Why aren't my red bellies bellies red?

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Acura_RSX

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 30, 2008
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Newfoundland, Canada
The three red bellies i have are now about 3.5 inches. I picked them up about two weeks ago now. There fins are red but their bellies appear white until the silver on their rides, are they still adapting to a new tank or is there a problem. Also, I usually feed them twice a day (blood worms, talapia and shrimp) and they eat everytime I feed them usually however today I dropped in a shrimp and half an hour later they still hadn't touched it. I gave them a water change and tried blood worms later which they did eat some of but not as they usually would. Any ideas?

P.s. any recommendations for a clean up crew? These bad boys produce slot of waste. Currently have a 4 Pleco in with them as well.


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Depends on substrate color, lighting color, what you feed them and their moods. They may atm be a little stressed, however not having red bellies doesn't necessarily mean this. Are your water params ok?

How big are the pleco? I use ghost shrimp to clean up, they colonize very easily and eat all the left overs, my 125 has about 24 and they take care of all the waste.

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Dude no need to worry too much. The colors will eventually come out and/or each rbp is different. I have 11 around 4-5.5" and about 5-6 are burning red (face, throat, belly), 2 are completely black with red linings, and 3 are completely silver but all have the red/black fins and red eyes. When I used to have black sand, they were all red but more black. But now, I have light pfs substrate that makes them really pale looking. I honestly like the variance in contrast to the typical rbp. Try black sand/substrate and they will change colors quickly imo.
 
From my experience, 3.5 red bellies should show pretty good color if your provide the proper diet, space, and pristine water conditions. I think the substrate determines color only to a certain extent.
I had 5 red bellies in my 120 and they had their best color at 3-5 inches with natural colored substrate (gravel). I fed them shrimp, tilapia and earth worms with 50% water changes twice a week. All had great color.

Can you post your water parameters?
 
Thanks for the responses. I'm now more worried about them not eating then coloration. They typically devour shrimp talapia and bloodworms when I feed them but its now day 2 of them not eating .. I've tried all 3 foods and they've basically ignored that anything is in the tank. They've also been much more active then normal. The only things that changed were a 30% water change yesterday. Slightly adjusted the flow direction from my canister, used electric tape to cover some sections of the glass under the light ( to dim the light a little) and I removed a rock from the tank that was being used to sink my driftwood (they used to swim on top of the rock under the driftwood for cover from the light). Any ideas what could be causing them not to not be hungry?


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The color fades on one of my RBP when I clean the tank. The color brightens back up when the fish settles back down. As far as the fish not eating I suggest you make sure your water chemistry and temp are up to par. If the water is right on and there are no other signs of a health problem let the fast run it's course. They will eat when they are ready.
 
Maybe try feeding once a day, or every other day. I don't know much about piranhas, but you can also leave the lights off while they fast. I never feed my fish at night anymore, so when the lights turn on they know its feeding time.

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F1 Vet is the expert, but I think twice a day feeding is too much. I have a buddy who breeds, and only feeds them two or three times a week max.
 
I only feed once a day for all my fish (except the morays). Keeps them hungry for more and active.

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