Astatheros robertsoni starting to color up!

[Dan F]

I bought four Astatheros robertsoni a few months ago. They were very unassuming - "plain little gray fish", according to my wife. It seems like I have two males and two females. The two larger and more colorful (what I assume to be males) are really starting to look good at around 3.5".

My old P&S camera's flash doesn't do them justice, but here are a couple photos that I thought show more or less how they are looking. Anybody else keeping A. robertsoni these days?

 

[NightStorm]

Looking good Dan. Very nice color on that specimen.

Do these guys do a lot of work on your substrate? Lot of sifting? Thx.

 

[cichlidfish]

Nice robertsonis! That is a lot of color for being so young. It took mine a long time to look like this and get 7''. This is a female.

 

[Dan F]

Looking good Dan. Very nice color on that specimen.

Do these guys do a lot of work on your substrate? Lot of sifting? Thx.

Thanks. They do sift the sand, but not to the extent of my Geos.

Nice robertsonis! That is a lot of color for being so young. It took mine a long time to look like this and get 7''. This is a female.

Beautiful fish! My females (presumed) aren't nearly as colorful, so that may be part of the difference. Have you seen much aggression as they get bigger? So far mine have been quite peaceful, but I am a little concerned about them getting aggressive as they mature.

 

[HiImSean]

looking good. i got one a few months ago that looks great. i cant wait for it to get bigger