# Harlequin Rasboras with red coloration?



## jade_dragon71 (Dec 2, 2005)

I have a large school (around 50) of what I purchased as Harlequin Rasboras at my 2 LFS. I've always noticed that some of them have a deeper color to them, red in fact. Here's a pic, not the greatest, but they are not exactly ones to "pose" like my angelfish do.

Did they get a different rasbora in with their Harlequins, or do some of them get reddish? I've had this school for about 1 1/2 years now.


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## valerietheangel (Jan 6, 2008)

I can't tell much from the pics but some of our harlequins do have a quite a bit of a dark red/maroon color along with the purple/blues. They are gorgeous fish  I am jealous you have room for so many!


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

Is the darker one you are talking about in the lower left hand corner of the picture (kind of cut off)?

I have different colored rasboras too. I bought them from different stores. They have retained their original coloration from when I first bought them, so it isn't diet related or anything like that. It almost does make it seem like they are two seperate species.


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## imeridian (Jan 19, 2007)

Mine are all sort of rosey red, which is why I bought them. Prior to seeing them I had always thought they were sort of boring to look at. I had read somewhere that they all really ought to be reddish, but the genetics are really diluted resulting in the more pale coloration we usually see. I have no idea how accurate that statement is though.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

harlequin do develop bronze color in optimum condition, but Trigonostigma espei has darker reddish brown than harlequin.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

I have espei's and harlequins, and they look totally different. If you keep both of them, I don't see how you could be confused. I know EXACTLY what jade dragon is talking about as I have different colored harlequins. Some have a beautiful rose color and others aren't as brilliantly colored. I do find that the ones that are darker with the rose coloring also have a darker red eye color as well. Maybe I can get a good picture of each and post it to this thread for confirmation.


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## jade_dragon71 (Dec 2, 2005)

BiscuitSlayer said:


> Is the darker one you are talking about in the lower left hand corner of the picture (kind of cut off)?
> 
> I have different colored rasboras too. I bought them from different stores. They have retained their original coloration from when I first bought them, so it isn't diet related or anything like that. It almost does make it seem like they are two seperate species.


Yes! I'm glad somebody else has seen this, too.  There's another one up in the right-hand corner as well, all you can see in the picture is the red eyes and a little red towards the tail. 

I wish the red the whole body gets photographed well...I need to go back through all my pictures again to see if I can find a better one.


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## jade_dragon71 (Dec 2, 2005)

Okay, here's another picture. The camera has the rasboras out of focus since the Angel is larger, but you can see the color better on the little blobs in the background.:icon_conf


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## imeridian (Jan 19, 2007)

That's what mine look like, FWIW.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

OK, I took a couple of pictures and they didn't want to pose or show their colors. I had to cut the lights on to take the pictures, and one thing I noticed is that their colors aren't nearly the same as they are by the end of the photo period. Hopefully you can see the difference though:



















I did buy my harlequins from two different stores, and there was an obvious color difference between the two.

Hope it is clear enough to see. If not, I'll take some more pictures at a later date after the lights have been on for a while.

Edit: If nothing else, look at the eye colors between the two. You can see a difference there even with the crappy pics.


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## armagedon48 (Jun 13, 2007)

i have had harlequin rasboras get nice and red. i think it has to do with dominance within the school along with water quality, and overall stress from other fish. 

example, i kept 5 in a 10 gallon tank, 1 was always a deep red, another had red but not nearly as intense, and the rest were plain. i moved these fish into a 75 gallon tank heavily stocked with other fish, now they are all a light pink, but none show the red. i think it is because they are slightly stressed from the other larger fish in the tank. while in the 10 gal tank, the dominant fish displayed the best colors.


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I have heard that males get a deep red coloration over the females.


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## equus_peduus (Oct 20, 2007)

I've got some that are an orange color, and some that go almost purple along their back. I personally prefer the purplish ones, since purple does happen to be my favorite color, but they're both very pretty. I've heard there's redder ones, but I don't believe I own any. I've gotten my fish from various sources over the years - they're the only species I've had continuously since my first tank, and as the numbers thin, I get more.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

BiscuitSlayer said:


> I have espei's and harlequins, and they look totally different. If you keep both of them, I don't see how you could be confused.


no don't have espei but i know the black mark is different. i'm just saying that probably it got mixed somehow. sorry if i confused anyone here. i have harlequins, they're pretty pale back then now they're all darkish brown. i just noticed that espei in shops are more reddish than harlequins.


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## BruceWatts (Feb 27, 2008)

Like a lot of fish dominate males tend to be more colorful. Also when they are fully mature and in excellent shape they seem to show more bronze and red colors and the black takes on a more bluish caste. 

The young fish in the LFS are almost always whitish with the black mark. When they start glowing like that you are doing a good job taking care of them.

Bruce


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

Healthy, happy Harlequins are indeed very red. When they first came on the scene, they were very popular & of course the wild populations thinned. After a while the captive bred ones were pretty sad, and I stopped keeping them. They were very narrow bodied & really pale, not the nice deep blood red & full shape they have come back to. now that they're as good or better than the wild caught ones, I've had them as one of the staple occupants in my tanks for at least 10 years.

Tommy


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## jade_dragon71 (Dec 2, 2005)

Well, this is good to hear! :thumbsup: I do as much as possible to keep all my fish happy, so nice to know I'm doing a good job.


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## DanG (Apr 25, 2006)

Just scanned this thread and noticed there was no mention of the third kind of Harlequin besides the usual and Espei. Maybe I missed it. Can't remember what it is now. Will post when I remember. Has coloring kind of like the espei, but different.


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## forddna (Sep 12, 2007)

Hengeli or something.


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## Lupin (Nov 21, 2006)

forddna said:


> Hengeli or something.


Yes. _Trigonostigma hengeli_.


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## Lupin (Nov 21, 2006)

By the way, has anyone read this link? Seems quite helpful.:smile:
http://www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artiklar/Trigonostigma/trigonostigmaeng.htm


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2013)

*That raises some questions???????*

OK,,,,, now that I'm confused,,,,(and that's probably not very difficult to do), I'm reading about red, pink, bronze, copper, purple, and stripes along the back with different colors. I have a school of 9 in a 125 gallon tank. I call them my little copper pennies. They are metallic copper colored, but I've noticed that all of them have a thin almost "neon" like stripe along the back, right above the black "lambchop". The question is about the color of the stripe. Some of the stripes are silvery, light blueish, and others are a radiant copper stripe. Do I have a combination and if I do, which are they? They all came from the same LFS at the same time, and from the same stock tank, but were simply labeled Rasbora.


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