Celebes rainbowfish colour change

[spottea]

Hi! I've only had my tank for 6 months now, so I'm not an expert. Hope you can tell me why my male celebes were much darker in colour this evening as they chased each other around the tank. I only had 3 at first, until I realized I had 2 males and one female, so I bought 3 more females. They seem happy enough normally. Are they just displaying,ie. very dark grey, with fins raised and swimming in circles. Hope so!
I tried 'Googling' for answers but couldn't come up with anything other than 'this is a very peaceful little fish'.
:newbie:

 

[terror spawnin]

Did the color change come with the chasing? If so, it could be courtship or territory issues.
Make sure you have plenty of plant life for them to spawn or hide around.

 

[irishspy]

Sounds like spawing and/or territory squabbles to me.

 

[TheXman]

That's normal behavior for rainbowfish, just showing off to each other, trying to impress the girls! It's actually a good sign, it shows that they're feeling good and ready for action! You won't have territorial issues with them and this sparring and chasing is all pretty much for show, they won't cause any harm. If you want to learn more about them, there are a couple of forums dedicated specifically to rainbowfish:
http://bowheads.org/forums/
http://rainbowfish.info/forum/

 

[spottea]

Thank you all for your prompt replies. I feel much better now! They seem a bit calmer today. I do think that one of the females is not a celebes; she's more white, opaque as opposed to transparent, has blue eyes, and spends most of her time hanging out at the surface, and not mixing with the others. Possibly a different kind of rainbowfish. I will do some research.