Whats up with my dempsey's color?

[Spangles]

Hello folks. I have a pair of jack dempsey cichlids , and one of them is nearly black. Is this normal? At times it appears normal but mostly has a dark color and pitch black stripes. Advice?

 

[yeroc1982]

stress?

 

[buck_wildest]

Its normal for the dominate one too be very dark, or sometimes the females are very dark expesially when they are younger.

if they stress out they go pale and even yellowish.

 

[bradleyagregg]

mine gets really dark when hes about to fight or feed, so yeah like already said dominance

 

[nazdim]

Mine was real dark almost black when he was in a tank with an oscar, and the JD was the boss, he chased the oscar around all day.
Then I put the JD into his own tank and he became very colourful and alot brighter.

 

[twistedfinn967]

The color of your substrate will have an affect as well.

 

[Ctrl_Alt_Dlt]

they may be breeding.

 

[NSKIRK559]

Yes that can be normal if your Jack's are with bigger fish I know mine are house with a 12-13' flowerhorn and the Jacks could be like 4-5' but there is also other fish it's size in the tank (180gallon) Mine eat just fine and do very well with others. Mine are soon to be dropped in a 240gallon SOON!!

 

[cjbarth]

Mine pair used to darken up when they were ready to breed. Just put a piece of slate in the tank and I be she will lay eggs.

Just my 2 cents!!!

 

[Oscars]

Yes it's normal to get darker when it's in aggressive mode.