Hello. I have a group of scarlet badis 3:3 in a heavily planted, well established ten gallon. Over the course of the last three months (since acquiring them) 2 of the 3 males (the 2 dominant boys) have lost all of their lovely vertical blue striping. They have become uniformly bright red. They are apparently healthy. They eat well, have grown noticeably, and are of excellent body condition. Their color is not dull. They are bright scarlet red. They still have the aqua iridescent stripes on their pectoral fins, but have lost all of their vertical blue body striping. The third male still has his, but he takes all of the abuse and is currently battling a tail injury that has become progressive (likely due to secondary infection). I think his stripes are currently due to stress. So...I'm assuming the color change has something to do with environmental factors...water parameters, temperature, lighting, etc. Anybody have any experience with this? The bright red boys are beautiful in their own right, but I miss the stripes
. The tank has 4.2 watts per gallon compact fluorescent lighting but lots of plant cover. Temperature is a constant 76 degrees. During the day the lights alone will bring the temperature to 76 so I've set the submersible heater to maintain this temperature overnight to avoid fluctuations. I'm using conditioned tap water which is moderately hard for this species. I have not measured it recently but I know from measurements in the past that it falls somewhere mid range. All other water parameters are within normal limits. I've read they are fairly adaptable in regards to hardness, pH, etc and they seem to be doing quite well, but I'd certainly be game for making any changes necessary to preserve their beautiful stripes. Thanks so much for any input!
. The tank has 4.2 watts per gallon compact fluorescent lighting but lots of plant cover. Temperature is a constant 76 degrees. During the day the lights alone will bring the temperature to 76 so I've set the submersible heater to maintain this temperature overnight to avoid fluctuations. I'm using conditioned tap water which is moderately hard for this species. I have not measured it recently but I know from measurements in the past that it falls somewhere mid range. All other water parameters are within normal limits. I've read they are fairly adaptable in regards to hardness, pH, etc and they seem to be doing quite well, but I'd certainly be game for making any changes necessary to preserve their beautiful stripes. Thanks so much for any input!
