HELP Is my flowerhorn fading or sick?

[jessie gonzales]

I got him 2 weeks ago and he's been doing great. I decided to add some gravel to his tank and 2 days later, I noticed his color changed! The horizonal black spots are gone. Is he okay? Help! This is my forst flowerhorn



This was him right when I got his gravel



This is him now... He's been eating good. Water conditions are perfect. Is this something I should worry about? How can I get him back to his old colors? Thank you!

 

[Brandonclark88]

He does look stressed. Fish including flowerhorns adapt and change colors depending on thier surroundings. If he was in a bare tank and you added gravel you will see a difference in his color. But if he's eating and active I wouldn't worry too much. Probably just a shock from the new update. Get a background on the setup and maybe a few plants or a clay pot. It will help him feel more secure. He does also look like he's starting to fade. Did the addition of the gravel change your Ph at all?

 

[jessie gonzales]

No, the pH is okay. Today I noticed he's getting lighter. Do you think its best to add a dark background in this setup? I know removing the gravel would stress him out even more.

This is him just now

 

[Brandonclark88]

Your new pic changes what I said in my first post completely lol. The first pic he is showing dark bars which is an indicator of stress a lot of times in flowerhorns. The second pic I thought his fins looked clamped. Your new picture shows his fins flared out and I can see that his base is just lighter. Your flowerhorn is indeed fading or in your case towards the back end of the process. Beautiful fish. Fish will change color with thier surrounding. Stick to a blue or something that's not too light or too dark. Should give it a more intense orange color compared to the lighter orange it's showing now. And yes, I'd keep the gravel in the set up.

 

[flamingice]

u got urself a fader, congrats!! Flowerhorns are big eaters which means they will also have a lot of waste. Keeping gravel will make cleaning harder and also tougher to siphon out all the waste. I would think twice before using gravel and if you insist, make sure you do frequent water changes and try your best to siphon out all the waste in the gravel.

 

[jessie gonzales]

Update: Its been a few weeks now and his horizontal stripe is showing up. He's still on the pale side and I would like to enhance his red a little bit more. Any way I can do this? I've added bloodworms to his diet and pellets.