# Opinions on Oscar Coloration



## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

I found this guy housed with the tiger oscars at petsmart.

He's not a normal tiger, but when compared to the lutinos they had he doesn't look right either. To me he looks like a dilute of the tiger lines as opposed to a lutino, but I didn't know there was such a thing.

Viewed next to a lutino it is very apparent that he is abnormal compared to them. His base color is a very light olive instead of the peachy-white of most lutinos, and he has a significant amount of black on the fins as well as some towards his tail on the body. I expect the coloration to change somewhat as all do when they grow, but I just figured I'd post him to get opinions.

I don't really have room for him atm as an adult, but he looked so unique swimming in the middle of all those tigers at petsmart.

I need to quit going to the pet stores


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

The patterns on Oscars change significantly as they mature... I would expect this guy to grow up to look like a standard "Red Tiger Oscar" or whatever common name you choose to use for this pattern...


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

Baby tiger oscars are usually almost black, if anything I expect this guy to lighten up maybe lose the black. In the second picture you can see my juvenile tiger for a color comparison. He's about 5" right now and looked nothing like this guy.

Every other tiger in the store was dark chocolate with red marbling, all of the lutinos were peachy-white with the same red marbling. This guy was light, mottled olive with lacy black markings at his extremities and the red marbling.

I was curious if anyone else has ever found a lutino-type fish like this before, and what color it ended up as when it was an adult.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I've had ones like these too, he'll grow up to look like a "red tiger oscar"


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

I like his markings! It would be very, very cool if he kept them as an adult!! :thumb:

But about that faded look on his face, back....my new O had that too. But after a day at home it started darkening up and now it's black. So stress related IMO.

He sure is cute, I would've bought him too!!!


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## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

I like him. Keep taking lots of pictures, it will be fun to compare before and after shots. :thumb:


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

heylady said:


> I like his markings! It would be very, very cool if he kept them as an adult!! :thumb:
> 
> But about that faded look on his face, back....my new O had that too. But after a day at home it started darkening up and now it's black. So stress related IMO.
> 
> He sure is cute, I would've bought him too!!!


This guy is closer to "lutino" than a tiger. This isn't a stress color, I've had him for about a week in quarantine, and this is the normal color he wears most of the time. The camera doesn't really do it justice.

I've kept both tigers and albino/lutinos in the past, and none looked quite like this. It's sorta why I bought him even though I don't really have a lot of room for him atm (hey, always a good time for another tank, eh?  ).

I guess it is just a wait and see what I have sort of thing.


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## BlackShark11k (Feb 16, 2007)

Not looking lutino at all to me, just lightly colored :wink:


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