# Do fish see color?



## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

I am curious as to whether or not fish see in color? I mean, obviously none of us knows for sure but what do you think? Do your fish seem attracted to color or only by movement, finage etc... 

I am most curious as I have been thinking about maybe getting a male Betta once my male Guppies are gone. All my guppies are getting old (they have such a short life expectancy) and I am down to only 3 of them. I do however have 2 black skirt tetra in there. I was hoping that a Betta would get along with them. Then I would add one Betta and a couple Corie's to this tank. What are your thoughts? I was just thinking that if the Betta sees boring black and silver fish that he won't have any aggression issues. Maybe I was just hoping for that reaction. ha ha


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Betta see colour, don't know about other fish.
Betta are very prone to attacking any colourful fish, like male guppies.
Your tetra should be fine, though.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Hmmm... I would think it's the other way around. It might be that those betta fins are too tempting for some black skirts. I could be wrong tho. :dunno:

Are they nippy? I know I could never have a betta in with my serpae tetras.


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

I've read on a facts calendar, that tropical fish do see in color.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Fish do see in color. I'll post more when I get my ichthyology textbook in a while. In the meantime, this is a good article by a fly fisherman about fish and color sight: Fish Eyesight: Does Color Matter? | MidCurrent

Oh ya. With two black skirt tetra, I would hold off on the betta until those kicked the bucket, too. I'm a person who doesn't really like to keep betta with anything but a few substrate fish or alone.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Black Skirt Tetra are fin nippers, so not a good choice with a Betta.

The temperament of a Betta depends on the fish, some can do well with others ... and some will not tolerate anyone else, even substrate fish. They can even go after shrimp and snails.

And yes, I agree that fish can see color. Some species will attack others of the same color ... but leave ones alone that are a different color (within the same species).


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Colour is also how bright fish like killifish find each other in their murky home waters.
Male fish brighten when they are in breeding mode.

Is skirt tetra the same as black widow tetra? I know black widows are a no go for sure.


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

That is interesting, I never for even a second thought the Tetra would nip the fins of the Betta. The two I have were dumped on my by my nephew when his mother made him get rid of his tank. They are at least 3 years old. I have never once noticed them doing any fin nipping of each other or of the Guppies. The Guppies are forever chasing each other around and their tails are showing their age with a few small tears here and there. The Tetra are sort of solitary from what I have witnessed. There are two of them but they just swim around doing their own things.

I just can't help bu think of what I am going to put in the tank next. Especially as the Guppies are dropping one at a time and they are all pretty old. I am not certain of the life expectancy of the Black Skirt tetra as I didn't pick them, I just had to take them from their nasty dirty tank before my sister flushed them. They look livelier now in my clean well planted tank then they did in their brown water with minimal filtration and no heater. That said, I suspect the lack of care they received will take it's toll on them over all. Anyone know for sure what the normal life expectancy of a Black Skirt Tetra is? 

I also just read they should be kept in groups of or more.  I feel bad that these poor things have had a crappy life. Obviously my sister didn't research before getting fish for her son either. Oddly enough, these two just don't seem social, like other social types of fish that I do have. They just seem to co-exist in the same tank but not care about each other one way or another.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

I'd consider upping the group. Tetra are pretty long lived in general, bad care may have reduced that for these guys.
Maybe yours are two males that ignore each other since there's no ladies around?


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

Olympia said:


> I'd consider upping the group. Tetra are pretty long lived in general, bad care may have reduced that for these guys.
> Maybe yours are two males that ignore each other since there's no ladies around?


 
That is very possible. I saw them on occssion in my nephews tank. I would sometimes clean it when I went over there but wasn't there enough, to be considered good maintanance. I still figured it was better then never cleaning it. It would likely never have been cleaned if it were not for me nagging my sister. I am sure that is what finally made her get rid of the tank. She wants pets but doesn't want to put anything into them. I have always been the one to do the care. I even go to trim her dogs nails or they wouldn't get cut. I have taken her to the vet as well.

