# When will my Rainbow Cichlids color up



## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

I have 2 Rainbow Cichlids that I've had now for maybe 6 or 7 months. I got 7 very small juvies initially, but gave most of them away.

Currently they are about 1.5 and 2 inches each. I tried to keep one of the biggest and one of the smallest from the group to hopefully get a male/female pair.

They have hints of gold/yellow with hints of blue on the fins sometimes, but still are dark or dull silver a lot of the time with the black stripes. At what age do they start turning their full yellow adult coloring?

I'm getting a bit impatient. :roll:


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

They seem rather small for fish of that age. perhaps it is more of a size issue than age. It has been a long while since I kept them.


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

They were pretty small when i got them and they certainly eat well.


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

They are still relatively small/young. I'd give them some more time to fully mature and color up. However, they are called "rainbows" for a reason. They can and often do change their colors from silvery - to yellow - to black - to yellow with black bars, ect. depending on their mood and surroundings.


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## DodiW (Apr 30, 2014)

Honestly at 7 mos, they should have already colored up, but give them time in my group several were way ahead of the others, just like kids. I would have kept them all to see what I ended up with. Don't get discouraged, they are worth the wait! A wonderful fish~~
One way to tell male from female is the male will have more pointed fins, females are a bit rounded. They constantly change color but do best if kept with the correct pH range which will make them mostly orange and not just the yellow.

honestly at 7


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## Kuromaguro (Feb 11, 2014)

An lfs has about 10 rainbows from 3 to 4 inches. They are all very dull in color.


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

DodiW said:


> They constantly change color but do best if kept with the correct pH range which will make them mostly orange and not just the yellow.


So what is the proper PH? Based on the sites I've seen it's pretty much all across the board from 6.5 to 8.0


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