Anybody ever see Ember Tetras turn partially black?

[pinkertd]

Hmmm, they are not sick. The only embers affected are the ones in the second batch I bought. One came in that way with black on it's tail end. I thought it was sick so I tried to catch it. That was months ago. He still lives just fine. But others from that batch, in two different tanks are turning black in all different areas. They never colored up nice and orange like my original batch either. Any ideas? They're all fat and active.

 

[zzyzx85]

I have a few of those as well. I think they were from a lower quality batch than the others. Definitely less vibrant orange than the others.

 

[Fishfriend1]

Maybe they are just colored that way. Ive gotten fish that were supposed to be neon tetras but were smaller and less showy then mine. Their are many different types and variations within species. Look at cats: so many different types and shaped and sizes and behavior patterns

 

[clb2196]

Hey pinker- I saw this article yesterday (can't find it again, of course) that said there are 2 different species sold as ember tetras- one, the dark orange, and one the light. Mine look like the lighter ones you have. FTR, mine are also happy and healthy, and the LFS I bought them from said they hadn't lost a single one out of the >100 they'd had, so I don't think there's any health problem.

I am planning on moving mine into my black background and substrate tank which is darker than the one they're in now (if I can catch them...), so we'll see if that affects their color.