I wish I knew how long these guys were going to last. If I knew they were good for another year or so, I might think about adding more of those and something else to make them happy. That said, I don't wish to plan the tank around them as they are not a favorite fish. If they are not going to last long, I don't want to be stuck with a whole bunch of fish I wasn't excited about in the first place, if that makes sense? 

The poor things have gone from very dirty tank to one that is over cleaned because of a clean freak owner. ha ha I have also tossed around the idea of getting rid of this tank when the inhabitants are gone.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

About 5 years is normal. I don't think there is any way to know how much bad care affected that though.


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

Geomancer said:


> About 5 years is normal. I don't think there is any way to know how much bad care affected that though.


 
Yeah see, and these are at least 3 years old. Though I do not wish them to die, I do not wish to add a whole bunch more fish that I am not really into just to please them. I am not entirely convinced that would be good for them anyway as these two do not seem to find any comfort in each other. I would really not be happy if I got a bunch more and these two were either stressed by the addition or died and then I am stuck counting down on other fish.

How do other people handle it when they are wanting to get something new as the tank becomes available. Do you leave one lonely fish until it is gone?
Then begin with a whole new batch of something else?

I was thinking... IF I do decide to keep this tank running and add something else, I could add cories as I would likely have them in the tank with the Betta if that is the way I go or any other fish I chose. That way, at least there wouldn't be just one lonely little fish in there. Oh, I have Oto's too so... guess he won't be entirely alone. If I were to take down that tank, the Otos would just move to the larger tank with all the others. There would be 10 Otos in there.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Just let nature take its course, no sense keeping fish you don't care for.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Agree, if you do not want the species, then leave the existing fish to live out their lives. You could move them to another tank, in order to allow you to do something in the present one, or just leave them until nature calls them. This is what I do when fish groups are depleted through old age deaths or whatever; after a few years it is probably best to leave them.

And i agree with what others have said about the nipping, this species is notorious as nippers. But, different fish in different conditinos can be different than the "norm." And this can go either way, either increasing the aggression or weakening the fish the opposite.

And yes fish see colour, there would be no need for colour on fish if they couldn't.;-)


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Byron made a great suggestion, Inge. Do you still have the tank that the tetra were originally housed in? You could just move them there which would allow you to add what you want to your main tank. I'm guessing the few years of poor care knocked some time off their life, so they might not be with you for too much longer. 

Also after hearing all this stuff about how mean and nippy guppies can be, I'm not too sure I want them after all. I used to want a nice tank of fancy guppies... but now :-?


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## Maxillius (Sep 27, 2011)

all day time animals that have eye sight can see colors ,almost animal see in black and white that is a myth, unless there eyes are vestigial and alost not in used like alot of cave dwelling creatures.
eye capture images with rods and cones and depending on the animal they can see either like red or blue or yellow and blue is the most common since there is alot of green in nature!
the only animals that kinda see in black and white are the nocturnal ones that have no cones or almost no cones, cones are mainly to see during the day and rods are for night vision!


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## Maxillius (Sep 27, 2011)

there is even a very small portion of woman who can see more colors then anyone els in the world! they are called tetrachromat they can actually see 4 range of clors instead of the normal 3!


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

Byron said:


> there would be no need for colour on fish if they couldn't.;-)


Well, they wouldn't look as pretty in fish tanks if they were not colored. :-D

I don't have the tank they were housed in at their old home, that didn't belong to me. It was a 10 gallon and it didn't even have a decent top or heater or anything. I bought a filter for it because they didn't have that either. Once when I went there I yelled at my sister because the tank water was so brown I could barely see the fish. She blamed my nephew for it. The tank mind you was on a 5 foot tall dresser on the top and my nephew as 7 years old. Really? He should have cleaned it? :shock: :evil:

Although they are not fish I would have picked I couldn't leave them there. If they are still around after the last of the guppies is gone, I might consider moving them to the other tank. That said, if they do suddenly become fin nippers that could be an issue with the Angels and Gourami. :-? I might just be stuck with them for some time yet. That is fine, while they are here they will have a nice clean tank with lots of plants to swim around or hide in. Their little gills must feel better now.


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