I'll try to get some more photo in a week or two - going out of town. The problem is most of the time he doesn't show that pattern - it is only when he is playing at being aggressive (which is why i don't understand it being a distress pattern) and it doesn't last long - part of the issue is if i disturb them he immediately returns to a grey colour with a bit of pink on his dorsal. They are still quite young - around 3 inch.
Is this a young chocolate cicihld ?
- Thread starter jake37
- Start date
I'm no expert but got a pair about 9 months ago, they were just labeled chocolate cichlids, no clue if they're wc or catch location etc. They're probably about 3 inches now, got them at about an inch. Both frequently display similar patterns and can shift to it and back to neutral colors in just minutes. Usually they darken up like this at feeding time, but not only then, seems pretty random to me, and have done this since i got them. 
“Stress coloration” is a commonly used catch-all term to describe a fish that is exhibiting a behavioral color shift that is not its “normal” coloration. It can be due to stress, excitement, aggression, submission, attempts to camouflage, etc. In some old literature it’s also referred to as “fright pattern.”
Technically when fish are flexing their dominance it is still a stressor because they’re often going into a potential stand-off mode and preparing to challenge other fish.
Technically when fish are flexing their dominance it is still a stressor because they’re often going into a potential stand-off mode and preparing to challenge other fish.
That's some awesome customer service answering there.
I've got 4. 3 of them I grew out from juveniles. 2 from quarter size. They looked like those sold to the OP. They don't loose the pointed face until more than 4in.
Was some bad reflections but snapped a quick pick the other day at feeding to show you mine again. This (she I think) one was also sourced from
Kevin@TUIC
who I fully trust to properly ID his fish.theres probably 5-7 different coloring patterns I see at different times with mine
Yea; to be honest I think most of the time he is playing. So i was concern when it was called 'stress' pattern. Usually the other fish ignores him; when he tried it with one of the flag cichild he got an unpleasant response and quickly reverted to his normal colour. Someone above said minutes but i swear this little guy can do the switch in both directions in an eye blink. Anyway i did purchase 4 from
Kevin@TUIC
and all 4 are doing well. The first day they were truly stressed and i had concern they might not make it overnight - something weird happened with that package as some other fishes arrived doa despite my opening the box within 5 minutes of arrival. Anyway they are growing faster than i'd like - i'd guess they put on 1.5 inch already. Long term i'll probably reduce the count to 2 once i can sex them. They are kind of intended to replace the 7 flag cichild (m. mirificus) which are around 3 1/2 years old. For those who care the m. egregius are a 'nicer' fish in my opinion. Also (and i don't understand this) those little 2 inch fishes have already spawned while the much older m. mirificus have never tried spawning but that is another unrelated topic).
I guess one of the reason i made the original post was that only one of them was exhibiting this behavior the other 3 are much more passive - not sure if this is a sex, age or size difference. I do know like many cichild they will experiment a lot at different things while kids - i guess it is the process of growing up but the first time i saw it my thought is they were courting 'cept they were way way too young to think about courting (I think).
As for feeding; unlike the m. mirificus which are stand-offish they love to grab the food from the hand so they don't have to compete too much with the larger fishes though their are loaches in the tank which also are willing to grab food from the fingers - and sometimes the fingers.
Kevin@TUIC
and all 4 are doing well. The first day they were truly stressed and i had concern they might not make it overnight - something weird happened with that package as some other fishes arrived doa despite my opening the box within 5 minutes of arrival. Anyway they are growing faster than i'd like - i'd guess they put on 1.5 inch already. Long term i'll probably reduce the count to 2 once i can sex them. They are kind of intended to replace the 7 flag cichild (m. mirificus) which are around 3 1/2 years old. For those who care the m. egregius are a 'nicer' fish in my opinion. Also (and i don't understand this) those little 2 inch fishes have already spawned while the much older m. mirificus have never tried spawning but that is another unrelated topic).I guess one of the reason i made the original post was that only one of them was exhibiting this behavior the other 3 are much more passive - not sure if this is a sex, age or size difference. I do know like many cichild they will experiment a lot at different things while kids - i guess it is the process of growing up but the first time i saw it my thought is they were courting 'cept they were way way too young to think about courting (I think).
As for feeding; unlike the m. mirificus which are stand-offish they love to grab the food from the hand so they don't have to compete too much with the larger fishes though their are loaches in the tank which also are willing to grab food from the fingers - and sometimes the fingers.
