Fish look very washed out on light substrate.

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Dangerd22

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Mar 1, 2021
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Hey everyone. I recently switched from dark black diamond blasting sand to light pool filter sand and all of my fish look washed out except the jack Dempsey, Cuban, and Severum. The Cuban and Severum were expected to keep almost all their color but the jack Dempsey gained alot. The rest of the fish in the tank look washed out such as my geophagus, Texas, salvini, sort of my convict. Is there anything I can do to make those guys regain most of their color without switching the substrate again?
 
Forgot to mention this but the Texas was grey and very blue and the salvini was very red/orange.
 
Stephen St.Clair said:
The Cichlids are simply fading out to match their environment. Mother Natures survival ability given to fish.
More subdued lighting & additional elevated hardscape should calm things down & result in more colorful fish.
Click to expand...
What would you recommend to do this?
 
More foliage, bigger pieces of driftwood & rocks. Decor that provides area to hide under & shade areas of the tank.
I think your tank scape looks very pretty but a bit bare.
 
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Stephen St.Clair said:
The Cichlids are simply fading out to match their environment. Mother Natures survival ability given to fish.
More subdued lighting & additional elevated hardscape should calm things down & result in more colorful fish.
Click to expand...
Agree
Most cichlid predation comes from above in the form of fish eating birds, so matching substrate and other natural habitat dictates how instinctually dark or light cichlids present.
The cormorant above is fishing in a Cenote (JD habitat)
So side view is minor compared to how they appear from above.
There are 3 Herichthys carpintus in the shot above (close relatives of your texas)
Your tank is quite sparse, as far as hard scape goes (as Stephen mentioned) so if you add more plants and other objects it may help.
Or if the lighter substrate is recent, it may just take time for them to feel less vulnerable.
Below an underwater shot of some normal JD habitat
and below a video of JDs in nature
Note the contrast how they differ in dark habitat in the beginning to those in light habitat at the end
 
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T
duanes said:
Agree
Most cichlid predation comes from above in the form of fish eating birds, so matching substrate and other natural habitat dictates how instinctually dark or light cichlids present.
The cormorant above is fishing in a Cenote (JD habitat)
So side view is minor compared to how they appear from above.
There are 3 Herichthys carpintus in the shot above (close relatives of your texas)
Your tank is quite sparse, as far as hard scape goes (as Stephen mentioned) so if you add more plants and other objects it may help.
Or if the lighter substrate is recent, it may just take time for them to feel less vulnerable.
Below an underwater shot of some normal JD habitat
and below a video of JDs in nature
Note the contrast how they differ in dark habitat in the beginning to those in light habitat at the end
Click to expand...
Thanks. This was very interesting. I think I will give it time as I just put the sand in a day and a half ago.
 
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