How to get African cichlids to color up
Having a tank packed with fully colored up fish is the holy grail for all African cichlid keepers. It requires commitment to regular tank maintenance and patience to grow the fish out to adult size. In some cases, you may need to tinker with the stock a bit to get the aggression level balanced.
The most important factor to be considered when trying to get African cichlids to color up is stress. A fish that is constantly being chased around the tank is unlikely to show much color, whereas a fish that is comfortable in the tank should color up nicely.
Maturity and position in the tank play a huge part in how well the fish shows its color. With the right balance in the tank, not only the most dominant fish will show color. Some of the less dominant fish can be beauties.
Factors to consider for getting African cichlids to color up
Gender:
In most species of peacocks and haps only the males show color, the females remain a plain grey or brown color.
More importantly, the presence of females in a display tank, particularly when they are ready to breed, can cause a few dominant males to become super aggressive and terrorize all the other fish in the tank. Those males will be fully colored up, while the other males in the tank suppress their colors to avoid being seen as competition. It is best not to have any females in a display tank due to this high aggression level.
Maturity of the fish:
The maturity of the fish plays a big part in color. It can take quite a long time for juvenile fish to start displaying color, peacocks and smaller haps starting to show at around 2.5 inches, while larger haps begin to show color at around 5 inches. Initially, the color will be quite faint and patchy, and will gradually become a darker and more solid color as the fish ages.
Position in the tank:
Even when the fish reaches adult size, the position in the tank can play a big part in the color of the fish. The most dominant cichlids in the tank are usually the ones that show the best colors. Less dominant fish can turn down the color to avoid coming across as a treat to the more dominant fish.
Genetics:
While the genetics of the fish doesn’t necessarily mean that the fish will color up a smaller size it does help to guarantee that it will be worth the effort put into getting the fish to mature.
Methods for getting African cichlids to color up
Managing aggression and stress:
As mentioned earlier, hierarchy plays a big part in fish coloring up. Try to keep the tank as calm as possible. This may require a bully to be removed and put in a time out for a couple of weeks. However, this is not always successful. Often the fish goes back to its old ways once reintroduced to the tank. Additionally, it can happen that the second fish turns out to be a worse bully without the tank boss present to keep it in line.
Keep the fish solo in a separate tank:
Moving a colorless male African cichlid to a separate tank works great for getting it to color up. Without any other fish to bully it, the fins will heal and after that, the color will intensify. I have done this on numerous occasions and it’s amazing to see the change in the appearance of the fish within a fairly short time span of about 3 or 4 weeks. Often the fish will retain most of this newly gained color when reintroduced to the tank.
Reduce Lighting Hours:
Keeping the lights turned on for too long or having lighting that is too strong is known to increase aggression in African cichlids. Try to limit the lighting to your viewing hours only. I run my lights on a timer and the tank is lit for about 7 hours a day. That’s plenty of time for me to enjoy the tank in the morning before I go to work and again for a few hours in the evening.
Water quality:
A fish kept in poor water conditions, inappropriate pH or water temperature with not display its full color potential. You don’t need to spend a fortune on salts, minerals and vitamins to add to your tank water. Just do your part on keeping up with the water changes and monitor your water quality frequently.
Food:
Feeding good quality food will help to bring out the natural colors of your fish.
Spirulina is a great food for bringing out the blues and greens on a fish. Most cichlid pellets will contain some amount of spirulina. There are spirulina flakes and pellets available should you want to increase the quantity of spirulina being fed to your fish.
Astaxanthin is the ingredient for naturally enhancing the red color in your fish. Krill is a great natural source for astaxanthin but again, it can be found in most quality cichlid pellets. Try to avoid feeding yellow fish a lot of red color enhancing food as the fish can turn more of an orange than yellow color.
Here is a link to my article on what to feed African cichlids if you are looking for more information on that topic.
Other tips for getting your fish to look good
Lighting:
Using an adjustable full color spectrum LED is a great option for showing off the color of your fish. The light settings can be adjusted based on your preference of color and lighting intensity.
Having the light fixture positioned more towards the front of the tank prevents dark patches and shadows on the fish.
Background:
In my opinion, black background with natural color sand or crushed coral helps the fish to show their best potential. I find that dark substrate darkens up the fish a bit too much for my liking and bright white sand can cause the fish color to lighten up and look washed out.
Clean the glass:
Make sure to keep the viewing pane of the tank clean of algae. It’s surprising how much better fish look through clean glass. If your tank has a glass cover remember to wipe that down occasionally too.
Conclusion
Managing stress in your tank is the biggest factor in getting African cichlids to show full color.
Be patient and learn to enjoy the process of watching the fish develop from boring grey juveniles into magnificent specimens.
I would try removing the fish which is being bullied to a separate tank and allow it to recover and colour up.
African cichlids seem to be less boisterous with reduced lighting. I light my tank based on the times I will be at home to watch the fish.
Thanks for reading. If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share 🙂
