Today In The Fishroom~8/06/11 P. "coatzacoalcos"

A couple weeks ago I noticed that my normally blue P. coatza's were changing colors. The male more intense blue and the female a gray-brown. This particular tank has three of the fish...two females and one male...a "mix" of gender that I have had luck with to stimulate breeding.



Coincidentally I have the fish in two other tanks. Both with male and female. In one tank I have T. wesseli as well...and in the other I have juvenile A. hogaboomorum. This is the only tank where they are sole occupants...and the first to breed.

Here's the male slipping closely into the dominant breeding coloration.



I spoke with Juan Miguel from the CRC. He told me that in the wild, both fish will turn yellow. This certainly is the case for the female....maybe not exactly, and not necessarily all of the time.





Interesting to note that the male did not turn yellow. I have noticed that when younger fish breed one or both of the species can't seem to follow the playbook exactly. These are very small fish...babies having babies actually.



One interesting thing of note about the color changes. Chromatophores under the the skin are broken into subclasses of varying colors...yellow, red, white plus those that are reflective/irredescent. Melanosphores cover the black and brown. The animal (fish in this case) turn these cells on and off to change color...rapidly in some case.

The coatza male was the most impressive...going from a near blue to blue with light vertical bars...



...to a lighter version with much more pronounced vertical bars.



The female stayed very close to coloration. Both fish would become more intense whenever I was able to lure them within...or the other female...close to the breeding area.



For the most part the male remained hidden on the other side of the tank. When he did near the breeding area the male and female worked in unison guarding and leaving the area. Here she is hot on his caudal tale getting back to the kids.



The pair successfully bred two weeks ago. I generally leave the fry with the new parents. Most often the first batch of fry don't last past a day or so...new parents. These two did surprisingly well for the first round.

Here's the female;



The male never really achieved a yellow coloration as they do in the wild. Perhaps when he gets older...maybe not at all. They did fluctuate with more drastic contrasting colors.



The female stayed pretty much like this throughout.







The male not so much...but you can see the contrasting colors. Most amazing part...still...how fast they can change into this color pattern.



He spent a lot of time hiding...almost like, what the hell is going on? LOL Here he is hiding in the log looking out the window at me with my camera. Beautiful colors.



Final shot of momma and babies.

Fantastic series of shots Mo ! Lovely looking fish.

Very interesting. I wonder if the lack of other males competing for breeding would have anything to do with not turning yellow?

It's a pretty pair. I like the blue on the male.

Congrats !!!