Im not sure, could it be food, lighting, water, stress, wood?
I have very hard water so it could be contributing factor.
Im using cellphone camera, could ve lighting too or all of the above.
My water is very tannis too
Anyways, mrtoofay, maybe snap a few more pics to show us now that they are settled In?
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My theory...... It's a little of everything. White tank treatment is suppose to keep it bright, while black tank treatment will make it lose it's stripes. When we first get them, they are very bright and pretty.... BECAUSE THEY ARE STRESSED!
I'd say that it's the same with white tank treatment. These are nocturnal fish, if you put them in a environment where it's white and bright everywhere, they will be stressed all the time.
All my goldlines' colors turns a lil dull after settling in, all but one, that remains a true gold color all the time. When my friend came, he asked about the coloring as well. At first, he was skeptical about the stress part, bu when I was fishing out his fish, he saw the fish's colors brighten up right before their eyes.
It's true with most plecos. Royals, especially most types of L27s (the almost white platinum Xingu L27 you see, that's stress, especially after shipping or handling), L25s (the lighter based colors and the spots really shows up when they are stressed), and others of course. The fish you see with bright colors are usually vendor pictures where they really are not that comfortable, LFS's stressfull enviroment, or guys with clear glass all the way around. Of course, white tank treatment as well.
I thought about adding a white paper insert to the bottom of my tank to bring up their colors, but decided against it.