Do Fasciatus Fade?

[Midwater]

Talking about Leporinus.

Not Distochidus. They fade and it is quite disappointing. Starting with vibrant red and black stripes, they end up being a rather boring brown.

But all the Lep Fasicatus that I have seen, of any size, have clear clear stripes, as well as shiny scales and an orange underside. Until I saw these two in a LFS.



These are pretty big, certainly bigger than twelve inches, and probably about fifteen. I was not even sure they were Fasciatus, but the LFS assistant assured me that they were. They might have faded under stress having just been moved, but I have seen them for a couple of weeks now, and they are still the same. Don't know how old they are.

I have got some that up about nine inches, and still look great. But what is the future? When they get near maximum size, do Fasciatus fade?

 

[FJB]

my experience has been like hours - Leporinus don’t fade with age (and perhaps not much with suboptimal conditions). Distichodus do, at least in my experience with sexfasciatus and lussuoso.
Judging from the size and the persisting Orange on the “throat” and underside, I believe those two Leporinus paleness may be due in part to the lack of substratum, and perhaps poor food.
They do look healthy, but very pale. To me it seems unussual because IME seeing various Leporinus at stores, they are always dark enough.

 

[Deadeye]

At night mine will gray out, but at 7 years and 9 inches it’s still a bright yellow with sharp black. He never got very red though.
The ones I had in the past were the same way, as well as any I’ve seen in aquariums.
I would say the bright white background isn’t doing them any favors.