My Red Texas Cichlid is turning black

[Scales]

Hi,
I purchased a beautiful 3" Red Texas Cichlid 3 weeks ago with no black markings on him at all, and four days ago he started to get black markings and peppering all over him which is getting more intense by the day. I thought that RTC's peeled from black to red, not from red to black. The fish is very healthy and eats very well so I was wondering if the breeder used something on him to get rid of the black markings and it wore off several days ago or if this is a normal thing that sometimes happens to RTC's?

Thank You,
Russ

 

[ponce77]

Nice looking RT! Give him some time, might be stressed out? It should go away. Do a water change. GL

 

[Jc1119]

Probably just showing dominance and a bit of territoriality. All my cichlids change color depending on various things including water changes, feeding and breeding.