Fish Color

[blkhawk10]

I was curious to know if a fishes color will get more vibrant over time? I understand that some fish go thru phases and change color over time but what about ones that go don't go thru phases. If I buy a fish with ok color now, can or will it become more vibrant as it grows?

 

[DLHDesign]

Dull colors are often related to stress events (such as being moved into a new tank). So most (not all, but most) fish should see some improvement after the initial introduction (days/weeks timeline at most, in general). Beyond that, it depends upon the fish species in terms of what will happen to their coloration. A healthy diet can help them regain their "in the wild" coloration, but I can't imagine that you will get better than that (again; in general).

 

[blkhawk10]

To be more specific, I was looking at a mystery wrasse that was dull in color but only 2 1/2”, not fully grown. I was curious to see if that fish would mature to a more vibrant color as it grew with a diet as mentioned above?

 

[DLHDesign]

Mystery Wrasse (Pseudocheilinus ocellatus) will generally start more green-ish, and pick up more red color as they grow. Using food that has a natural red color (salmon-derived flakes, live brine shrimp, and bloodworms being perhaps the most common) can help to bring out their natural red colors, by a fair number of reports.

 

[roberthu526]

The healthier the fish, the more vibrant color they get. This is generally true to most fishes in this hobby. Dull colored fishes usually means they are in poor health.