Factors that effect coloration?!

[Peanut_Power]

Recently Ray and I have sort of gotten into a most interesting discussion, which intrigues me to no end. Am curious to see what everyone else things about it, or if they have anything they might want to add.

What we've been talking about is whether or not if pH and hardness factor into the coloration of your Crenicichla.

Does softer water and lower pH bring out better coloration in your pikes? Or does it not matter, and your pikes will color up regardless of what water parameters you keep them in.

On one hand, like Ray brought up so superbly, that with the lower pH and softer water, your pikes will be more likely more conditioned to breed. Normally breeding fish show better, more intense coloration than nonbreeding fish. Yet on the other hand he also pointed out, which I concure with as well, that we've both kept many pikes in harder, higher pH water and they still showed impressive coloration.

It would be reallly cool if someone could get multiple specimens of the same species, and keep them in three different tanks. One tank would be the control tank, which would just have tap water in it. The other tank would have higher pH and higher hardness. Finally the last tank would have soft water, and lower hardness.

Then they would have to raise them up to identically, with same food, lighting, and water changes. Would be cool to find the end results. Of course there would be many factors that could mess it up. Like if one of them was a female and the others were male. Haha.

So there you have it. Let 'er rip guys!

 

[polish]

No matter what I think there will always be to many variables to know for sure. Even if you did the experiment with the control how do you know all the fish are stress free and will show the proper colors at all? A great topic but I think it would be very difficult to ever answer properly given all the variables.

And for my little bit to add, my current pike is showing the same good/full coloration (To my eyes) in his new tank as he was in the old. The PH in the old tank is usually pretty low 6.0-6.4 and the current one was just tested at about 6.8-7.0 last night - both tanks have fairly hard water. It comes out of the tap like that.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Oh there are definitely too many variables to get a 100% accurate deduction. You could do the same experiment several times and still come up with different results possibly. It would be cool to see though, just for the heck of it.

Personally, I think there are more things than just pH and hardness that contribute to the coloration of pikes. There is what type of food they are getting, the substrate coloration in your tank, whether or not if they are kept as a pair or solo. The list goes on. Haha

Really, I think pH and hardness do to some extent contribute to the intensity of the coloration. Whether or not if its worth it to drop the pH and harness just to try and get better coloration out of your pike is subjective, as I think they look just as amazing in hard, high pH water as they do in soft water. LoL

 

[B3AST]

Very interesting, I myself believe that all factors are needed. Like us human you can live in a bad environment and still prosper. Food is important, so is condition. You are right the only way to be sure is to put it to the test. Same fish, three tanks, different atmosphere.

 

[BigPic]

This experiment is do-able, it would take hundreds of fish, preferably from a single spawn, in very large tanks/vats/ponds making all of the habitats the same with just the water params changing. childs play LOL

Another thing to consider is that attractiveness and color are subjective, most people wouldn't consider a Sveni to have brilliant color, but, when spawning, there is NO denying the contrast between the black blotches and the "golden" spangles is pretty spectacular!

This is a very cool topic and I would love to hear peoples thoughts on it!

 

[pwmin]

it would be cool to set up something like that.


...and, btw, it's AFFECT not EFFECT

 

[Peanut_Power]

it would be cool to set up something like that.


...and, btw, it's AFFECT not EFFECT

I hate those two words. I'm just going to make up my own. eaffect. That way you can use it in both context.

 

[MTN PIKE]

One thing to consider is that seasonal water variations from low to higher PH and soft to harder water are normal in South America, probably due to monsoons and then little precipatation. Seasonal vegetation growth is another factor affecting water conditions. I think South American cichlids are hardier than Central Americans due to the water extremes.

Lower PH and softer water seem to be spawning triggers. Most cichlids have their most intense colors when spawning so I'd think those conditions would promote the best colors. Good luck to anyone trying this experiment - it'll be interesting to hear about the research and results.