What age is Colour REAL Colour !!

[GreenDiscus]

Hi Forum

After purchasing a couple of clean yellow pigeons with black caudal fins a year or so ago they paired up and bred three times before I split them up due 90% peppered in the young - I now know to look for CLEAR caudal fins !!

After putting the pair back in the main tank, and after another 3 months, they BOTH changed to the normal pigeon Orange/Gold colouration at perhaps 20-24 months old, albeit still nice clean fish !!

Many of the babies which were originally yellow, changed to peppered orange or gold at 6 months old, with the exception of two or three that I hope to breed with in time.

Is this very late colour change normal, or were the Malaysian sourced fish chemically doctored when young ???

If normal, should we just be buying 2 year old pigeon fish to be sure we have what we paid for ??

[ILLUSN]

the colour will develop and change untill the fish are adults, bout 4inch minimum, even themn enviroment can change the pigmentation of pigions.

[GreenDiscus]

Hey thanks for that Illusn.

Yes they were 4inch in size some time ago, and I thought established breeding adult pairs would be well past significant colour changes !!

They had been alone in a breeding tank for over a year, so the environmental change you mentioned may have been a factor. Funny the babies changed so much younger, but I guess from what you say, they may well change again ?

[Merrilyn]

It's really a percentages game.

The pair you bought may well have been the only two totally clean pair from a spawn of 200 or more.

These clean fish command a much higher price than their peppered siblings.

Your clean fish will always throw a large percentage of peppered fry. All you can do is keep the clean fry for breeding, for the next few generations, and each time you should get more and more clean fry.

Diet will influence the colour of yellow fish too. Keep them right away from Tetra Bits or any red colour enhancing foods. As you have noticed, they will turn your yellow fish orange !

[GreenDiscus]

Thanks Merrylyn

I have never used Tetra Bits just Beef Heart or Bloodworms, a diet that has not changed since I got them.

I guess I was amazed such old breeding fish could change colour so dramatically albeit apparently naturally - probably siblings to change together though !!

If I think on, I will take some pictures of the few clean babies (now lemon, yellow, gold, & deep orange) mostly of good shape. There are also some great (in my opinion) same parent yellow x blue - haha !!!