# Rainbowfish changing color rapidly when chasing???



## Rod Hay (Feb 11, 2006)

This basically means your little baby is now a man! When mature male rainbows display it can be one of the coolest things! My own Lake Tebera Rainbowfish are visually stunning when they get going. They almost look like little strobe lights, I swear their colors get TEN times richer and darker!

One of the best sites on rainbows is Adrian Tappin's - "Home of the Rainbowfish". Very indepth information!

Here's some of his info:

"In some species, males change colour during the spawning ritual. These physical changes make it relatively easy to identify sexually mature males. 

Males display to each other by extending their dorsal and anal fins, while at the same time intensifying their colouration. The extension of the fins is an illusionary aspiration by the males to increase their overall body size as they complete with each other for the attention of a female. This is often accompanied by a side-slapping action while swimming together side by side throughout the aquarium. Extended fin and colour intensity is also undertaken by the male when displaying to a female, only this time it is an attempt to increase their overall attractiveness to the females."

And here's the link to his site:
Home of the Rainbowfish


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Yeah you could literaly watch it 'light up' in a second or two like someone flipped a switch. Take a look at my turqs:

  

Sorry none of these pics are the best, but you get the idea of the stripe.


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## fishguy5000 (Jan 17, 2007)

Welcome to the world of Rainbowfish! 'Bows will never be popular because they adamently refuse to look good in dealer tanks, but get them home and comfortable in a well-planted tank and they are stunning. As you have discovered, many of them can turn their colors on and off at will. i have a tank full of Melanotaenia parva that look somewhat drab at various times during the day, but when the mood strikes them, and especially when the sun hits the tank first thing in the morning, they are the deepest, brightest flame-orange you've ever seen. 

BTW, your turquoise rainbow is Melantaenia lacustris, also known as the Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish. Looks like you have a really nice one!


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## smollwow (Sep 15, 2021)

I had something wierd happen to my turquoise rainbow. This morning when I turned the lights on in my tank, my rainbow had turned a darker shade of blue, a very dark purble/black on the back half of its body, but only on one side. If it had turned on both sides, I would figure it was just maturing. Is this normal? Has anyone seen this? I checked all my water level and temperature and everything is fine. The fish is acting normally and ate just fine, like usual. This happened overnigh, so I am somewhat alarmed. I cannot find anything online about only one side of the fish turning color.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

This is normal and amazing behavior by rainbows. I made a video of my Maccullochi flashing like times square:


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