger species and there are several zebra species as well. I’d like to give you a more accurate answer but this is difficult to do without knowing what species you have. Might I suggest a couple things to narrow down exactly what is going on? One, post some pictures of your stock please, if you don’t know the species of fish you have, and two, if you don’t have a way to get photo’s, go to and scan the profiles there. This might not be as helpful again if you don’t know your species as you at the very least need to know what body of water they came from to narrow this down. If you could get pics I could help with that.
If I had to bet money, it’s simply just a sign of a male beginning to mature. I don’t know of too many female species that morph in color as they mature. 9 times out of 10, this is a male approaching sexual maturity.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:56 am
LOL
I am legend that’s the funniest thing i have ever heard.Communication is EVERYTHING you said the fish was doing. twice you say the fish is giving a SIGN (sexual maturity, aggression) UM that’s communication LOL.
yes Jennifer your fish are communicating with each other and sometimes YOU (if there not happy with there environment) they use SIGNS. feel free to learn the language and eavesdrop on them ; )