# are they sick ?



## lord or the red belly (Aug 7, 2005)

hi i have 3 3" red bellys i got my third one today and slowly introduced it to my other two its setteled in fine and all 3 seem to be getting on grate ive been reading up on them on the internet and it says that the redder the belly the more healthy they are now my 2 that i had before i put the 3rd one in dont seem to have as much red on as the new one does this meen their un healthy or what can anyone help me out 
much appreciated 
tnx phil


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## Altuvie631 (Jul 7, 2005)

send some pics man


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## lord or the red belly (Aug 7, 2005)

photos are up n rdy for inspection lol let me know plz tnx


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## roush04 (Aug 18, 2005)

It's not necessarily that they are unhealthy. Mine usually have little color in the mornings, and when I get home they are bright and beautiful! Can be a number of things causing the color change.


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

one of the reasons for losing the color is stress
probably they are not used to the new situation yet


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## lord or the red belly (Aug 7, 2005)

ok kool but they have been like that for months like that and when i turn the lights on in the morning there like they are when i get in from work they dont seem to be overly stressed will a 50% water change help ???


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

what are u feeding them?


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## roush04 (Aug 18, 2005)

a 50% water change may stress them some but could help if you have a water chemistry problem. Have you checked your water parameters to see if they are in check? If you don't have the stuff to check, you can usually take a sample of your water to your lfs and they can check for you.


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## lord or the red belly (Aug 7, 2005)

i used to feed them on beef heart but i now feed them on dead tropical fish


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

lord or the red belly said:


> ok kool but they have been like that for months like that and when i turn the lights on in the morning there like they are when i get in from work they dont seem to be overly stressed will a 50% water change help ???
> [snapback]1177484[/snapback]​


ah sorry i misread your post
i thought that you meant that the color of your first two fish faded after adding the new one today...

As mentioned in the other posts the water quality and food is important. but it also depends on the fish. for example wild-caught fish have a better color. 
Not 100% sure but I guess if you have fish that are tankraised since many generations the color will not be as nice as when it's only the 1st tank raised generation.

EDIT:
i wouldn't do 50% water changes. i prefer regular, more frequent and smaller water chagnes


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

lord or the red belly said:


> i used to feed them on beef heart but i now feed them on dead tropical fish
> [snapback]1177507[/snapback]​


you mean you get the dead fish from your LFS ?


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## lord or the red belly (Aug 7, 2005)

yer dead fish from wer i work i work in a tropical and marine fish shop and i just feed them all the doas from the trpopical side


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

lord or the red belly said:


> yer dead fish from wer i work i work in a tropical and marine fish shop and i just feed them all the doas from the trpopical side
> [snapback]1177530[/snapback]​


i know that 'in the wild' piranha feed mainly on dead and sick fish, but personally i wouldn't use this as a food source. I would be too scared to introduce some disease. I'd stick to frozen food like whole fish, fish fillet, shrimp, mussels etc. it costs only a bit more, so i think it's worth the money.


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

boontje said:


> lord or the red belly said:
> 
> 
> > yer dead fish from wer i work i work in a tropical and marine fish shop and i just feed them all the doas from the trpopical side
> ...


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## lord or the red belly (Aug 7, 2005)

ok lads thanks very much ill swop to whole muscel and lance fish then so you dont tihnk there is owt wrong with them do they look healthy to you lot and you dont kow y they arent as red as my other ???


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## Altuvie631 (Jul 7, 2005)

my little red belly when i cahnged im if tank he did that for a day no color at all but now hes red so just wait a while


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## ronzz (Oct 26, 2004)

30% water change and everything will be cool


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