# The amazing color-changing Acei



## gfry (Oct 20, 2009)

I have a young 2" - 2.5" Acei that goes nearly completely white whenever I approach the tank. He swims to the front of the tank and dances excitedly back and forth, up and down in the top half of the water column, begging for food. His tail and fins stay their usual yellow and there is a blue flash under his chin and back over his gills, but the rest of his body is almost white. When he calms down, or gets fed, his body goes back to its normal dark grey color. The color change happens in a matter of seconds. I have another Acei that lightens as well when excited but not nearly as dramatically as his tank mate. Then there are two more Acei who stay the same dark grey all the time.

It's fascinating to watch. opcorn: But is it normal?

I'm trying to take some pics but my camera sucks and my camera skills suck even worse and it's so darn hard to get a picture of him when he's darting around the tank.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Maybe post a quick video?

My Acei change color but not at much as yours does, maybe it is because it is very small still?


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## CichlidsTank (Sep 27, 2009)

My maingano does the same thing when the dom. male gets close to him. He turns white, shakes a little, sinks to the bottom, or runs away. ha


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## gfry (Oct 20, 2009)

OK, here are a couple of pics. Not the greatest camera work but you certainly get the idea about what I'm talking about.

Here he is in his usual livery. He had just been fed so he didn't see the need to show off for the food guy.









And here he is in his "I'm starving! Feed me!" livery.









His color will switch from dark to light in seconds. Likewise light back to dark.


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## drevim (Dec 10, 2009)

Looks very similar to mine. Mood depending, almost a purple to blue to grey/pale. My 3 are all between 1 1/2" to 2".

At times they also show some light vertical bars. Which had me wondering if there isn't a hybrid mix going on. But I notice the same thing in your first pic.


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## gfry (Oct 20, 2009)

All four of my Acei occassionally show some barring. As do all five of my Rusties. The largest Rustie usually only shows his bars at feeding time, though.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I think it is because they are so young still, I have fry that do that. I have never seen my older Acei get that pale, the lightest they get is like in this picture...










Other than that they are darker 95% of the time. How many do you have BTW?


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## gfry (Oct 20, 2009)

I have four Acei. Three in my main tank and one currently in a 10 gal hospital tank. (He was very tiny and being picked on.)


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

And they all change color like that? They get that pale?


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## gfry (Oct 20, 2009)

Only the largest one gets that pale. The second largest one will lighten, but not nearly as much as the one in the images. The other two stay dark for the most part.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Hmmm. you would think that the largest one would be the one to stay nice and dark, I think the dark purple color is what the dominant male should be... could be wrong since all my Acei are nice and dark most of the time.

I dont know what to tell you.


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## iplaywithemotions (Dec 18, 2008)

My dominate Acei used to go from dark to light when ready to breed. The sub-dominate males stayed dark.


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## iCichlid (Sep 21, 2009)

That's cool! I wish mine did that!!


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

iCichlid, love the picture quality of your video and awesome fish and tank :drooling: Is that your 55 gal.? If it is it looks alot bigger :thumb:


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

Oh ya gfry maybe your fishes look at you as the dominant one - after all you are the one that provides the food and clean water - just a thought :wink:


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