# Tiger barbs with green stripes



## gourami (Oct 8, 2010)

So, the other night I flipped on my aquarium light to pick out a piece of debris floating in the water and I noticed that the stripes on two of my tiger barbs were bright green! They were behaving normally, but the black of the stripes was almost gone completely and their orange color was somewhat pale & washed out looking. The coloring has since returned to normal. Does anyone have any idea what was going on?? Should I be concerned?


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## GitMoe (Aug 30, 2010)

When I had tiger barbs their scales would sometimes become almost metallic looking and turn weird colors. It was usually due to stress of some kind. Maybe one of them wouldnt stop chasing another one, water quality issues, really anything...


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

It's entirely normal. Most fish colors fade at night while they're sleeping. It's a camoflauge thing.


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## MrMoneybags (Apr 13, 2010)

its an optical illusion...cant remember the name of it...but Ill find the link

it basically has to do with the way the light is refracted by the water...and then reflected off of their scales

**EDIT**

found it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tindall_effect

also...look at the 2nd pic here...some of the barbs appear to have green stripes/spots

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/tigerbarb.php


on a side note...I LOVE tiger barbs...my first fish...and I always seem to circle back to them! theyre very active, colorful, and vicious!


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

Ever seen a neon tetra at night? They're white.


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## MrMoneybags (Apr 13, 2010)

...mine would be clear
but "supposedly" they like dim lighting for their best colors

...I dont believe it tho

most fish turn pale and then REALLY crank up the color intensity about 20mins after feeding (not sure if they can control it tho or if its involuntary, like cats purring)


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## tigerbarbs (Dec 12, 2010)

some good answers in here.... tiger barbs show green and or blue when spawning also when they are about to spawn... if you watch them for a while you can actually see the color change green before and black after spawning... 2 of them showing green eh? takes 2 to tango...


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