Mbuna Cichlids Won't Color Up

[RobMiller5]

Yeh guys im just wondering why my mbuna cichlids wont color up the way the were at the shop.

Its a 55g tank, flouro lighting, rocks in a tank and plants, black gravel, water is buffered with baking soda+salt and epsom salt, tank inhabitants are
1 peacock, 1 lithobate, 1 zebra, 1 salausi, and 1 black fish with blue spots (mbuna i think).
The only one thats colored is the salausi.

 

[Orion]

That's not a lot of mbuna in such a large tank. Seems that in general, cichlids will normaly color up when they have something to be colorfull for: Like defending teritories or tring to get a mate. No reason to go to the extra effort if it's not needed.

Also the type of food can play a very important role in the color, and the quality of the color in fish. If you aren't feeding good quality food, or not the right foods then they will not show their true colors.

If they were colored up nice in the store, then I would say you can rule out bad genetics of the fish.

How long have you had them? It can take a while for new fish to settle in and feel comfortable.

 

[RobMiller5]

not long, i think the problem is though the salousi is totally dominant and the others are to scared to show there colours.?

 

[cybersymes]

wot do the guys at the lfs say...
can they offer no pointers...

i kinda wish i'd known about dark substrate...
as with my really light stuff my fish won't fully color up...

missed that snippet of info in my pre set-up searches ...