AUL colouring

[davo]

i love these fish, but i see a lot of pics of them, and they have this orange underbelly, which i havent seen on the captives here, and a lot seem to not have it, and be a whiter colour. (i have displayed pics of the orange i mean to make clear). why do they have it? is it locality, food, water conditions, age/size? anyone know? i prefer them with this orange colour.

 

[Arapaimaman]

I have 5 austs.right now and thier bellys are white. Its just the color of most of them.They are known in australia as " pink salmon" they are sometimes white with brown and black spots.

 

[E_americanus]

it actually takes some time for them to develop this belly coloration. as with many fishes, the color changes as they grow. i had a 2'+ AUL that had the orange colored belly. the one i currently have has more of a salmon colored belly at about 18". coloration also depends on diet and some other factors, so you may not see a change at all, but in case of the belly color, i would say it's primarily a growth/age development.--
--solomon

 

[davo]

Cool thanks for the clarification, I've wanted to know for a while, cheers.