Unusual Pseudanthias pulcherrimus (Resplendent anthias) color change ?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've got a group of these (4 now) that I've had for some time (maybe a year) and they have been doing well, aside from a female that jumped onto the crossbar of my tank.

But recently one of the females has turned a darker purple color, rather than the "normal" orangy light purple/iridescent color, with yellow tails.

This color change does not appear to be the female to male color change. There already is a male, and while larger is actually a bit lighter in color than the females, which is, I understand, normal.

Anyone ever see this change with this species before?

Here's one of the "normal" females:

and here is the color changer, which when I got it looked just like the picture above (well, they were all a bit lighter at first):

 

[SDguy]

Very interesting. Never seen anything like it though...

 

[MCCOOL]

That is wild! Definitely doesn't look like the female to male color change, you're right about that.

What are you feeding them? Is it still hanging out with the others like usual?

 

[nonstopfishies]

That is wild! Definitely doesn't look like the female to male color change, you're right about that.

What are you feeding them? Is it still hanging out with the others like usual?

Definitely a crazy change!

I thought the same questions as above, plus a few.

In the pecking order/size, where does it rank?

How fast did it change?

Neither of my Resplendents have changed like that!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, guys.

I feed freeze dried cyclopeeze in the AM, arctipods 7 times with a doser during the day, then a cube of prime reef and later a cube of mysis.

Kevin Kohen (Livequaria) told me he has seen this a few times in captive fish of related species, but he is not sure why it happens, such as lighting, foods, etc. I did recently change my very old 250 w DE 1000k mh bulbs that shocked and damaged some corals, so maybe the light increase triggered some sort of effect.

Anyway, as long as it seems healthy, so be it.

 

[Big E]

I'm not familiar with Resplendents, but it looks like a sick fish losing it's bright colors.

If it's still healthy, active & eating than no worries I guess.

That normal female is gorgeous.

 

[29reef]

I'm guessing it has more to do with the change in the lighting and being in a tank. Lots of aquarium fish will look different than their wild counterparts. I wouldn't be surprised if others in your group also make the change to the dark side

Diet changes might help in recouping the lost pink coloration, but I'm leaning towards the environment being the cause of the color change in your case.

My last suggestion would be to buy a few more resplendent or another species to mix with them, and see if the colors change. 4 months ago I added 6 dispar to my 3 year old bartlett pair. In the last month I have noticed a drastic increases in the colors of the Bartlett anthias. They are all constantly swimming together and squabbling I think the competition has brought back their vigor so to speak. I haven't changed their diet at all.

 

[chgoblknazn]

Has the color changed more?

 

[snorvich]

Very interesting. Never seen anything like it though...

Likewise. And I do keep this species. Feeding anything unusual?