Vieja maculicauda-BlackBelt juvenile color

[marquesas14]

I wanted to post a few photos of my Vieja juveniles (4") and get some opinions. Most I have seen are considerably lighter in color and have a much more pronounced vertical 'belt'. Is this something that develops as the fish matures, or are they staying darker due to the black substrate and backgrounds?

 

[vinod_uthaiah]

I am just wondering, if it is due to dark substrate and background.
Most fishes try to blend per natural instincts.
For long have you been having these beauties

 

[marquesas14]

I've had them for about 4 months, they were fairly dark then and haven't lightened up at all. These are new fish to me so I've sorta chalked it up to them being juveniles..

 

[vinod_uthaiah]

I've had them for about 4 months, they were fairly dark then and haven't lightened up at all. These are new fish to me so I've sorta chalked it up to them being juveniles..

They might take more time .... I have 2 Umbees in separate tanks .... 1 in a brighter area and it is always showing of lighter colours n the other exactly in opposite conditions displays darker colours

 

[duanes]

Although I agree the substrate is probably contributing to the darkness, darker'n a black steers tookus on a moonless night on the prairie, yours are almost exact replicas of young maculacauda I've had in the past, at that stage.

 

[decoy50]

A couple things contribute to this. #1 is the dark substrate and #2 is conspecific aggression. I was growing out a group in a 125gal to get either a pair or a really nice male and I was really disappointed with the colors I was seeing. I settled on the male I wanted to keep and removed all the others and he completely lightened up and started to display typical blackbelt colors

 

[marquesas14]

Thanks for the input guys! Decoy, I'm intrigued by the comment on conspecific aggression. I got these two as a 'pair' from my local club auction but they obviously haven't paired off yet if they're even the opposite sex. I have heard that as they get older this may turn into an issue with with one becoming more dominant than the other. Typically they get along rather well, but I can foresee a day when this is no longer the case.

 

[decoy50]

I've kept most of the "viejas" and they all change colors with mood to varying degrees. Aggression or stress from aggression will both cause color changes. I had gotten it down to 3 fish in my 125 - largest being 5.5in and I still wasn't seeing the colors I wanted. Removed all but the dominant fish and the colors changed overnight. The substrate is still going to effect your fish, but I'd try separating them for a bit to see what happens