# Strange Color-Changing Friedrichstahlii



## eraserhead (Sep 25, 2007)

Hi guys,
I have a male/female pair of Friedrichstahli, and they have both always looked exactly the way they are supposed to. However last week the male completely changed. He is eating and acting completely normally, there is no abuse going on, and the rest of the fish in the tank are perfectly fine. The water params are perfect (0 NH3, 0 NO2, pH 7.5, 40 NO3). The fist pic is what he normally looks like, and the second is what he looks like now. Any ideas?



















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Thanks!


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## straitjacketstar (Mar 8, 2004)

Xanthic freddie!
I've heard of them being a bit more common in Australia actually, where the gene pool is obviously not so large.
Neat!


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

Thats cool, I wonder if those are new permanent adult colors or breeding colors.


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## eraserhead (Sep 25, 2007)

It's so so weird! Honestly, the whole progression of his color changing only took 2 or 3 days total. At first it was really splotchy, and it worried me that maybe he had a fungus or something like that. But a day or two later, it became very uniform, and now there is no black on him at all. So this is a natural phenomenon? It wouldn't surprise me if it's a breeding dress, he has been chasing the female around and trying to give her "kisses" more than normal. Thanks for the replies! I've never heard of anything like this before. :dancing:


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## Frameshift (Sep 12, 2003)

straitjacketstar said:


> Xanthic freddie!
> I've heard of them being a bit more common in Australia actually, where the gene pool is obviously not so large.
> Neat!


Yeah, I've seen one other one on the web, but can't find the topics about it.

You've got a special fish there.


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## eraserhead (Sep 25, 2007)

Frameshift said:


> straitjacketstar said:
> 
> 
> > Xanthic freddie!
> ...


Hooray! That makes me so happy! I was so scared he was sick or something. Go Freddie!!


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## MacFish (Jan 4, 2006)

I've never seen a Xanthic Freddie but I have seen a Xanthic Jag. Here is the link to that thread but the user has removed the images 

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... anthic+jag

They are still showing on MFK...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... hp?t=96082


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Wow, that was quite the transformation in such a short time!
I would have been worried too, but I'm glad it turns out that he's not sick after all---he's just simply 'xanthic,' that's all. :lol:

BV


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## eraserhead (Sep 25, 2007)

Big Vine said:


> Wow, that was quite the transformation in such a short time!
> I would have been worried too, but I'm glad it turns out that he's not sick after all---he's just simply 'xanthic,' that's all. :lol:
> 
> BV


I posted some pictures of him and his girlfriend online, the address is:
http://indycichlids.com/Xanthic.html


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## straitjacketstar (Mar 8, 2004)

eraserhead said:


> Big Vine said:
> 
> 
> > Wow, that was quite the transformation in such a short time!
> ...


You you what's funny?
It looks like the xanthic one's the female and the normal one is the male.


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## eraserhead (Sep 25, 2007)

straitjacketstar said:


> eraserhead said:
> 
> 
> > Big Vine said:
> ...


I kicked that idea around a little, but you should have seen him before he went xanthic. Total obvious male coloring. Also their behavior makes it pretty obvious, they are wild caught and have bred in captivity before. It was before I bought them though.


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