>>I can remember going to and AKA show in Cinn. back in the early 70's
and
entering a pair of f1 epp. from mann. They had been a pale drab
pinkish color
in my Boston water. I did not bench the fish myself and when I saw
them on the
bench with totaly different colors I made a note to buy the fish in
the
auction. I also checked with the show chairman after the judging to
find out
who owned the fish and thought he was carzy when he told me the fish
were
mine.<<
Even in the same water I've noticed an extreme differance in color
with my wanams that seems dependent on gravel color. I was having
trouble getting good eggs off my fish. Everytime I'd pull out the mops
they would be full of gammarus instead of eggs. So I set up a seperate
"clean" tank to breed my bows in. They are both planted tanks and use
the same tap water. However in the "clean" tank I used white sand and
in the regular tank there is natural colored gravel.
The wanams turned really pale the entire time they were in the "clean"
tank. The water conditions were the same, both tanks were similarly
planted and lighted. The only difference I could see was the color of
the bottem material.
Incidently the clean tank did work for spawning and I have some wanam
fry now. And when replaced into their regular tank the color returned
to the fish almost immediatly. I've considered setting up one of my
tanks with black gravel to see if their color intensifies even more
with a darker substrate.
Rhonda