What constitutes a Rainbow Acan?

akabryanhall · Dec 3, 2009

I have seen some unbelievable acans come around recently that have amazing colors. Before that I would see ULTRA Acans that just seemed red with some white. How did all of a sudden these awesome colors started appearing. Did people discover that by keeping them in the shade, they would change colors? Or did people only recently discover that other colors of acans were in the sea?
I just recently won this from OIAB..

This isn't a rainbow acan right? It's certainly a lot more colorful than what was sold as rainbow a year ago. Do I need to keep this in the shade as well? Will it lose its color if I keep it well lit?

Lot of questions, just confused I guess.

nayrgaijin · Dec 3, 2009

This isn't a rainbow acan right?
IMO no, but nice colors either way !

Do I need to keep this in the shade as well?
From most peoples experience you get the best colors when they are slightly shaded. I have an acan that turns green when not in enough light and bright orange when in too much, if it's in the perfect placement it's orange with green stripes ! haha

Will it lose its color if I keep it well lit?
Start it in a slightly shaded area and see how it does then adjust accordingly

You will notice a good spot when you see the colors showing you like the most.

To establish whether an acan is rainbow or not, hmmm I'm not the best person to explain, but here's some pics of some !

akabryanhall · Dec 3, 2009

Thanks for the answer, would like to hear more people chime in on this. That acan is a beauty, is it yours? I think what I saw as rainbow acans before may have just had the rainbow color in the eye, now I'm seeing colors all over the place lol

oceanparadise1 · Dec 3, 2009

to me a rainbow acan has to have 3 different colors that you can def tell apart, not 3 different shades of green. But thats just my .02

MikeB · Dec 3, 2009

To me, a rainbow acan should have 3 or more colors of a rainbow.

kev2me · Dec 3, 2009

I think to deserve the name rainbow it should have at least 5 of the ROY G BIV colors.

But then again, I'm picky like that.

akabryanhall · Dec 3, 2009

Word.

reefkoi · Dec 3, 2009

To me a rainbow is an acan with red/orange/green and if it has some white, pink or whatever else its a bonus.
C

cntryboi407 · Dec 3, 2009

gotta have at least 3/4 different "well present" colors IMO

wicked demon · Dec 3, 2009

I do not agree with keeping them in the shade, they seem to thrive in high light, here are a few of mine.

MikeB · Dec 3, 2009

Hey Wicked, Have to tested them, put a couple rainbows in the shad and leave them there for a couple month to see what happens? We had a nice rainbow acan we stuck in direct light and it turned all red with a little orange in the center around the mouths. We now fragged it, put int he shade and within one month we see purple, green, orange, and red.

It would be nice for some more people to try this. See what happens. I will post a picture of our acans when we got them and what they look like now. I just have to hunt them down.

wicked demon · Dec 3, 2009

I stand corrected.

cntryboi407 · Dec 3, 2009

wicked demon said:
I stand corrected.

Lol and nice quick edit. It updated your edit in the process of my response.

I think its preference for rainbows. Have a few in the shade and a few in direct light.

wicked demon · Dec 3, 2009

lol, thanx, I have a problem watching my mouth.

akabryanhall · Dec 4, 2009

Would be interesting to see what other experiences people have had with this, countless people may be sitting with unbelievable acans but dont kno it cause of the light they have em in. I have some JC pink panty acans that will turn red if too high in the tank, but stay a neon pink in the right light.

its fry · Dec 5, 2009

Shade vs. Light is not the real issue IMO, unless you're using MH.

In my experience,
You'll get max colors under blue/purple t5s. Many 20k users may say they experience the same.

Rainbow is ofcourse used loosely, but it better have atleast 3 colors before counting the striations as a color, right?

Myteemouse · Dec 5, 2009

I always thought is was at least 4 nut preferably 5 different colors to be a TRUE rainbow.
I agree with the other guy that says "rainbow is used too loosely"
A lot of sellers want the acan to sell faster if they use Rainbow in the name..

FateX8 · Dec 5, 2009

i wouldnt say a rainbow is 3 colors seeing that a lot of acans that came in 3 years ago had white, green and red
maybe 3 distinct colors with lots of different shades inbetween
also maybe how the colors are mixed together instead of just striping