Half of BTA different color than other half

[Gmerek2]

Half my BTA looks like a lemon drop and the other half has sunburst colors. I didn't think this was possible until i saw it. The nem was sold under sunburst lineage so I believe the lemondrop side is because of stress or lighting. Any other thoughts or input? The lemondrop looking side was a much more vibrant yellow and I believe it is changing to the sunburst color.

 

[Gmerek2]

I used to think the following pictures were fake but now I have my doubts. I wish I had pics of my nem before it lost a lot of the vibrant yellow on one side. At least you can see some of it

 

[Gmerek2]

This picture might display the color difference a little better on my nem

 

[Gmerek2]

Here is a picture of lemondrop looking side when I first got it.

 

[D-Nak]

Morphing -- especially with the sunburst and lemondrop morphs -- is pretty common. Unless you know the parameters of the tank they came from, the chances of changing colors is high. Some of the named morphs, like the Colorado Sunburst, seem to hold their colors better than others (and thus are priced a bit higher than the rest).

Lighting also plays a huge role. It could be that part of your nem was shaded which caused the color to shift. The last photo you posted makes the nem appear slightly bleached. I had both a sunburst and lemondrop under a Kessil A150 and they literally glowed. Under my Radions they were still nice, but nothing like what they looked like under the Kessil.

 

[Gmerek2]

I have high phosphate. I bet the LFS has minimal since its fishless. I'll experiment with phosphate later. The whole thing appears to be shifting to the Orange color.

 

[AdamNC]

When I first got mine it had an almost green body with red tentacles. 6 months later it has since turned nearly all redish/pink.