Red head tapajos not red?

[Beetlebug515]

Hello all. As of late, I've been trying to figure out why my 3, 4 inch red head tapajos aren't red. I know for sure they are the right species, and I can see a small tint of red, but nothing like the bright red I've seen even on smaller ones. Water conditions are good, if a bit hard. I don't know if it's the hardness that's affecting them or their tank mates. Tank mates include some fairly sizeable fish including a red bay snook, mono pbass, and flagtail. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[Woefulrelic]

Mine only showed really impressive color when they were the top of the food chain

 

[JK47]

Where did you get them? There is a surge of orange heads floating around my local area that are clearly different from other orange heads. They are darker in base color but much less orange than traditional orange heads. I considered growing out a set just to see what I end up with. I already have an orange head colony though

 

[JK47]

Stress, water quality, food, and male / female ratio all play into their colors, FYI.

 

[Beetlebug515]

Here's the best pic I have of them. I got them a few months ago at one of my local stores. Diet is good. They get NLS as a staple supplemented by krill, shrimp, peas, massivore, and the occasional algae wafer. As far as water quality, Nitrate stays at about 10 ppm, but hardness is up there, about 15-18 degrees kh.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Are you sure they are red heads?
Looks more like Abalios or something to me.

 

[neutrino]

a) Red heads can commonly show some red at that size, but full color tends to take time to develop. Some will turn out better than others even in the same breeding line. (I bred them for a few years.)

b) It's not clear cut to me from the photo they're 100% red heads, though I do see some features of red heads.

c) The massivore isn't doing them any favors. At a mimumum, whatever it might or might not do for some species, the red heads don't need it, and it certainly doesn't add anything of value to a staple of NLS. Nutritionally speaking it's diluting the color benefiting nutrients with starch, brewers yeast and soybean meal (according to the massivore ingredients I'm looking at online).

d) Most people don't realize soy (ingredient in the massivore) and peas is a bad combination for fish, it can cause them a condition of intestinal inflammation (as can many forms of soy alone, for that matter). LINK --

I can't be dogmatic that it's the food or the food alone. Clean water, food, genetics, stress all play their roles. But that diet isn't helping imo, and I have specific experience with food and red head geo color.

 

[JK47]

Here's the best pic I have of them. I got them a few months ago at one of my local stores. Diet is good. They get NLS as a staple supplemented by krill, shrimp, peas, massivore, and the occasional algae wafer. As far as water quality, Nitrate stays at about 10 ppm, but hardness is up there, about 15-18 degrees kh.

View attachment 1196036

That is the species I am referring to. They appear to be a different species to me or unique from other orange heads (red heads is not a thing). I would love to see updates on these guys in six months!

 

[Beetlebug515]

I am certain that they are red heads. To me, the 4 pairs of thin vertical bars give it away. I know they are hard to see in the pic.

neutrino , the massivore that they get is not directly for them. Just crumbs from the larger fish that eat them. They get enough of it though i figured I would include it in their diet list. I did not know about the soy/pea combination. Peas have only been a recent introduction to them. I'll be sure to stop feeding them peas as they aren't going to stop eating the massivore until my current bag runs out. Planning on switching to NLS jumbo after that for the big guys. Thanks for the information

 

[Beetlebug515]

That is the species I am referring to. They appear to be a different species to me or unique from other orange heads (red heads is not a thing). I would love to see updates on these guys in six months!

That's interesting. These are the first ones I've ever kept, so I don't really have a measuring stick except for google. I'm clearing out some of the big guys from my 250 and I'm interested to see what they do when they get to rule the tank.