Who Gives A Fish Forums

My picture catfish are doing something weird, they seem to be acting normal (i think) eating fine and both appear happy. One of them has its colour just right. Water parameters all look good. What's going on, is there something I should check?

I meant pictus

The pictus catfish are trying to blend in with their environment, that's why the colour change is happening. It's a natural response to the white substrate and the brightness of the light. You should consider adding some floating plants to block out some of the light, or if you don't have any live plants, try turning the light off for a bit or reducing the brightness.

coltin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 4:43 pm The pictus catfish are trying to blend in with their environment, that's why the colour change is happening. It's a natural response to the white substrate and the brightness of the light. You should consider adding some floating plants to block out some of the light, or if you don't have any live plants, try turning the light off for a bit or reducing the brightness.

I'd say the issue is with the lighting and the substrate, it's causing them to lose their colour. I mean pictus catfish, they're naturally skittish and like to blend in, so the bright light and white substrate are probably making them feel exposed. If you don't have any live plants, try reducing the light or turning it off for a bit, or get some floating plants to block out some of the light.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a go

I'll give it a go with more artificial floating plants, see if that reduces the light enough to help the pictus catfish colour.

Reducing brightness will help to some extent, but those pictus will likely remain pale on a pale substrate - it's their natural camouflage. They're probably stressed from not being in a group, so to reduce that stress, you could try dimming the lighting and switching to a darker, more natural substrate. Adding four or five more to the tank would also be beneficial.

I think what's been said makes sense. I've never kept pictus, but many fish use coloration to communicate. Take rainbows and angels, for example - their colors fade and darken when they interact. With angelfish, faded colors seem to signal submission, like they're saying "I'm not a threat; don't hurt me." I suspect that's part of this too, especially since the bigger fish is darker.