Kelleri color?

[MonteSS]

My big boy wild Kelleri is about 3" now. He still shows no interest in the female in the 7.0 ph water. I am not neccesarily looking to breed them, but if it happens thats cool.

My question is, he seems very active and happy in the tank and eats well on good flake and 1mm sinking pellets. I dont really have access to live food. His coloring is very light. He is beautiful and never really shows any darker coloring like he used to.

Does the lighter coloring mean he is comfortable in the tank and healthy? Possibly since there is no competition and no interest in the female?

Here are a couple lousy pics with no flash that shows his natural coloring and pearling.

Thanks again...Bill

 

[animalmgc]

If I'm not mistaken the darker version usually means stressed out which isn't good from what I've heard and read.Did you get these from Scott.I recently purchased a pair of shushupes from him,good duy to work with.I also frquent another site thats hes known on.He just opened a fishstore.The sites name is Angelfish forumII

 

[Mark]

The color in your Kelleri (or better cf. Kelleri) is normal. This male is doing fine. Even in water with Ph of 7 he should start to show some interest for the female. You have to use soft water to really breed these guys.

Mark

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
He does look healthy, but a bit pale. You can enhance the red colouration with a food containing carotenoids (produced by alage but usually obtained from zooplankton), these are the compounds that make shrimps, Salmon and Flamingos pink. The copepod Cyclops or "Cyclopeeze" is one option or a pellet containiing the carotenoid "Astaxanthin" (derived from the green algae Haematococcus pluvialis). I use the red crumb from TA aquaculture in the UK.

Astaxanthin details here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astaxanthin>

cheers Darrel