Pale coloring of Celestial Pearl Danio in LFS?

[satoshi]

Hi,

I was at my LFS today and they had celestial pearl danios. All looked active.

However, they did not have the same deep coloring as in the pictures in this site’s header. They were fairly pale/dull-looking. And they were very small…smaller than my neon tetras.

Does that just indicate they’re young, or that the LFS display isn’t showing off their colors well? Or does the paleness/dullness indicate unhealthy fish?

No signs of ich, no dead fish in the tank, and again they were pretty active. Just did not have the striking coloring as in this picture:

Right pattern and the orange bit was there, just the colors appeared washed out.

[BallAquatics]

@satoshi wrote:

Does that just indicate they’re young, or that the LFS display isn’t showing off their colors well?

I would say both! Young fish are not as colorful as the adults and LFS are famous for not displaying fish at their best.

If they were in a tank with a light colored substrate they will wash-out too.

Dennis

[Tom2006]

yes its very very common and normally explains why most people pass them by. Mine looked awful in the shop but within a week looked superb!

[ged]

They go pale when they don’t feel comfortable i.e. they will be very pale when the lights first come on, some of mine will lose their colour when I approach the tank but get it back quickly

[snail]

I saw them at a LFS recently in a bare tank and they were very washed out looking. The guy said they look fantastic when they settle into a planted tank, from what I read that is normal.

[Author]

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