# Kenyi colour change



## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

Just wondering at about what age or size do kenyi male turn yellow I got a little one and just want to know if its male or female.


----------



## mgreen44 (Dec 27, 2011)

Mine started at 1.5" was yellow at 2"


----------



## ILCichlid (Feb 27, 2012)

Generally around 2" but it all depends on the tank too. If there are bigger fish in the tank and especially bigger kenyis in the tank that could be dominate, a male may choose to stay blue and hide among the females to avoid being harassed.


----------



## mattawan_cichlid (Dec 24, 2010)

ILCichlid said:


> Generally around 2" but it all depends on the tank too. If there are bigger fish in the tank and especially bigger kenyis in the tank that could be dominate, a male may choose to stay blue and hide among the females to avoid being harassed.


+1


----------



## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

Thank you booth


----------



## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

yeah be carefull with late turner, had one that turned at around 3inches cause I already had an alpha male in there, it started war...


----------



## ILCichlid (Feb 27, 2012)

Yeah that isn't good. I actually had the opposite lol. My 3 inch kenyi that was yellow since I got it and only turned blue when I first bought it and was moving it to the new tank so i figured it was just scared and it went right back to yellow the next morning. After 4 months, I come home one day to find it with a mouth full of eggs and one of my smaller ones is now turned yellow and was the father. Even now the big female kenyi is still yellow. They are an adaptive species. A female will turn yellow if it is the dominant fish and a male will hide in blue coloring if it's subdominate.


----------



## Secretninja (Dec 25, 2011)

One of mine was stealthed until the dominant male died. Then overnight "she" turned yellow.


----------



## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

Oh so the female may turn color as well interesting. Very neat species


----------



## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

I had one female that use to turn yellowish when she was holding, time for a montage!  My alpha male turning yellow  I love how fish can change their color like that so I took picture of mine turning yellow
first hint of yellow
































how he looks now, it took him a while from the fourth pic to that one, but he is jut gorgeous and he is the king of the tank. I think this is why he is so flashy...


----------



## mgreen44 (Dec 27, 2011)

could not see the egg spot when he was blue. Can they get them when they turn?


----------



## JackDeez (Feb 28, 2012)

I have a m/f Kenyi pair in my tank.

Since I had to remove my Red Zebra male (he started killing everything female in the tank) the male kenyi FINALLY went into his color shift. Up to that point he had remained as blue as the female but had very bright egg spots top and bottom. Now hes at that point of being both yellow and blue and hasn't changed in 6 months.


----------



## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

yeah, mine did, had no eggspot at first but then the egg spot appeared when he was yellow


----------



## kkedavison (May 11, 2013)

I've always assumed my Kenyi is female because she and my red zebra mate and she carries the eggs. "She" has an egg spot and I've noticed she's started to turn yellow? But it doesn't look as bright yellow as the photos above- it looks sickly. She and the red zebra fight often but neither has been seriously injured. 40 gal tank with a peacock and a frontosa as well...


----------



## ILCichlid (Feb 27, 2012)

First of all KK, Horrible combination of fish for any tank but especially for a 40g.

Second, egg spots don't necessarily mean anything at all so I'd guess that your Kenyi is a female that has become a dominant fish in your tank and takes the yellowish color because of that.


----------



## kkedavison (May 11, 2013)

They all seem to be doing fine , honestly... I've had them together for a year now. No issues. But I do appreciate the input. Thanks for answering my question


----------

