My upside down catfish Gina looks exactly like your typical upsidedowner. However she recently moved into a large mug that is in the bottom of our tank. She spent about 2 days in there, coming out only for feeding. I was vacc'ing the gravel today and bumped the mug, she came out and was a light sandy brown color. Really really light in color. Of course I freak out and jump online and start frantically google searching but found no input on this. What is even stranger to me is that not even an hour later, she was back to her normal colors! Completely! She hasn't gone back in the mug and is lounging on her rock. Is this normal? Could the lack of light caused her color change? I'm very curious!
color changing catfish!
- Thread starter kristalAK
- Start date
Here is some thing I found
"also they change due to surroundings. a cave that is dark which they hide in they turn black. put them in a white pvc pipe they turn yellowish tan."
Third entry down on the list.
"My upside down catfish changes his color! When he is by a light-colored rock he goes light cream with brown spots, and when he swims up to the heater that is black he turns black with brown spots. Very interesting to watch. He swims in a 180 L tank with 2 frogs and 3 platies. They have all lived happily in the tank for 3 years now."
Seems like a normal thing if it only does it after hanging out in the mug.
"also they change due to surroundings. a cave that is dark which they hide in they turn black. put them in a white pvc pipe they turn yellowish tan."
Third entry down on the list.
"My upside down catfish changes his color! When he is by a light-colored rock he goes light cream with brown spots, and when he swims up to the heater that is black he turns black with brown spots. Very interesting to watch. He swims in a 180 L tank with 2 frogs and 3 platies. They have all lived happily in the tank for 3 years now."
Seems like a normal thing if it only does it after hanging out in the mug.
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I have three upside down catfish and they do get pale when something happens to stress them a bit. Like the tank gets cleaned or someone takes over their hiding place. Sometimes they're just pale. Don't worry to much. Just make sure there are enough places for you catfish to hide and do the usual care taking responsibilities that you do and your fish should be fine.
