Fish reaction to bright colors?

[Joekovar]

I've got pretty much neon orange shirts I wear on construction sites. I have to make sure I take them off before I go within view of my fish, otherwise they all freak out. The first time it happened I thought there was a live wire in the tank or something.

Eventually I realized it was the shirt and just figured they thought I was a really big clownfish.

The other day I stopped into PetSmart on the way home not thinking about the shirt I was wearing. The fish in there were completely unaffected. It wasn't until I got home and started to take the shirt off that it donned on me.

Anyone else have fish that freak out about bright colors? Any idea why the PetSmart fish couldn't have cared less?

 

[person]

this has never happened to me before with my fish. what do you mean by freaked out. do they go hide? or is it just they get a bit startled and go back to normal eventually?

 

[Joekovar]

They frantically swim all over the place, hitting the surface and splashing, running into coral. It seems like a fear response, and continues until I leave and come back without the shirt.

Occasionally I forget, and my first thought once I get back without the shirt is to make sure nothing jumped out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've got pretty much neon orange shirts I wear on construction sites. I have to make sure I take them off before I go within view of my fish, otherwise they all freak out. The first time it happened I thought there was a live wire in the tank or something.

Eventually I realized it was the shirt and just figured they thought I was a really big clownfish.

The other day I stopped into PetSmart on the way home not thinking about the shirt I was wearing. The fish in there were completely unaffected. It wasn't until I got home and started to take the shirt off that it donned on me.

Anyone else have fish that freak out about bright colors? Any idea why the PetSmart fish couldn't have cared less?

Some fish do respond to colors until they get accustomed to them. It at times may not be the color but how quickly you approach the tank

 

[TehBrainz]

If I walk in later during the light cycle (like deep blues before light out or during a bright moon phase) with a light gray, white, or neon colored shirt my foxface goes absolutely bonkers. If I didn't have a net on top he'd have gone hardwood surfing looong ago. He's the only one though haha.

I've made it a habit to sneak in and crouch up to the tank regardless of what I'm wearing during those hours. It's gotta look hilarious

 

[vetteguy53081]

If I walk in later during the light cycle (like deep blues before light out or during a bright moon phase) with a light gray, white, or neon colored shirt my foxface goes absolutely bonkers. If I didn't have a net on top he'd have gone hardwood surfing looong ago. He's the only one though haha.

I've made it a habit to sneak in and crouch up to the tank regardless of what I'm wearing during those hours. It's gotta look hilarious

Under blue lights those colors more than glow

 

[slingfox]

I was testing out my lights yesterday. It is supply on a mix of blues and whites and at maybe 70% of max. I turned it to max blue with no whites temporarily to see how my coral would look. When I did that one of my wrasse got startled and jumped out of the water and slammed into my mesh cover. The other fish swam into hiding.

 

[TehBrainz]

Under blue lights those colors more than glow

The green has become more of a day time viewing shirt for that reason. It is too much for me to even view the tank under blues haha

It is funny though how none of the fish had ever seemed bothered by my shirts or approach until the foxface came in.

 

[DaJMasta]

Haven't noticed this myself, while I have some bright shirts, no bright orange, but my fish seem to recognize me regardless of shirt or jacket (even a big one), though if I carry something by the tank they react to that and holding up a phone or similar means some new fish is slinking up to the glass.

They definitely recognize that other people aren't me, though, so that they don't have that same reaction to my own outfit changes, they must be seeing something more than just color.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

If you really want to get a cool experience at a public aquarium, find out what color shirt the staff wears, go when it's slow, and then wear that. I used to volunteer at a place where staff and volunteers all wore blue. If one of use walked up to a tank, even fish that normally hid would come out of hiding.

 

[Joekovar]

I think you guys are onto something with the blue light. I run blue at 100% and white at 30% which is just enough so the fish don't look like they're at a blacklight rave party. I think PetSmart is running significantly more, if not completely white light.