[dfarci]

I don't have much of a reason to suspect these of being mixed, other than the males refuse to color up past what is seen in the photos. More often than not they are completely devoid of barring and only show a hint of yellow. Otherwise, they appear normal for the species in my opinion. What do you think?

The fry have only BB bars at the moment - no color otherwise. Females are plain, maybe a hint of black in the fins. Males seem to have a decent amount of white in the dorsal fin.

 

[DJRansome]

What are the dimensions of the tank and how many males are in there? What happens if you isolate a male in a separate tank, does he color any more?

 

[dfarci]

What are the dimensions of the tank and how many males are in there? What happens if you isolate a male in a separate tank, does he color any more?

Currently in a 40 gallon with some Peacocks and a few other Cobue. When I had them in a 40 Breeder with about 25 total Cobue only, there was never one that completely colored up. Even in the growout/breeder vats on a hot day, the colors are...muted? I guess is the best word for it?

If isolating in its own tank will yield full color (theoretically), then I will go ahead and move one of them and see what happens.

 

[DJRansome]

It has worked for me before with other species, FWIW. Give it a couple of days...for me it was an overnight thing.

 

[noki]

He does look a lot like Cobue, the yellow-orange color takes awhile to go full but then it sounds like you should get at least a few males to color up some.

Do you have an obvious boss alpha male? I would remove him and see if coloring changes as other males move up in the pecking order. Other than that, maybe they are uncomfortable by the tank environment if there is a light bottom or no rocks.

 

[dfarci]

Do you have an obvious boss alpha male? I would remove him and see if coloring changes as other males move up in the pecking order. Other than that, maybe they are uncomfortable by the tank environment if there is a light bottom or no rocks.

No, but you're certainly right about the light sand and no decoration.

It has worked for me before with other species, FWIW. Give it a couple of days...for me it was an overnight thing.

The fish is just extremely skittish in a solo tank. I suppose we'll leave it at that considering there aren't any reasons why we suspect it is not a true Cobue other than subdued color, which can be caused by a number of things.

 

[noki]

Are you breeding them? You should change something up, if you want to see some males color up and see if they are quality. Remove the largest male, add a rock pile. See if you get a male color up.

 

[dfarci]

Are you breeding them? You should change something up, if you want to see some males color up and see if they are quality. Remove the largest male, add a rock pile. See if you get a male color up.

Yes, breeding them in a vat as a group. We have at least one batch of fry around 0.5". Not sure if you can tell for certain at that size. Haven't checked them personally for a few weeks but will check again on the next warm day to see if maximum colors will be present.