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One of my eupterus's is very pale. Almost albino like. He has spots but over these past two weeks maybe he seems lighter and lighter. I a, pretty sure he is my smallest one, the one last bought. So he is the youngest. But none of my others ever turned light like that. He is really worrying me. He is acting fine. Swimming and hopefully eating. It's just been this past 2 weeks I noticed it and I thought he was just growing up and losing his doily pattern. He seems paler gray then the rest and then in the morning when the tank light comes on he is almost non coloured with just spots and a pink hue to him. They have more hiding spots there their are catfish.

The only thing new in the tank is the driftwood and pvc pipes.

A 0
NI 0
NA less 5 ppm
PH 6.8
Temp 75-76
75 gal
Only the 5 eupterus in there
(plants in are frogbit, java fern, anubias bateri.)
Malaysian Trumpet Snails

I just don't know why he is so light. He was looking like all the rest did when he was tiny, dark and doily patterned and now that he is getting bigger he has spots instead, but instead of a shade of gray he looks albino and pinkish.

I will try to get a picture.

o.k. maybe he was trying to blend into the white pvc pipe? when i looked at him right now against the driftwood he doesn't seem so pale?

Do they do that? Blend in?

Synos do indeed alter the depth of body colouration dependant upon their surroundings - but it is more of a gradual thing than a quick-change.

I am keeping on eye on him. He is not as pink today. He def lost his baby blackness and it s been slowly but seems like he was more grey before then in about a week just went lighter and lighter.

Maybe he was pinkish cause he had (they all had) brine shrimp the night before I saw him pinkish in the next morning? Maybe that was it? I don't know. Plus he looks leaner then the rest.

Thanks for ans'ng Richard.

Hey you guys, guess what? my pale newest boy looks kinda like this: Scroll down to Hybrid #5, the description of him is above the pic.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... f%26sa%3DN

I mean do you think it's possible? Cause when I bought him he looked just like all my other eupterus' as babies, dark and doily? I mean maybe it isn't him but sure looks like him. His body colour and spots look like that pic but his fins have the eupterus marking all over, the black. who knows? I will have to wait and see if he gets dark again.

Hey you guys, guess what? my pale newest boy looks kinda like this: Scroll down to Hybrid #5, the description of him is above the pic.

It is definitely possible, there are a lot of hybrids out there...can you take a digi pic of it?
and if I remember right you purchased this one separate from the others...

Birger

It is definitely possible, there are a lot of hybrids out there...can you take a digi pic of it?
and if I remember right you purchased this one separate from the others...

trying for two days to get a good pic. I bought two in November, then two in December and the last one in January. The last one is the diff one, I think. He is the smallest anyway. All bought at same store. All looked the same as babies. I will keep trying to get him on camara. Maybe tonight at bloodworm time.

Even a bad picture may help us a little - give it your best shot!

ok here is Johnny, this one is blurry-ish but you can see how white he is:



here he is peeking out:



this one he is shaded tho inside a hideous tank decor that my biggest alpha syno, Maximus, won't let me get rid of, every time i try he sulks, but here is Johnny in it, his face is obstructed by java fern, or I think he is facing the camara:



here he is peeking again on the left bottom and there is my aplha syno, Max, to the right upside down in his scary cave. Well his whisker at least, the pic got cut off when I posted it here.



Johnny being brave is Max's cave:



Johnny coming towards the camara:



Am I boring you yet? lol Here is Johnny cruising under the heater along the back wall amidst the anubias:





None of them look as pale as he was, pale and pink. He isn't so much pink anymore I think it was the recent brine shrimp scarf he had on.

All my other synos are dark, charcoal gray or medium gray. And I cannot recall any of them ever being pale. And he never gets a big belly like the rest. I hope he is eating. Here he is peeking out again, that's his face and nose:



And here is Jack, they , all the other 4 pretty much have this colouring, granted they are older:

They all look like Eupterus (no hybrids) & there seems to be little wrong with them at all as far as i can see - maybe the colour change was a short term thing caused by one or a combination of factors that was nothing to worry about - keep a close eye on them though but i think you'll/they'll be fine.

Another cause could be that it is the least dominant fish but it looks healthy enough
Also instead of white pvc you could try black as they would be much more comfortable within it

Birger

I cannot find black pvc anywhere, just black ABS and I was scared to use it. I have asked at all hardware stores. If anyone knows where i can find black pvc can you tell me? I so want that more than white. I also tried applying aquarium silicon to some and rolling them in black tank sand but it looked pretty bad so I decided against that. Look at this cool black pipe tank I found on line. It looks tough! Although everyone in my house doesn't like the look of it. The synos would be in heaven.



(ty to whose ever pic it is)


Thanks Richard and Birger, I feel much better now that he is alright.

ABS should be fine under water - in fact some of the water pipes used here in the UK are ABS instead of the PVC variety that is more common in the US. But don't go mad and buy $100's worth of pipe at once - buy some small piece and make sure it's heavier than water. Some of the black pipes are not as dense as the white variety.

I have some black drain-pipes in one of my tanks, which I think is ABS.

--
Mats

ok thanks i ll try one.

I cannot find black pvc anywhere, just black ABS and I was scared to use it

Sorry...I should have been more specific...I was thinking about the black ABS (drain pipe)
I grab cast off pieces from my job sites if I need some(of course after the plumbers are done )

Birger

ahhh so abs is ok? good to know. Ty Mats and Birger. So much conflicting info on line re that topic.