# Mosquito rasbora not very red?



## Heatherfly (Oct 21, 2011)

Hi all. I have 10 mosquito rasbora (boraras brigittae) in my 10 gallon planted tank. In the pet store they looked much less red than I had seen them in pictures and in other stores. However, I had driven all that way for them and I was hoping they would become more red once they had settled down in an established tank and all that good stuff. They're still quite pale. Their cheeks are quite pink but their bodies are closer to golden than red. Is there anything I can do to make their colors brighter? Live food, water conditions, etc?


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## zainey_04 (May 24, 2011)

How long have they been in the tank? Maybe they're still getting used to their new surroundings. 


- Zain


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

They could be young as well, or they could actually be Boraras merah, which are very close, but not as colorful.


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## aznartist34 (Nov 19, 2010)

I've seen reports that fish that live in lower ph waters tend to fade in color when kept in more alkaline water. Are you using tap water or RO water?


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## atom (Sep 28, 2011)

How long have you had them? Also, could it be that the store sold you Merah instead of Brigittae? Anything else in the tank?

I noticed mine have periods of red and periods of pinkish depending on their level of excitement.


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

aznartist34 said:


> I've seen reports that fish that live in lower ph waters tend to fade in color when kept in more alkaline water. Are you using tap water or RO water?


There's the problem if the fish is definitely Briggitae. They really like soft acidic water.


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## chiefroastbeef (Feb 14, 2011)

When I buy them from stores, they are always whitish without color, but after 2 weeks or so, they turn red and look like the photos on google. Just feed them good food and let them acclimatize.


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

That's another thing: It does take a few weeks for them to fully color up.


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## Heatherfly (Oct 21, 2011)

It's been two weeks with them in the tank. Their colors haven't changed, though they're much more active than when I first got them. They share the tank with a betta, an otto, and a ton of live plants. Right now I'm just using tap water, but once I fix my DIY CO2 setup I'll be using that to help lower the ph for them. I'm very very sure they're brigittae; the markings on their sides is a solid black line with one small dot just at the base of their tail. They've just been eating generic flake food, but I'm hoping to successfully hatch some brine shrimp eggs to feed them soon, hehe.

Afterthought edit: Is it possible that I don't have them at the ideal temperature? The tank stays at 76-79F.


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## monkeyfish (Jul 5, 2010)

Heatherfly said:


> They've just been eating generic flake food


This is part of the problem. Good food = good colors. Get some New life spectrum, Ken's fish food, Ed's natural food, repashy super food, anything high quality. The NLS can be found at almost any lfs, the other three are online only. Msjinkzd has the repashy for sale.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I would like to see a pic to make sure they are the correct species. There are 5 species of boraras, all quite similar, but the chilis are the most vibrant. its possible you have naevus, merah, micros, or maculatas.


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## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

+1 on what msjinkzd says!


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## Heatherfly (Oct 21, 2011)

monkeyfish said:


> This is part of the problem. Good food = good colors. Get some New life spectrum, Ken's fish food, Ed's natural food, repashy super food, anything high quality. The NLS can be found at almost any lfs, the other three are online only. Msjinkzd has the repashy for sale.


Thanks, I'll look into that!

Also, here are some pictures as requested. This is the best I could get as far as focus goes using my phone:









Here's one that has a more correct white balance, so the coloring is more accurate:


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## chiefroastbeef (Feb 14, 2011)

Those look like the chilis I have, just give them some time to acclimate. I've bought over 80 chilis in the last two years (had many jump out or get sucked into my surface skimmer), they are without color while in the lhs tanks, and when I bring them home, after two weeks or so, they color up. I feed NLS micro pellets, live bbs, and frozen brine shrimp. Primarily NLS.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

they are chilis.

edit: oops, i was wrong. Not chilis with that black dot.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

They might be a little on the young side too, mine are all bright bright red, and it took them a few weeks to really color up after putting them int he tank. The females are also less red than the males are.


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

.......


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

They look more like B.urophthalmoides. They are more orange then red. I went through that same confusion a while back. The tail fins in chili doesn't have a big black spot. They do have a bit of black but not that big. Another nickname is exclamation point rasboras. Here's a thread on them

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/43049-boraras-brigittae-chili-rasbora.html


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

I just have over a hundred of the brigittae and at first they didn't have the nice color either, recently just added more to the group and they have almost no color other than the stripe.

Feed good foods and they will eventually color up. I would say they take a little longer than just a few weeks to really shine though.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

here is an ok shot of a chili of mine from a while back:









Here is urophthalmoides, i think the previous poster was correct. They are not brigittae, sorry for any confusion, i should wear my glasses when reading threads at night!









http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Boraras&species=urophthalmoides++++&id=1284


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## Heatherfly (Oct 21, 2011)

Ah, it looks like they are B. urophthalmoides. Oh well. Thanks for the help everyone!


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## finallyfish (Jan 19, 2016)

What size tank so you have your hundred in? Do they school? I have just received my first 10 and am a little in love today...dreaming of the future!


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