Remaining 5 are black more than not

[Sturiosoma]

i believe the two on the right, are the same as the two front and center in second pic. there are 10 months in between pics

maybe about 5 months ago, i put some them in a q tank to treat for a bacteria(cloudy puffed eye), it reversed it in the blue diamonds for a while, but they started looking bad again and died..
anyway, in the q tank they went non black with the same water. put back in display tank, black again

now and then they aren't black, mostly they are though. just a minute ago the one dropped all black and was full of color over in corner of tank, but by the time i got phone when back to black.

jan 2019
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nov 2019
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You appear to have quite a few males and you say they are constantly fighting with each other is it possible stress has an effect on color

Jeanne

[Jack L]

You appear to have quite a few males and you say they are constantly fighting with each other is it possible stress has an effect on color

Jeanne

i think that is part of it, but i've lost track which were the males. when they used to spawn all the time it was easier. but adding fresh purigen did make a noticeable improvement. they spar a LOT. that is why the lips are white.

[Jack L]

Oh, I thought you were losing them recently. You got these guys to a beautiful shape!!! I have one turq that is always dark and once in a while it's displaying a beautiful color, but as soon as I put the phone in his face to take a pic, he's dark again. It's definitely my black bottom and black background that's causing this.

thanks, it was a lot of work, not sure i'll grow juvies out in a planted again!