hey all ive been trying to find a baby red midas to replace a big male i lost, there are lots of orange red devils in my area but all the baby midas are grey coloured??? are all these fish baby barred midas or do the colour up later on? anyone shed any light on my dilema?
will baby midas colour up red?
- Thread starter justarn
- Start date
unless the tag says barred midas and they have clear striping then they are regular midas they just havent peeled yet, from my understanding sometimes these guys from big fish farms are fed a hormonal food before getting shipped out to induce them into peeling early so they are more attractive to buyers. i would actually prefer a young fish that hasnt peeld yet because it shows they havent been fed anything like that. my pure piebald midas that i used to have was 6in when i rehomed him and he was only just then starting to peel, so its definitely totally normal for them to still be the dark greyish colors when little
well he wasnt sold as a barred but has pretty clear banding and a dark line down his lateral line!... well i hope he peels piebald of solid red, finding them very hard to find in the uk! hes in with a dovii thats a little smaller an they've already had a little wrestle lol! guess time will tell! i'll get a pic shortly!
All midas start out barred or having that lateral black line. As they get older they peel. It isn't just about diet though sometimes it is just genetics. I bought 4 midas from jeff rapps at about the same size and most were palish white with black blotches and one was completely barred. They change as they get older. Feed foods that promotes red like food with krill or just straight krill and you will be fine. Most will eventually turn orange or red when they get big.
the size they peel really varies widely depending on the fish, some peel at like 3in others dont peel till they are 8in, the midas i used to have was 6-7in when i rehomed him and he was just then starting to get his reddish tint before peeling
